ADL Articles

March 24, 2017 In the Tennessee legislature, a stealth bill that would have the same detrimental impact on LGBTQ people as the now notorious North Carolina HB 2 has passed the Senate and is moving forward in the House of Representatives. House Bill 54 would effectively immunize private employers and business from local ordinances that prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people in employment, housing or public accommodations. The legislation is stealth in nature because the terms…

March 24, 2017 On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued new guidelines for the use of electronic devices on certain airlines and aircraft bound to the U.S. from eight majority-Muslim countries: “Electronic devices larger than a cell phone/smart phone will not be allowed to be carried onboard the aircraft in carry-on luggage or other accessible property. Electronic devices that exceed this size limit must be secured in checked luggage.” The DHS release states…

March 21, 2017 The irony was thick this week when a Massachusetts rabbi wrote a blog piece musing about the dangerous effects of online trolling, citing the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer as a prime perpetrator. A Daily Stormer writer immediately pounced, posting a story ridiculing the rabbi’s concern and encouraging readers to, yes, troll her via Twitter (he provided the rabbi’s handle) “to thank her for spreading degeneracy among the Jews, or for helping spread our fame…

March 20, 2017 While ADL has documented nearly 120 incidents of white supremacist activity at college campuses across the country, racists have turned their attention to another group they want to attract—high school students. Between January and March of this year, there have been four incidents of white supremacists targeting high schools with fliers. It is not unusual for white supremacists to target young people who have not yet matured and are susceptible to new ideas. The…

March 07, 2017 On March 2, Olympia police arrested racist skinhead Frank Glen Cole, Jr., 32, for an alleged armed robbery that occurred on December 29, 2016. He also faces weapon charges. Cole, who has an extensive and felonious criminal history, is a member of the Hakenkreuz Skinheads (HSH), and the latest of several persons associated with the gang to be arrested in recent months. Another HSH associate, Daniel Brett Rowe, 32, of Richland, was arrested in August 2016 for allegedly…

March 06, 2017 Updated: June 09, 2017 White supremacists are engaged in unprecedented outreach efforts on American college campuses – another sign that these hate groups feel emboldened by the current political climate.   Throughout the 2016-17 school year, students, faculty and staff on 110 American college campuses were confronted by 159 incidents of racist fliers and stickers, as well as numerous on-campus appearances by white supremacists and…

March 06, 2017   The United States Supreme Court today issued an order declining to decide the issues in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G., a case involving the question of whether a Virginia school board’s policy of banning transgender boys and girls from using the same restrooms as their peers violated Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in publicly funded education programs. The Court, which had been set to hear the case on March 28th, sent the…

March 03, 2017 Federal and New York authorities announced on Friday that Juan Thompson of Missouri had been charged in connection with threats made to a number of Jewish Community Centers (JCCs) across the country. Thompson has been charged with making the threats as part of a campaign of stalking “a former romantic interest.”  William F. Sweeney, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Division, said that Thompson’s harassment campaign…

February 28, 2017 Anti-Israel groups are exploiting current anti-Trump activism to bring attention to their cause.  Their strategy:  Drawing specious comparisons between the planned wall dividing the U.S. and Mexico and Israel’s security fence in the West Bank and Gaza. The comparisons are evident on social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, and were also on display during the recent protests at major airports across the country, where…

February 27, 2017 Last week, the Trump administration rescinded guidance from a “Dear Colleague” letter that the Obama administration sent to school districts in 2016. The letter, from the Justice and Education Departments, made it clear that they were interpreting Title IX nondiscrimination laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, to include transgender students. The letter stated that every K-12 school district, state education association and high school…

February 21, 2017 In light of bomb threats aimed at Jewish institutions, anti-Semitic fliers posted at campuses, the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis, and the lashing out at a Jewish reporter by President Trump, anti-Semites are having a field day.  Each time a Jewish person or institution is targeted, anti-Semites believe they are winning the battle against what they allege is Jewish domination of the country. Most recently, anti-Semites alleged that Jews themselves are…

February 21, 2017 Label 56, a white supremacist e-commerce app, was removed from Google’s play store this week after ADL notified the platform of the app’s connections to a racist skinhead website. The app acts as a sales platform for the Label 56 website, a leading white power music label. The website, which sells books, clothing, flags, jewelry and stickers, also distributes racist podcasts. The e-commerce website behind the app started operations in…

February 21, 2017 Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) has confirmed Rasmea Odeh as a keynote speaker at their national conference in Chicago, March 31st – April 2nd. Rasmea Odeh, a convicted terrorist, is the Associate Director at the Arab American Action Network in Chicago (AAAN). Odeh was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Founded by George Habash in 1967, PFLP became…

February 16, 2017 On February 15, FBI agents arrested Benjamin Thomas Samuel McDowell, 29, of Conway, South Carolina, alleging he purchased a gun from an undercover agent from the FBI posing as someone connected with a faction of the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations.  McDowell, a convicted felon not allowed to own guns, was charged with illegal possession of a firearm. According to authorities, McDowell also indicated to the agent that he was interested in committing a “Dylann…

February 13, 2017 For a number of years, the alt right was mostly an online movement, with the exception of a few annual conferences held by American Renaissance and the National Policy Institute, two white supremacist organizations. Now its adherents are trying to meet, network, and plan actions in cities and on campuses around the county. Alt right groups have been plastering universities with fliers, meeting at forums and events in different parts of the country, organizing…

February 09, 2017 Florida legislators have filed House Bill 303 and Senate Bill 436 – the so-called “Florida Student and School Personnel Religious Liberties Act” – (HB303/SB436).  The House Sponsor of the bill  – Representative Kim Daniels of Jacksonville – asserts that its purpose is to require public schools districts to enforce the religious discrimination protections of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act…

February 07, 2017 Earlier today, Betsy DeVos was confirmed as the new United States Secretary of Education. As we have done with many other Cabinet nominees over the years, the Anti-Defamation League had sent a letter to Senators on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to urge members to ask Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos a range of questions at her confirmation hearings.  The ADL letter drew on the League’s deep expertise in…