March 04, 2020 Two speeches delivered by Louis Farrakhan as part of the Nation of Islam’s annual Saviours’ Day celebration included expressions of homophobia, transphobia, anti-white racism, and antisemitism. In his speeches, which took place in Detroit on February 23 and in Chicago on March 1, 2020, Farrakhan also claimed that the biblical descriptions of Jesus as the messiah were actually referring to Farrakhan himself. Farrakhan sees himself as a Christ-like figure and a prophet…

February 27, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Far-right extremists killed at least 38 people in the U.S. in 2019, the sixth deadliest year on record violence by all domestic extremists since 1970, according to a new report. Federal prosecutors charged five people allegedly linked to a neo-Nazi group for engaging in a campaign to intimidate and harass journalists, activists and a member of the President’s cabinet. Calling AIPAC a platform “for leaders who express bigotry,”…

February 26, 2020 On February 26, 2020, authorities arrested five members of Atomwaffen Division, including former Texas state Atomwaffen leader John Cameron Denton. These are just the latest detentions targeting the neo-Nazi group, whose active membership has been decimated in the last two years by a steady stream of federal charges and arrests. Denton is charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, and interstate threats to injure, stemming from his alleged role…

February 25, 2020 By David Andrew Weinberg, ADL's Washington Director for International Affairs Intentionally or not, U.S. allied governments across the Arab world are providing a stamp of legitimacy for hateful anti-Semitic books of the absolute worst kind.  After an intensive review of offerings at state-run book fairs in the Arab world, ADL has determined that the vast majority of such events have provided a platform for egregiously anti-Semitic reading materials, among other…

February 21, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 At least nine people were killed when a white supremacist opened fire at a hookah bar and other sites in Hanau, Germany. A religiously observant teenage table tennis star, who observes the Jewish sabbath, will be unable to participate in upcoming Olympic trials because the event partially falls on a Saturday. ADL has called on the annual carnival in the Belgian city of Aalst to withdraw the antisemitic caricatures which – as in previous years …

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…

February 11, 2020 Click here to view a PDF version of this blog. ADL’s Center on Extremism tracked an ever-growing number of white supremacist propaganda efforts in 2019, including the distribution of racist, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ fliers, stickers, banners and posters. The 2019 data shows an increase of incidents both on and off campus, with a total of 2,713 cases reported (averaging more than seven incidents per day), compared to 1,214 in 2018 – a doubling in activity…

February 11, 2020 On February 10, 2020, U.S. Army Specialist Jarrett William Smith pleaded guilty to unlawfully distributing instructions for making explosive devices over social media. According to the Department of Justice announcement, Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing information related to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction.  Smith was associated with the neo-Nazi organization Feuerkrieg Division at the time of his arrest. The ADL's…

February 07, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 ADL unveiled a new online tool that will allow users to search its database of anti-Semitic incidents in real time. The fear generated by the spread of the coronavirus has led extremists to promote conspiracy theories and share anti-Semitic views. And anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York City finally declined in January, after a sustained uptick in prior months. Read on for more on these headlines, news you can use to fight hate and the latest…

January 31, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 A new poll released this week by ADL shows that despite a rise in anti-Semitic violence in recent years, the proportion of Americans holding “intensely” anti-Semitic views remains small. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan was asked to apologize after retweeting a false claim that a Palestinian child had been killed by Israelis, with some likening the accusation to a blood libel. As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation…

January 23, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Three men linked to The Base – a violent white supremacist group – were arrested in Maryland and Delaware on federal felony charges after plotting to kill pro-gun control protesters at a Virginia rally in hopes of starting a race war. The anti-Semitic and conspiracy-promoting “news” outlet TruNews was once again granted White House press credentials, this time to cover the World Economic Forum in Davos. U.S. officials, 50 world…

January 22, 2020 On January 27th, the anniversary of the allied liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, we commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day in honor of the victims of Nazi persecution. This annual observance provides an opportunity for teachers to focus on the pivotal role of liberators in defeating the Nazis at the culmination of World War II, and as some of the first to bear witness to the horrors of the Holocaust. Here are some strategies and resources to guide you in…