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,…

February 25, 2019 Mya and Deanna Cook, 15, were both excellent students, but they had been kicked off school sports teams, banished from prom, and sentenced to hours of detention for refusing to change their hair. When these twin sisters were punished by their Boston-area high school for wearing braided hair extensions, ADL helped them change their school’s controversial hair and makeup policies, which unfairly targeted students of color. ADL’s New England office received a…

December 20, 2018 Imagine the terrified, demoralizing feeling of going to your place of worship, and seeing hateful graffiti spread across its walls—graffiti that directly targets and assaults not only your faith, but who you are as a person. That’s exactly what happened in Mandeville, Louisiana on September 5, 2018, at Northshore Jewish Congregation (NJC). Imagine being Rebecca Slifkin, who worked at NJC, whose concerned neighbors came by to tell her about being shocked and…

December 17, 2018 FBI agents and Snohomish County deputies arrested a Washington state white supremacist last week for allegedly making threats to carry out mass killings of Jews and other minorities.  Dakota Reed, 20, of Monroe, Washington, was charged with malicious harassment—Washington’s hate crime statute—and making bomb threats.  Authorities also seized a cache of firearms, ammunition and white supremacist propaganda from Reed’s residence. The…

November 05, 2018 Louis Farrakhan spent Sunday in Iran, according to the English language version of MEHR, an Iranian news agency, spewing anti-American, anti-Israel rhetoric. The Nation of Islam leader, ostensibly in Iran to mark the 39th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, lashed out repeatedly at the U.S. and the Trump administration’s new sanctions against Iran. He reportedly called the U.S. a “big liar” and described the new sanctions as …

November 05, 2018 The Road to Power, a white supremacist and anti-Semitic broadcasting outlet based in Sandpoint, Idaho, continues to ramp up its tactic of robocalling communities nationwide with racist, anti-Semitic and bigoted language. The calls, which have targeted communities in California, Idaho, Iowa, Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania, seek to exploit current events by disseminating vile, offensive commentary.  Robocalls are a relatively low-cost and easy means of communicating…

November 05, 2018 “It’s okay to be white” posters were reported on 14 college and university campuses in 12 states last week. The wave of flier postings coincides with a similar campaign that occurred last year at the same time. The “It’s okay to be white” trolling campaign first emerged in October 2017 on 4chan, a  discussion forum infamous for instigating trolling efforts and for the studied offensiveness of many of its posts…

September 14, 2018 Right-wing extremists and outspoken bigots are making their presence felt in mainstream American politics, and a record number of them are running for office this year. Around the country, in blue and red states alike, members of the extremist right – including several with ties to white supremacists– are enjoying more exposure today than at any time in recent history. Less extreme but no less troubling are the number of candidates who have expressed anti…

September 07, 2018 By: Marvin D. Nathan, National Chair       Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO & National Director On Rosh Hashanah, we take time to pause to reflect on the year that has passed, and what we hope for in the year ahead.  We celebrate the New Year as an opportunity to press the “reset” button, with hopes that the coming year will bring a brighter future for our people, and for the world we share together with everyone. We’ve…

August 15, 2018 Sparsely attended and heavily protested, Unite the Right 2 reflected the challenges facing the alt right and the larger white supremacist movement. As he made his way towards D.C.’s Lafayette Park, rally organizer Jason Kessler was accompanied by about 30 right wing speakers and activists and a police escort. A massive police presence kept throngs of counter-protesters at a distance from Kessler and his group. There were no major incidents of violence, though some…

August 10, 2018 This week is the anniversary of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which attracted hundreds of bigots from around the country.  We remember the TIKI torches, the chants “Jews will not replace us!” from angry white men, and the bias-motivated murder of counterprotester Heather Heyer. On this anniversary, as groups in many cities are rededicating themselves to&nbsp…