July 18, 2021 By Sharon Nazarian This week marks yet another anniversary of what could accurately be described as the most significant violent antisemitic attack against a Jewish Community outside of the Middle East since the Holocaust — the 1994 bombing of the Argentina Jewish community’s main institutional structure, the AMIA building, which caused the deaths of 85 people and injured more than 300.   The fact that no individuals have been…

July 16, 2021 On July 15, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed that it had indicted two California men, Ian Benjamin Rogers and Jarrod Copeland, on charges related to an alleged plot to destroy the Democratic party headquarters in Sacramento with incendiary devices. According to communications between the two men, they were animated by grievance over Donald Trump’s loss of the 2020 election, and planned to conduct their attack after President Biden’s inauguration on…

June 24, 2021 The cover image of Al Qaeda's article, "What is Behind the Normalization with Israel, the Mysteries of the Term and ِthe Dangers of its Machinations," shows a figure bearing the flags of Israel, the European Union, and the United States giving orders to bodies of news organizations, social media, finance, the United Nations, Hollywood and government. The notion that Israel and the West secretly control international organizations and the news media is a common antisemitic…

June 02, 2021 Telegram image that appears to be Blevins wearing a swastika armband and T-shirt with seal of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps On May 28, 2021, Texas authorities arrested Coleman Thomas Blevins of Kerrville after he allegedly threatened to carry out a mass shooting at an area Walmart. Blevins was charged with making a terroristic threat to create public fear of serious bodily injury. He appears to embrace a convoluted extremist ideology that includes elements of white…

May 10, 2021 On April 14, 2021, both Al Qaeda and the pro-Al Qaeda propaganda outlet Jaysh Al-Malahim Al-Electroni (Electronic Battle Army) released magazines that include articles about the cultural strife in America and the West more broadly. The articles touched on the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection, the racial justice protests in summer 2020, and the deepening of American political divisions. Both articles portray the West as declining and divided. The Jaysh Al-Malahim article,…

February 22, 2021 On February 5, 2021, the FBI arrested Christian Michael Mackey, an alleged member of neo-Nazi  group Iron Youth, on charges of an unlawful sale of a firearm. Mackey allegedly attempted to sell his gun to someone identified to him as a known felon, but Mackey seemed primarily concerned that the buyer was “based”— which in this case means that he subscribes to white supremacist beliefs. According to the affidavit, Mackey allegedly incited others in an…

January 08, 2021 On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, pro-Trump extremists, including some identified right-wing extremists, stormed the U.S. Capitol building, interrupting the Congressional session affirming the election results and forcing a partial evacuation. The nation and the world watched the chaos unfold, including scenes of the mob on the Senate floor, in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, and swarming the Capitol steps. By the time the siege ended, four people were dead: three from…

January 07, 2021 The invasion of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 by pro-Trump extremists forced a suspension of the Joint Session of Congress certifying the results of the 2020 election and necessitated the evacuation of elected officials and staff.  Security preparations for the certification were likely developed and implemented with the knowledge that state capitols have been a frequent target of extremists throughout 2020.  Why these preparations failed so dramatically…

November 10, 2020 How people are portrayed on television – matters. Increasingly diverse storylines, characters and content creators are widely seen as positive, but how is this trend affecting the prevalence of stereotypes in our culture? Is it increasing our ability to empathize and act? In a recent study, Define American and USC’s Norman Lear Center examined depictions of immigrants on television and the impact of those portrayals. The study examined depictions of 129 unique…

September 24, 2020 While extremists of differing ideologies aligning to further a common goal is not a new phenomenon, recent activity suggests that this overlap is becoming more common as extremist ideas are shared online. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) September 3, 2020 arrest of 30-year-old Michael Robert Solomon and 22-year-old Benjamin Ryan Teeter in Minneapolis is the most recent example of a hybrid ideology. To support their alleged violent goals of destroying the U.S…

April 29, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has us all scared. This has fueled the spread of misinformation, racism, and antisemitism. The resulting vitriol and scapegoating has targeted immigrants as well. We must not allow the spread of the virus and necessary physical separation to sow philosophical division among us and lead to policies that harm those most vulnerable, including immigrants. It is going to take all of us banding together to come out the other side of this. That’s why…

April 19, 2020 By Dr. Mark Pitcavage On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh detonated a truck bomb in front of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The blast destroyed the building, killing 168 men, women and children and injuring hundreds more. Twenty-five years later, the Oklahoma City bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history.  McVeigh and his accomplice, Terry Nichols, were not part of any large, well-funded terrorist organization; they…