ADL Articles

The Nation of Islam (NOI) held its annual Saviours’ Day conference in Chicago the weekend of February 24–26, serving once again as a platform for vitriolic antisemitism and anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry. Saviours’ Day 2023 marked the annual event’s return to a large-scale arena setting for the first time in three years; the NOI held smaller, semi-virtual conferences during the intervening pandemic-era years. NOI speakers injected familiar antisemitic and conspiratorial…

False and misleading social media harms elections, undermines public trust, normalizes baseless challenges to elections, stokes harassment and incites violence.

On February 17 and 18, 2023, approximately 15 individuals associated with the virulently antisemitic Goyim Defense League (GDL) distributed propaganda and protested across Florida. Many of the participants traveled from out of state, including individuals from Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.  GDL is a network of rabidly antisemitic provocateurs led by Jon Minadeo who recently relocated to Florida from California. GDL…

Extremists and purveyors of lies and conspiracies are capitalizing on Elon Musk’s new policies at Twitter – particularly the decision to grant “amnesty” to previously suspended accounts, which has allowed them to return to the platform. In recent weeks, a number of problematic groups and individuals have had their accounts reinstated on Twitter, have increased the use of their existing accounts or have joined the platform as new accounts.   As a follow up to a…

Since October 2022, ADL has documented at least 30 antisemitic incidents that directly reference Ye – the influential artist, producer, and fashion designer formerly known as Kanye West, whose 2022 antisemitic outbursts made headlines. These incidents, which include vandalism, banner drops, targeted harassment, and campus propaganda distributions, demonstrate the ongoing influence of Ye’s conspiratorial, bigoted rants.

In recent years, extremists and antisemitic conspiracy theorists have capitalized on the spread of dangerous and offensive falsehoods about LGBTQ+ people – including false claims about “grooming” and gender-affirming medical care – using these lies to further their bigoted agendas. Some anti-LGBTQ+ fearmongering simultaneously lifts antisemitic stereotypes and conspiracy theories about the alleged Jewish role in promoting the so-called LGBTQ+ “agenda.” …

In recent months, a handful of high-follower social media accounts have driven the rapid spread of dangerous and false narratives designed to marginalize and demonize the LGBTQ+ community. Online amplifiers of anti-LGBTQ+ hate and extremism use their influence to push baseless tropes and conspiracy theories to their millions of followers. These claims are frequently picked up by major far right media personalities, expanding their reach. Online amplifiers are key players in an ecosystem of…

Several incidents in 2022, including a 12-hour hostage crisis at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, with an Islamist extremist perpetrator, demonstrate the ongoing threat of Islamist extremism and are a reminder that the U.S. faces a diverse set of extremist threats. While the number of individuals arrested in connection to crimes motivated by Islamist extremism has declined significantly in recent years after peaking in 2015, three violent Islamist attacks in 2022 illustrate this ideology…

2022 was marked by a series of heart-wrenching setbacks in the fight against hate. Antisemitism and other forms of hate showed no signs of abating.

ADL looks back on 2022 moments that gave us some light, hope and inspiration.

An explanation of how harassment works on Twitter and how it is overlooked.

Incidents of antisemitism remain at historic levels in the United States. In fact, antisemitic incidents targeting Jewish institutions jumped 61 percent from 2020 to 2021, according to  ADL’s 2021 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. Based on preliminary data, the 2022 numbers will tell a similar story.   Fears about antisemitism have been on the rise since a mass shooter claimed 11 lives at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in October 2018, the deadliest antisemitic…

On December 3, 2022, the ADL Center on Extremism (COE) tracked several extremist events targeting the LGBTQ+ community. This wave of bigoted action from the Proud Boys, the virulently antisemitic Goyim Defense League and two white supremacist groups, comes just weeks after five people were murdered and at least 19 injured in a shooting at an LGBTQ+ club in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Earlier this week, a Texas man was arrested for making death threats against a Boston physician who provides…

In the short time since Elon Musk took over Twitter in late October 2022, the platform has taken several steps that have empowered extremists. Chief among them: the decision to sell the “verified” blue check mark and grant “amnesty” to suspended Twitter accounts. In the past few weeks, the ADL noted both an increase in antisemitic content on the platform and a decrease in the moderation of antisemitic posts, a troubling situation that will likely get worse, given…

On Tuesday, November 22, 2022, former President Donald Trump hosted white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, at his Mar-a-Lago home. Trump’s willingness to associate with figures who have repeatedly spread antisemitic and white supremacist tropes is deeply concerning and has not gone unnoticed by extremists. Fuentes, a white supremacist and rabid misogynist who attended the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in…

Engage in a discussion with young people about the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs and the larger context of anti-LGBTQ+ hate.

The 2022 U.S. midterm elections stirred up false narratives about secret and powerful entities committing widespread election fraud. These included old and new theories – and sometimes a combination of the two. Ten days after election day, their impact continues to be felt. On Saturday, November 12, protesters gathered at the elections office in Maricopa County, Arizona for what they called the “Patriots Rise Up” rally. Protesters, angry about ongoing ballot counting in…