March 25, 2020 As the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, examples of those seeking a scapegoat for the virus continue to proliferate. As ADL and other groups have explored, there have been numerous cases of xenophobia in the US related to the virus, particularly attacks against Asian individuals and groups. Internationally, there have also been many attempts to link COVID-19 to Israel, Zionists and Jews, with some people baselessly claiming the virus is part of a…

March 10, 2020 “Finally! Science has discovered a cure for the most insidious disease of our time…Jewishness.” Shortly after posting this to Telegram, referring to a news report that three Israelis had been quarantined as possible carriers of the coronavirus, the same poster wrote, “3 down, 5,999,997 to go!” As the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus surges globally, extremists continue to use the virus  to advance their bigotry and antisemitism…

March 05, 2020 Anti-Israel activism at the March 2020 AIPAC conference was tainted by antisemitism when disparate groups from across the ideological spectrum held protests outside the annual meeting. The most prominent organization present was the extreme anti-Israel activist group Al Awda, which has a history of promoting antisemitism and expressing support for terrorism. Al Awda collaborated with the fringe anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Jewish group Neturei Karta. Meanwhile, members of…

February 13, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Incidents of white supremacist propaganda jumped by more than 120% in the U.S. last year, according to ADL’s latest research. The U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) published a list of companies that conduct business in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which critics are calling a blacklist. And an MSNBC host is under fire after suggesting that supporters of presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders are part of a “digital brownshirt brigade…

February 13, 2020 Last month, the Trump Administration proposed sweeping changes to federal rules governing taxpayer-funded social services, changes that threaten the religious freedom of the most vulnerable in our nation. Over 20 years ago, the federal government made a sea change in how it provided taxpayer-funded social services by allowing houses of worship to compete for grants and contracts through a program called the “Faith-Based Initiative.”  This change…

January 13, 2020 UPDATE: On March 15, 2021, John William Kirby Kelley was sentenced to 33 months in prison for his role in numerous swatting attacks targeting journalists, a Virginia university, a historic predominantly Black church in Virginia, an Islamic Center in Arlington, Texas, and a former U.S. Cabinet member. On January 10, 2020, federal authorities arrested 19-year-old John William Kirby Kelley of Vienna, Virginia, for his alleged role in a multi…

December 05, 2019 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Online retail giant Amazon removed from its marketplace holiday ornaments, bottle openers and other products that displayed images from the Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz. In related news, the International Skating Union (ISU) apologized after nominating a Russian skater, who donned Auschwitz-themed attire, for costume of the year. And in Montreal, McGill University’s student government was condemned after forcing one of its members to…

November 15, 2019 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Newly released data from the FBI shows that hate crime murders in 2018 reached an all-time high. Following a sharp increase in anti-Semitic attacks directed at the Orthodox community, ADL announced a doubling of funding for its flagship education program, No Place for Hate, in schools throughout the borough. And officials at George Washington University are investigating after an anti-Semitic video posted on Snapchat was circulated amongst the…

November 05, 2019 Update: February 26, 2021: A federal court sentenced Richard Holzer to 19.5 years in prison.  Update: October 15, 2020:  The Justice Department announced that Richard Holzer, 28, pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and explosives charges for plotting to blow up the Temple Emanuel Synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado. According to a DOJ press release, Holzer faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the hate crime charge…

September 13, 2019 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 ADL is monitoring a spate of anti-Semitic vandalism and graffiti across the country over the past two weeks, including at a synagogue in Los Angeles, a high school in the Bay Area and a residence hall at the University of Nevada, Reno. Several Israeli students in Warsaw were allegedly assaulted by a group of men from Qatar, shouting “Free Palestine” and “Free Gaza.” And in conjunction with the Aspen Institute, ADL announced a…

August 29, 2019 By David Andrew Weinberg | ADL's Washington Director for International Affairs Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi told a visiting delegation earlier this year that he hopes to see a resurgence of Jewish life in Egypt.  He reportedly even informed the group that if more Jews return, the government would pay to build more synagogues and other communal institutions.  However, this positive message is being undermined by the continued broadcasting of a hateful,…

August 28, 2019 Background Witness for Peace (WFP) is an anti-Semitic organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that primarily espouses anti-Israel content and anti-Semitic tropes about Jewish racism, power and influence and dual loyalties. WFP is affiliated with another anti-Semitic group, Deir Yassin Remembered. WFP’s leader and founder, Henry Herskovitz, is a Holocaust denier. WFP was founded in 2003 by Herskovitz, a former Beth Israel (Ann Arbor) congregant, to protest the…

June 25, 2019 UPDATE:  On June 26th, ADL submitted this statement urging passage of the Voting Rights Advancement Act as part of House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties hearings entitled “Continuing Challenges to the Voting Rights Act Since Shelby County v. Holder. This week marks six years since the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision in Shelby County v. Holder gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the nation…

June 14, 2019 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Organizers of the “DC Dyke March” attempted to implement a ban on Jewish Pride flags, claiming they too closely resemble the flag of Israel. In Detroit, a small group of neo-Nazis carrying weapons disrupted an LGBTQ Pride march by spewing homophobic, racist and anti-Semitic slurs at participants and pretending to defile an Israeli flag. A gay man in Atlanta was shot and killed in what police are classifying as a hate crime. Read on for…