ADL Articles

May 08, 2019 On May 1, 2019, federal authorities arrested Chase Bliss Colasurdo of Kent, Washington, and charged him with  making violent threats against President Trump’s family and media figures, as well as ongoing bomb threats to synagogues. Colasurdo is just the latest virulent anti-Semite to be apprehended by law enforcement after allegedly making violent threats online. In April, Corbin Kauffman was arrested in Pennsylvania, and Dakota Reed was arrested in December by…

May 06, 2019 By Jinnie Spiegler | ADL Director of Curriculum and Training This year, ADL had the opportunity to present three separate sessions at SXSW EDU -- a component of the big annual South by Southwest conference that focuses on teaching and learning. ADL’s sessions covered (1) discussing and framing current events in the classroom through an anti-bias lens, (2) acting as and developing better allies, and (3) the role art plays in promoting social justice themes in the…

May 03, 2019 THE WEEK'S BIG 3 A white supremacist opens fire at a synagogue in Poway, California during end of Passover services, killing one and injuring three. Meanwhile, new data from ADL documented a 105% increase in assaults on Jews in 2018. The New York Times apologizes for publishing an anti-Semitic cartoon and promises to take additional steps to prevent it from happening again. Read on for more on these headlines, news you can use to fight hate this week, and the latest info…

May 02, 2019 On Saturday, April 27, 2019, A man opened fire at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway, California, killing one worshipper, a 60-year-old woman who was mourning her mother’s recent death, and injuring three more, including the rabbi. Police apprehended John T. Earnest as the sole suspect in the shooting. It was the Jewish sabbath and the last day of Passover, a holiday celebrating the Jews’ delivery from oppression. Earnest, 19, was a nursing student in nearby…

May 02, 2019 Anti-Semitic fliering posted outside the Chabad Lubavitch Center in Ocean City, Maryland The April 27 shooting attack on a Poway, California, synagogue served as a stark reminder that white supremacists remain a significant threat to Jewish institutions. Not that anyone needed a reminder; the Poway assault took place just six months after Robert Bowers’ October 27, 2018 shooting rampage at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. The attack on the Tree of Life synagogue…

April 28, 2019 On Saturday April 27, 2019, a gunman identified in media reports as 19-year-old John Earnest opened fire inside the Chabad Congregation in Poway, California, leaving one dead and three injured. The assault, which took place on the last day of Passover, occurred exactly six months after Robert Bowers’ deadly shooting rampage at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, which left 11 congregants dead and two more wounded. It also comes on the heels of fatal attacks…

April 25, 2019 On April 20, FBI agents arrested a New Mexico border vigilante leader, Larry Mitchell Hopkins (aka “Johnny Horton, Jr.”) on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The arrest occurred just days after members of Hopkins’ group, the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), attracted considerable attention and condemnation for detaining at gunpoint several hundred asylum-seeking migrants and families crossing the border near El Paso, Texas. The two…

April 24, 2019 Picture released by ISIS’s Amaq News Agency showing the alleged attackers. Reads: “Martyrdom Attacks by Islamic State militants shake Sri Lanka…the perpetrators of martyrdom attacks in Sri Lanka.” On Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019, nine suicide bombers carried out attacks at churches and tourist attractions across Sri Lanka, killing more than 250 people and injuring at least 500 more. In the attack’s aftermath, Sri Lankan authorities blamed a…

April 22, 2019 THE WEEK'S BIG 3 An ADL tip to law enforcement leads to the arrest of a Pennsylvania white supremacist who allegedly threatened to kill Jewish and black people; a coalition of Jewish groups calls on Israel not to annex the West Bank; and a university in Arkansas is catching heat for naming one of their scholarships after a Holocaust denier. Read on for more on these headlines, news you can use to fight hate this week, and the latest info about ADL around the country. …

April 18, 2019 As Cinco de Mayo festivities commence, it is important to stop and consider whether classroom observances and celebrations in general are inclusive and respectful and whether they do or do not promote stereotypical portrayals of groups of people—in this case, people who are Mexican and Mexican-American. Cinco De Mayo is a fun and festive holiday in the U.S. that it is often wrought with problematic choices made by people wanting to have a good time and celebrate…

April 16, 2019 Accelerationism is a term white supremacists have assigned to their desire to hasten the collapse of society as we know it. The term is widely used by those on the fringes of the movement, who employ it openly and enthusiastically on mainstream platforms, as well as in the shadows of private, encrypted chat rooms.  We have also recently seen tragic instances of its manifestation in the real world. The concept of acceleration has existed for years as a fringe philosophy…

April 12, 2019 In late March, FBI agents arrested a Pennsylvania white supremacist for allegedly making racist threats online. On April 1, 2019, Corbin Kauffman of Lehighton, Pennsylvania, was charged with interstate transmission of threats to injure the person of another. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the maximum penalty for this offense is five years of imprisonment for each violation and a term of supervised release following imprisonment and a fine, but judges are given…

April 12, 2019 THE WEEK'S BIG 3 Congress holds a hearing on the growing threat posed by white nationalism and increase in hate crimes; anti-vaccination advocates are misappropriating Holocaust imagery to push their agenda; and Airbnb reneges on its decision to de-list properties in the West Bank. Read on for more on these headlines, news you can use to fight hate this week, and the latest info about ADL around the country.   1 A Flood Online of Hate Speech Greets…

April 09, 2019 THE WEEK'S BIG 3 A new report this week suggests the Department of Homeland Security seems to be willfully ignoring the threat posed by right-wing extremism; a new task force has been convened by two Jewish organizations to track anti-religious violence; and Utah enacts a new, improved and comprehensive hate crimes law. Read on for more on these headlines, news you can use to fight hate this week, and the latest info about ADL around the country.   1 …

April 05, 2019 In recent months, some anti-vaccine activists (known as anti-vaxxers) have appropriated the yellow Star of David badge, which some European Jews were required to wear during the Holocaust, to symbolize their “persecution” at the hands of government vaccine rules. The stars, emblazoned with the stylized words “No Vax,” are showing up on social media, especially on Facebook, and at anti-vaccine events. This is a hugely inappropriate use of this enduring…

March 26, 2019 In January, the Trump Administration announced a new and unprecedented attack on asylum seekers and migrants. On the heels of its effort to institute an asylum ban -- denying asylum protections for those seeking entry to the U.S. outside regular processing at ports of entry, the administration implemented “Migrant Protection Protocols.” Also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, this new approach sends migrants seeking asylum back to Mexico to…

March 20, 2019 The U.S. Department of Education (DoED) recently announced that it will ignore a longstanding requirement of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) limiting federally funded contracts, which provide schools with services such as special education or instruction, to secular vendors.  As a result, religious organizations, including houses of worship, are now eligible to be such contractors.  This decision is not legally required, will compel taxpayers to fund…

March 15, 2019 In the latest indication that violent white supremacists pose an international terrorist threat, an apparent white supremacist went on a shooting rampage at two mosques in central Christchurch, New Zealand on Friday, reportedly killing 50 people and wounding many others. Australian police have identified the alleged shooter as Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian-born man. This latest white supremacist violence underscores the fact that white…

March 13, 2019 Could anti-Semitism, which drove Jews out en masse 500 years ago, drive Jews back to Portugal? By Andrew Srulevitch, Director of European Affairs   With all of the bad anti-Semitism news coming out of Europe these last few weeks, it’s time for some good news. About a month ago in Porto, Portugal, I listened to Rabbi Abraham Levy of the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue of London recount the story of Torah ornaments that had traveled from Barbados,…

March 13, 2019 When the U.S. Supreme Court last summer ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple based on religious beliefs, its decision was a wake-up call – and underlined the need for further legislative action by elected officials and communities. While disappointing, the Court’s narrow decision reaffirmed the right of LGBTQ individuals to be free from discrimination, and left in place statewide nondiscrimination protections…