Research & Analysis

New York, May 18, 2020 … There was a 50 percent increase in arrests and plots linked to domestic Islamist extremism in 2019, according to data released today by ADL’s (Anti-Defamation League) Center on Extremism. There were a total of 30 arrests linked to domestic Islamist extremism, nine of which were for terror plots. Of the nine individuals arrested for plotting attacks, seven (78 percent) were U.S. citizens. While there were no attacks or murders linked to…

  A married couple was arrested on May 10 in connection with an attack on a group of Chasidic Jews in Brooklyn. The New York Daily News reported that the couple, identified as Paulo and Clelia Pinho, allegedly approached the Chasidic Jews and said to them, “The mayor says you Jews are the reason we’re getting sick.” Authorities said Paulo attempted to rip the face masks off some of the Jews, prompting three men in the group to confront Paolo,…

  RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is being criticized for a new slogan about combating the coronavirus which resembles the infamous Nazi inscription at the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp: “Arbeit macht frei,” or “work will set you free.” The message “Work, unity and the truth will set Brazil free” was featured in a video that Bolsonaro released Sunday, Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo first…

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. Senate unanimously approved $10 million in funding for Holocaust education in American schools. The vote Wednesday approving the Never Again Education Act, coming after overwhelming approval for the same bill in the House of Representatives in January, sends the bill to President Donald Trump, who is expected to enact it. READ MORE  

  (JTA) — Some of the religious leaders who met with Vice President Mike Pence in Iowa on Friday said they were eager to get back into their houses of worship in the coming weeks. Not David Kaufman, the rabbi of Temple B’nai Jeshurun, a Reform congregation in Des Moines. “We are pretty much in a position of uniformly believing that it’s too early to return to personal worship,” Kaufman told Pence during the vice president’s visit to…

New York, NY, May 13, 2020 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today welcomed Senate passage of the Never Again Education Act, H.R. 943, which would provide federal funding to help give teachers across the country the necessary resources to teach about the Holocaust in their classrooms. The bill passed the House on January 27 and now goes to the President for his signature. “I am grateful for the leadership of Senators Jacky Rosen and Kevin Cramer, and Representatives…

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     Contact:  Jolie Brislin, Regional Director, ADL Nevada (702) 862–8600 jbrislin@adl.org      Antisemitic Incidents in Nevada Increase in 2019; Overall Increase Nationally  In 2019, Nevada experienced an increase of antisemitic activity according to new data from ADL (the Anti-Defamation League).  The 2019 ADL Audit…

ADL annual report found more than 2,100 acts of antisemitic hate; 56 percent increase in assaults, five fatalities   New York, May 12, 2020 … The American Jewish community experienced the highest level of antisemitic incidents last year since tracking began in 1979, with more than 2,100 acts of assault, vandalism and harassment reported across the United States, according to new data from ADL (the Anti-Defamation League). The record number of incidents came as the…

May 4, 2020 By Jonathan A. Greenblatt NEW YORK (JTA) — Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, the United States was experiencing record-high levels of anti-Semitic incidents. From Poway to Jersey City, from Monsey to Brooklyn, Jews were being targeted in the places they worshipped, lived, shopped and congregated. Social media was awash with Jew hatred. Public figures from all sides seemed to invoke anti-Semitic tropes with alarming regularity. …

New York, NY, April 29, 2020 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) has received a generous $1 million grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to help support ADL’s work to detect, expose and counter online hate speech. The two-year grant will directly support the work of ADL’s Center on Technology and Society, including the Online Hate Index, while also helping to bolster the organization’s overall activities during the COVID-19 crisis. The Online…

By Jonathan A. Greenblatt As the oldest anti-hate organization in the world, ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) has weathered our fair share of national tragedies and global events. From World War I to the Holocaust, the Great Depression to the Great Recession, we have held fast and maintained our focus despite moments of historic turmoil. Today, like everyone, our organization is dealing with the fallout of COVID-19, and we are responding to it in a methodical way that follows what I…

  Half of those polled have experienced antisemitism firsthand; 63 percent of Jews feel “less safe”   New York, NY, April 21, 2020 …  Nearly two-thirds of American Jews believe that they are less safe today than they were a decade ago, according to a new ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) survey on Jewish encounters with antisemitism in the United States. The ADL survey found that more than half of American Jews (54…

  New York, NY, April 21, 2020 … Nearly two-thirds of American Jews believe that they are less safe today than they were a decade ago, according to a new ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) survey on Jewish encounters with antisemitism in the United States. The ADL survey found that more than half of American Jews (54 percent) have either experienced or witnessed an incident they believe was motivated by antisemitism. And nearly two-thirds of Jews (63 percent) say their…

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…

  NEW YORK (JTA) — Just a few weeks ago, most Americans were not family with the concept of Zoombombing. But as the COVID-19 pandemic forced many business, community and even social meetings online, Zoom increasingly became the platform of choice for videoconferencing. The rapid growth in its use came with a steady increase in reports of intrusions by people spouting racism, anti-Semitism and hate.   READ MORE  

The flag used by Feuerkrieg Division. (ADL.org)   Conor Climo has been linked to a hate group in Estonia. Climo told an FBI source about plans to firebomb a Las Vegas synagogue or attack a local ADL office, and awaits sentencing after pleading guilty in February to felony possession of an unregistered firearm. (LinkedIn) By Michael Kunzelman and Jari Tanner The Associated Press April 13, 2020 – 7:58 pm Updated April 14, 2020 – 12:23 am HELSINKI,…

By Kenneth Jacobson ADL Deputy National Director   APRIL 14, 2020 Some U.S. officials have taken to referring to the COVID-19 virus as the “invisible enemy.” Such phraseology has been used in the past regarding Polio and other viruses with epidemic potential. This speaks to the fact that the coronavirus is lethal, is beyond a specific place or people, and is hard to identify and control because it is unseen. As a person who has spent his adult professional…

  In a new op-ed for the Times of Israel, ADL Deputy National Director Kenneth Jacobson examines the potential problematic nature of the term “invisible enemy,” which has resurfaced in recent months in describing the COVID-19 outbreak. READ MORE    

By Jonathan A. Greenblatt ADL CEO   APRIL 8, 2020 No one is immune from the threat of COVID-19. It is a virus that pays no heed to who you are; it just infects human beings. But from ancient times through the Middle Ages until today, many people look to someone to blame for their misfortune. That is happening again with fingers — real and virtual — being pointed at the Haredi and wider Orthodox Jewish community. For example, the Orthodox Jewish…