519 Results

Coronavirus: Anti-Immigration, Xenophobia and Homophobia

Article

April 21, 2020 Headline: Coronavirus: Anti-Immigration, Xenophobia and Homophobia Short description: Extremists are using fear of the virus to stoke nativist, homophobic hate As the coronavirus continues to surge globally, virus-related conspiracy theories are proliferating online. These antisemitic, xenophobic, hateful messages spread misplaced blame and misinformation, making it more difficult to access accurate information while elevating fear and anxiety. While some of these…

April 21, 2020

Coronavirus: Prominent Conspiracies

Article

April 20, 2020 As the coronavirus continues to surge globally, virus-related conspiracy theories are proliferating online. These antisemitic, xenophobic, hateful messages spread misplaced blame and misinformation, making it more difficult to access accurate information while elevating fear and anxiety. While some of these messages are new, many are simply old tropes repackaged for a modern pandemic. Conspiracy theorists are positing that the coronavirus was manufactured by humans,…

April 20, 2020

Extremists Involved in Nationwide Protests Against Coronavirus Restrictions

Article

April 20, 2020 Americans’ response to the coronavirus pandemic now includes a spate of nationwide rallies decrying stay-at-home orders and calling for “reopening” the economy. While many of the protests calling for the reopening of the economy and the lifting of state-issued quarantine mandates have been organized by more mainstream conservative organizations, a number have been sponsored in whole or part by identified extremists and a range of rally participants have carried…

April 20, 2020

Coronavirus: Sinophobia

Article

April 20, 2020 As the coronavirus continues to surge globally, virus-related conspiracy theories are proliferating online. These antisemitic, xenophobic, hateful messages spread misplaced blame and misinformation, making it more difficult to access accurate information while elevating fear and anxiety. While some of these messages are new, many are simply old tropes repackaged for a modern pandemic. ADL is tracking some of the coronavirus-related anti-Asian incidents here. Sinophobia …

April 20, 2020

Twenty-five Years Later, Oklahoma City Bombing Inspires a New Generation of Extremists

Article

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…

April 19, 2020

A Victory in the Fight Against Hate: Washington State Protects Targets of Swatting

Article

April 03, 2020 As our online lives have become even more central to the way we work, communicate and socialize in this unprecedented time, Washington state has shown tremendous leadership in enacting legislation protecting targets and victims of online hate and harassment, which can have serious and potentially fatal consequences. This significant anti-swatting law, signed by Gov. Jay Inslee today, holds accountable individuals who seek to weaponize law enforcement to attack others. …

April 03, 2020

International Scapegoating of Israel and Jews for Spreading COVID-19

Article

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 25, 2020

White Supremacist Unfurls Nazi Flag at Arizona Sanders Rally

Article

Nazi flag unfurled by white supremacist at Sanders rally

March 06, 2020 White supremacist Robert Sterkeson interrupted Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Thursday, March 5, 2020, rally in Phoenix, Arizona, when he waved a Nazi flag behind Sanders. Fellow rally attendees quickly pulled the flag from Sterkeson’s hands, and security teams removed him from the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Sterkeson, of Glendale, Arizona, is a self-described “stunt activist” who has harassed a range of Jewish and…

March 06, 2020

Virginia Man with Links to Neo-Nazis Arrested in International Swatting Case

Article

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…

January 13, 2020

Arrest after Plot to Bomb Colorado Synagogue; “It’s okay to be white” Signs on Tennessee Campus; Acid Attack on Latino Man

Article

November 08, 2019 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 An avowed white supremacist in Colorado was arrested after federal investigators uncovered a plot to bomb an historic synagogue. Campus officials at East Tennessee University are opening an investigation after signs saying “It’s okay to be white”— a popular white supremacist slogan — appeared around campus. A man in Milwaukee is facing felony hate-crime charges for allegedly throwing acid on a Latino man because of his…

November 08, 2019

Colorado White Supremacist Arrested for Plotting to Blow Up Synagogue

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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…

November 05, 2019

Important Books to Explore Bullying and Ally Behavior

Tools and Strategies

While bullying is still a problem in schools, the intersection of bias and bullying can be particularly harmful. Identity-based bullying is when a person is targeted based on an essential part of their identity (e.g., race, immigration status, sexual orientation, religion, or gender identity). It is common in schools and not only impacts the targeted person but everyone else around them that shares their identity. Identity-based bullying can leave all students feeling unsafe and fearful that…

September 24, 2019

ADL Announces David L. Sifry to Lead Center for Technology and Society

Press Release

Tech Industry Veteran to Lead ADL’s Efforts to Combat Online Hate and Harassment New York, August 26, 2019 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today announced that it has hired David L. Sifry to be Vice President, Center for Technology and Society (CTS). Sifry will bring decades of expertise to advancing ADL’s work combating hate and harassment online. Sifry is an entrepreneur and technology executive who was most recently the vice president of revenue products at Reddit,…

August 26, 2019

Man Arrested for Bomb Plot Listed Synagogue, LGBTQ Bar and ADL as Potential Targets

Article

August 16, 2019 THE WEEK'S BIG 3 A man in southern Nevada was arrested after investigators uncovered his plot to attack an LGBTQ nightclub, a local synagogue and the regional ADL office with firearms and explosives. A white supremacist group distributed anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic fliers at Seattle-area synagogues as part of a coordinated propaganda effort. And over 100 tires were slashed in a predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in NJ. Read on for more on these headlines,…

August 16, 2019

White Supremacist Terrorist Acts, Conspiracies and Plots against Jews

News

May 13, 2021 Over the past 25 years, numerous white supremacists have targeted the Jewish community in the U.S. through terrorist acts, conspiracies and plots. Here is a selection of significant incidents from 1994 through 2021. Assumption, Illinois, 2020: Federal agents charged Randall Burrus with weapons offenses in connection with an alleged white supremacist plot to attack a synagogue or mosque. This is linked to the April 15, 2020 incident involving John Michael Rathbun in…

May 13, 2021

Two-Thirds of U.S. Online Gamers Have Experienced Severe Harassment, New ADL Study Finds

Press Release

Study finds marginalized groups targeted most; users also exposed to extremist ideologies New York, July 25, 2019 … Sixty-five percent of players have experienced severe harassment while playing games online, which includes physical threats, stalking and sustained harassment, while 74 percent of online multiplayer gamers have experienced some form of harassment, according to a first-of-its-kind survey released today by ADL’s (the Anti-Defamation League) Center on…

July 24, 2019

President Trump Tells Four Democratic Congresswomen to “Go Back” to Where They Came From

Article

July 19, 2019 Edition: July 18, 2019 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 President Trump directs “blatantly racist” tweets at four Democratic Congresswomen of color, telling them to “go back” to where they came from. Argentina marks the solemn 25th anniversary of the bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 and wounded 300. White supremacists in Massachusetts have launched a coordinated fliering campaign, targeting area synagogues with propaganda…

July 19, 2019

ADL Statement Regarding Instagram's New Efforts to Reduce Harassment on Their Platform

Press Release

New York, NY, July 9, 2019 … ADL (Anti-Defamation League) issued the following statement regarding Instagram's announced design change to reduce harassment on their platform and improve the experience of targets of online hate and harassment: "We welcome Instagram's new changes to address harassment on their platform. Putting the power to combat hate in the hands of users will make a tangible difference in the lives of both the targets and the perpetrators of online…

July 09, 2019

This Week's Big Three in the News

Article

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…

June 14, 2019

Building a Path Forward; Combating Anti-Semitism in 2019: Jonathan Greenblatt's Address to 2019 National Leadership Summit

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June 02, 2019 Remarks by Jonathan Greenblatt CEO and National Director, Anti-Defamation League To the ADL National Leadership Summit June 2, 2019, Washington, D.C. (As prepared for delivery) Thank you, Esta, for that kind introduction, and welcome to our 2019 National Leadership Summit. I am so glad to be here. Its been an exhausting year and a hard year, and to that end I want to ask you to pause for a moment of silence to honor the 12 people who were killed in…

June 02, 2019