[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM, TERRORISM, AND ANTISEMITIC THREATS IN
NEW JERSEY
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FIELD HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
OCTOBER 3, 2022
__________
Serial No. 117-72
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
___________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
50-643 PDF WASHINGTON : 2023
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi, Chairman
Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas John Katko, New York
James R. Langevin, Rhode Island Michael T. McCaul, Texas
Donald M. Payne, Jr., New Jersey Clay Higgins, Louisiana
J. Luis Correa, California Michael Guest, Mississippi
Elissa Slotkin, Michigan Dan Bishop, North Carolina
Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri Jefferson Van Drew, New Jersey
Al Green, Texas Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa
Yvette D. Clarke, New York Diana Harshbarger, Tennessee
Eric Swalwell, California Andrew S. Clyde, Georgia
Dina Titus, Nevada Carlos A. Gimenez, Florida
Bonnie Watson Coleman, New Jersey Jake LaTurner, Kansas
Kathleen M. Rice, New York Peter Meijer, Michigan
Val Butler Demings, Florida Kat Cammack, Florida
Nanette Diaz Barragan, California August Pfluger, Texas
Josh Gottheimer, New Jersey Andrew R. Garbarino, New York
Elaine G. Luria, Virginia Mayra Flores, Texas
Tom Malinowski, New Jersey
Ritchie Torres, New York, Vice
Chairman
Hope Goins, Staff Director
Daniel Kroese, Minority Staff Director
Natalie Nixon, Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Statements
The Honorable Ritchie Torres, a Representative in Congress From
the State of New York, and Vice Chairman, Committee on Homeland
Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 1
Prepared Statement............................................. 2
The Honorable Josh Gottheimer, a Representative in Congress From
the State of New Jersey:
Oral Statement................................................. 3
Prepared Statement............................................. 6
The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Mississippi, and Chairman, Committee on
Homeland Security:
Prepared Statement............................................. 7
Witnesses
Ms. Laurie R. Doran, Director, Office of Homeland Security and
Preparedness, State of New Jersey:
Oral Statement................................................. 9
Prepared Statement............................................. 11
Mr. Scott Richman, Regional Director for New York and New Jersey,
ADL:
Oral Statement................................................. 13
Prepared Statement............................................. 14
Mr. Kenneth Stern, Director, Center for the Study of Hate, Bard
College:
Oral Statement................................................. 31
Prepared Statement............................................. 33
Ms. Susan Corke, Director, Intelligence Project, Southern Poverty
Law Center:
Oral Statement................................................. 41
Prepared Statement............................................. 42
Rabbi Esther Reed, Interim Executive Director, Rutgers Hillel:
Oral Statement................................................. 55
Prepared Statement............................................. 56
Ms. Holly Huffnagle, U.S. Director for Combating Antisemitism,
American Jewish Committee:
Oral Statement................................................. 58
Prepared Statement............................................. 60
COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM, TERRORISM, AND ANTISEMITIC THREATS IN
NEW JERSEY
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Monday, October 3, 2022
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Homeland Security,
Teaneck, NJ.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m.,
Teaneck Municipal Building, Teaneck, New Jersey, Hon. Richie
Torres [Vice Chairman of the committee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Thompson, Langevin, Payne, Green,
Gottheimer, Malinowski, and Torres.
Mr. Torres [presiding]. Good morning. I am Congressman
Richie Torres, and I serve as the Vice Chair of the House
Homeland Security Committee under the leadership of Chair
Bennie Thompson.
I am deeply grateful to Congressman Josh Gottheimer for
generously hosting us in his district and for his visible and
vocal leadership in combating antisemitism.
Although I am not Jewish myself, I have been a consistent
voice against antisemitism from the moment I entered Congress
and even well before then. For me, the reason is simple:
Combating antisemitism is not and should never be the sole
responsibility of the Jewish community. It is a moral
obligation that should bind all of us, but especially those of
us in the U.S. Congress.
The House Homeland Security Committee has jurisdiction over
the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which has emerged as a
vital tool for protecting the Jewish community from violent
extremism.
In a properly functioning society, there would be no need
for a Nonprofit Security Program. There would be no need for
schools and synagogues to be heavily protected by security
barriers and security cameras and security guards. There would
be no need for students, in the innocence of their youth, or
congregants in their place of worship to undergo active-shooter
training.
The tragic necessity of the Nonprofit Security Grant
Program is a sign of the troubling times we live in and the
troubled souls who increasingly live among us. The United
States is confronting an unprecedented crisis of antisemitism.
Antisemitic violence and vandalism have risen to levels not
seen in decades.
About 30 percent of all antisemitic incidents in the United
States in 2021 were concentrated in New York and New Jersey.
Just last week, Rutgers University's chapter of Alpha Epsilon
Pi, a Jewish fraternity, fell victim to vandalism during Rosh
Hashanah.
In an age of on-line radicalization, violent extremism
commands the largest microphone it has ever known in human
history, a platform that history's most vicious and violent
demagogues can only dream of.
In May 2021, for example, the Anti-Defamation League, ADL,
found the hashtag ``Hitler was right'' trending on Twitter,
with tens of thousands of retweets and with no content
moderation in sight.
In the summer of 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, during
the Unite the White rally, white supremacists were found
uttering the words, ``the Jews will not replace us'' in an
odious reference to the great replacement theory.
Most tragically, on October 27, 2018, a white supremacist,
motivated by replacement theory, entered the Tree of Life
synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and opened fire,
murdering 11 Jews in the deadliest act of antisemitism in U.S.
history.
Although white supremacist extremism has historically been
a dominant driver of antisemitism, it is far from the only one.
In early April 2022, in New York City, following a wave of
terrorism in Israel that left multiple Israelis dead, a set of
activists in a rally entitled ``Globalize the Intifada'' took
to the streets of New York and publicly called for Zionists to
be purged from college campuses and classrooms. The
substitution of the word ``Zionist'' for ``Jew'' has become the
modus operandi of a new insidious strain of antisemitism that
has taken hold in college campuses and on social media
platforms.
Antisemitism is too complicated to be reduced to one cause.
It can be found everywhere, on the right and on the left, among
the secular and among the religious. History tells us that
antisemitism is a virus with more than one mutation, with more
than a single strain. As a virus, it has spread rapidly and
widely on college campuses, on social media, and on the streets
of America, where it has grown not only in frequency and
severity, but also in far too many places with impunity.
So we are here today to examine in greater detail why
antisemitism has risen so suddenly and sharply and what we in
Congress can do specifically to aid State and local governments
as well as our community-based partners in turning the tide
against an ancient hatred that too often thrives on conspiracy
theories and too often hardens into violence. When it comes to
the fight against antisemitism, failure is not an option.
I thank our witnesses for being here, and I look forward to
an informative and productive hearing. So, with that said, if
the Chair is present, the Chair recognizes the true Chairman
Thompson for opening remarks if he may have any.
If not, without objection, I will recognize the gentleman
from New Jersey, Mr. Gottheimer, for any opening remarks.
[The statement of Vice Chairman Torres follows:]
Statement of Vice Chairman Ritchie Torres
Before we begin, I want to acknowledge the sheer devastation that
Hurricane Ian has brought to several States, particularly Florida. The
committee is thinking of those affected by the hurricane and will work
closely with the Department of Homeland Security to assist those in
need.
Good morning. I am Congressman Ritchie Torres and I serve as Vice
Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee under the leadership of
Chair Bennie Thompson.
I am deeply grateful to Congressman Josh Gottheimer for generously
hosting us in his District and for his visible and vocal leadership in
combating antisemitism.
Although I am not Jewish, I have been a consistent voice against
antisemitism from the moment I entered Congress and even well before
then. For me, the reason is simple: Combating antisemitism is not and
should never be the sole responsibility of the Jewish community. It is
a moral obligation that should bind all of us, but most especially
those of us in the U.S. Congress.
The House Homeland Security Committee has jurisdiction over the
Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which has emerged as a vital tool for
protecting the Jewish community from violent extremism.
In a properly functioning society, there would be no need for a
Nonprofit Security Grant program. There would be no need for schools
and synagogues to be heavily protected by security barriers and
security cameras and security guards. There would be no need for
students, in the innocence of their youth, or congregants, in their
place of worship, to undergo active-shooter training.
The tragic necessity of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program is a
sign of the troubling times we live in and the troubled souls who
increasingly live among us.
The United States is confronting an unprecedented crisis of
antisemitism. Antisemitic violence and vandalism have risen to levels
not seen in decades; about 30 percent of all antisemitic incidents in
the United States in 2021 were concentrated in New York and New Jersey.
Just last week, Rutgers University's chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, a
Jewish fraternity, fell victim to vandalism during Rosh Hashanah.
In an age of on-line radicalization, violent extremism commands the
largest microphone it has ever known in human history--a platform that
history's most vicious and violent demagogues could only dream of. In
May 2021, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found the hashtag
#HitlerWasRight trending on Twitter, with tens of thousands of retweets
and with no content moderation in sight.
In the summer of 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, during the
Unite The Right rally, white supremacists were found uttering the
words--``The Jews will not replace us''--in an odious reference to the
Great Replacement Theory.
And most tragically, on October 27, 2018, a white supremacist,
motivated by the Great Replacement Theory, entered the Tree of Life
Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and opened fire, murdering 11
Jews in the deadliest act of antisemitism in U.S. history.
Although white supremacist extremism has historically been a
dominant driver of antisemitism, it is far from the only one.
In early April 2022, in New York City, following a wave of terror
in Israel that left multiple Israelis dead, a set of extremists--in a
rally entitled ``Globalize the Intifada''--took to the streets of New
York and publicly called for Zionists students and professors to be
purged from college campuses and classrooms. The substitution of the
word `Zionist' for `Jew' has become the modus operandi of a new
insidious strain of antisemitism that has taken hold in college
campuses and on social media platforms.
Antisemitism is too complicated to be reduced to one cause. It can
be found everywhere--on the right and on the left, among the secular
and among the religious. History tells us that antisemitism is a virus
with more than one mutation, with more than a single strain.
And as a virus, it spreads rapidly and widely--on college campuses,
on social media, and on the streets of America where it has grown not
only in frequency and severity but also, in far too many places, with
impunity.
We are here to examine in greater detail why antisemitism has risen
so suddenly and sharply and what we in Congress can do specifically to
aid State and local governments, as well as our community-based
partners, in turning the tide against an ancient hatred that too often
thrives on conspiracy theories and too often hardens into violence.
When it comes to the fight against antisemitism, failure is not an
option.
I thank our witnesses for being here and look forward to a
productive hearing.
Mr. Gottheimer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning. I would like to welcome everyone here on the
committee to Teaneck, New Jersey. I want to thank the mayor and
the council and leadership here in the town for welcoming us.
We are very grateful for your hospitality.
On behalf of the New Jersey's Fifth District, we are
honored to be hosting the Homeland Security Committee and my
colleagues. Thank you very much for being here.
We are here, as I mentioned, to address the troubling rise
in antisemitism and domestic violent extremism in New Jersey
and Nation-wide. I want to thank Chairman Thompson, Vice Chair
Richie Torres--thank you very much for your excellent
leadership--the witnesses today and, of course, my colleagues
for recognizing the importance of this issue, for bringing it
front and center, and for their leadership in combating hate,
antisemitism, and extremism.
Across the country, including right here in our community,
there has been a dramatic spike in hate crimes targeting
religious and ethnic groups and members of the LGBTQ community
as well.
For example, according to the Anti-Defamation League, who
we are honored to have joining us today on the panel, the
overall number of antisemitic incidents in New Jersey rose by
25 percent just last year, the most ever recorded in New Jersey
by the ADL since tracking began.
In fact, in a gruesome antisemitic attack last year here in
Teaneck, a man wielding a hammer broke the windows of a
pediatrician's office and dry cleaners. The bloody man
confronted a mother and daughter, asking if they were Jewish.
This is just one of seven reported antisemitic incidents here
in Bergen County last year alone, the highest in all of New
Jersey.
Just last week, the Jewish fraternity which I belong to as
well, Alpha Epsilon Pi at Rutgers University, was once again
vandalized, this time during the high holiday of Rosh Hashanah.
This is the second time in just one calendar year.
Unfortunately, nationally, the ADL's audit of antisemitic
incidents in the United States recorded 2,717 acts of assault,
vandalism, and harassment in 2021, an average of more than
seven incidents every day.
That is why I am working to ensure we are keeping North
Jersey's houses of worship, synagogues, temples and religious
schools safe. I am proud to have helped these organizations
claw back more than $8 million in Nonprofit Security Grants to
North Jersey while I have been in office, the most out of any
district.
We have also experienced a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes
since the pandemic, especially here in North Jersey. In fact,
the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism found that anti-
Asian hate crime increased by 339 percent last year compared to
the year before.
I know the rise of racially-charged attacks against the
Asian American and Pacific Islander community has many no
longer feeling safe. I hear stories of residents having to
carry pepper spray around town and fear of letting their
children go out to play.
This shouldn't be the new normal. As we are seeing a rise
in extremism and hate crimes across the country, it is critical
that we take steps to invest in, not defund law enforcement. We
must keep our families and our communities safe as well as our
police.
That is why I introduced a new bipartisan, bicameral bill,
the Invest to Protect Act, which I am glad to have cosponsors
of on this committee, which just passed the House with
overwhelming bipartisan support, to ensure that local police
departments across our country have what they need to recruit
and retain good officers, provide necessary training, and to
invest in providing mental health resources for our officers.
I am also introducing today the bipartisan FASTER Act, the
Freezing Assets of Suspected Terrorists and Enemy Recruits Act,
along with Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, to help law
enforcement freeze the assets of ISIS-inspired lone-wolf
terrorists or other domestic extremists that are arrested on
U.S. soil.
We simply can't run the risk of funds being utilized by an
ISIS-inspired terrorist or domestic extremist to carry out
another attack, whether that is at Ground Zero, a shooting in
Jersey City targeting the Jewish community, in temples, at
schools, or on the West Side Highway, where a terror truck took
the life of our own community's Jimmy Drake. According to our
FBI field office, these terror threats remain their No. 1
concern. Mr. Drake, who lost his life, and his family have been
heroic in standing up for their son.
The FASTER Act will also implement a one-of-a-kind, state-
of-the-art National home-grown terrorist incident clearinghouse
for all levels of law enforcement to collect and share
information on incidents of ISIS-inspired home-grown lone-wolf
terrorism and violent domestic extremism.
We know there has also been a huge spike of extremist
chatter on-line via social media, including attempts to recruit
Americans into their small cells. Over the last year, we are
also witnessing an alarming spike in activity from domestic
extremist groups threatening our communities with violence and
hate, in person, on-line, and deep in our communities.
We regularly hear the names of domestic terrorist groups
like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, because of their
involvement in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. In
fact, today the trial is beginning of Oath Keepers Leader
Stewart Rhodes and several of his associates for seditious
conspiracy for their role in attempting to overthrow the
Government on January 6th.
Several of those who attacked law enforcement, the Capitol,
and our country on January 6th have been arrested here in New
Jersey, including a few miles from here in Sussex County, which
is also in my district. The Oath Keepers not only attacked the
Capitol but, according to their own members, are also Holocaust
deniers. Rioters on January 6th were even seen wearing
antisemitic imagery.
This is not a new issue here in New Jersey, where the New
Jersey Department of Homeland Security, whose director is here,
has been tracking and taking action against these domestic
extremist groups for years now, including the Oath Keepers, the
Three Percenters, and Proud Boys. They track their antisemitic,
anti-Asian, anti-Muslim activity and anti-American sentiment.
The Department then works with local law enforcement by sharing
this information to combat these threats.
Unfortunately, their extreme actions and radical ideas go
beyond January 6th. These domestic terrorists have seeped into
our communities, putting our families in danger, pitting our
neighbors against one another, and further dividing our great
country.
Community partners, law enforcement, and experts are vital
to addressing and understanding these threats, which is why I
am so thankful for our witnesses for joining us today. I look
forward to hearing from them about how we can work together to
combat violent extremism, global and domestic terrorism, and
antisemitic threats. We must combat all forms of hate wherever
it exists and ensure our communities and law enforcement have
the resources they need to stay safe and secure.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[The statement of Hon. Gottheimer follows:]
Statement of Honorable Josh Gottheimer
October 3, 2022
Good morning.
It is great to be here at the Teaneck Council Chambers, hosting my
committee on Homeland Security colleagues in my Congressional district.
We are here to discuss the troubling rise in antisemitism and
domestic violent extremism here in New Jersey and Nation-wide.
I thank Chairman Thompson, Vice Chair Torres, and today's witnesses
for recognizing the importance of this issue and for their leadership.
Serving on the Committee on Homeland Security, as Co-Chair of the
bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, and as proud representative to more
than 50,000 Jewish residents in my district, I am committed to
combating antisemitic violence and violent extremist attacks in New
Jersey and the country.
I helped lead a bipartisan resolution to condemn rising
antisemitism and recognize the many contributions Jewish Americans have
made to our great Nation. And on May 18, 2022, the resolution passed
the House of Representatives with sweeping bipartisan support in a 420-
to-1 vote.
The rise in violence, hate, and bigotry in our country is
completely unacceptable and has no place anywhere in our communities. I
know my colleagues agree.
I have said before that we must combat antisemitism wherever it
exists. Those who allow these ideas to fester and go unchecked only
enable them to spread further.
Sadly, antisemitic incidents in New Jersey increased by 25 percent
last year--the most ever recorded in New Jersey according to the Anti-
Defamation League's (ADL) annual audit.\1\ This number is likely higher
as many incidents go unreported.
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\1\ Audit of Antisemitic Incidents: Year in Review 2021, ADL,
https://nynj.adl.org/news/2021-audit-nj/ (accessed Sep. 20, 2022).
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In one incident, a man was arrested here in Teaneck for smashing
the windows of a pediatric office and a local cleaner's office with a
hammer asking those inside, ``are you Jewish?''\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ NJ Man Nabbed in Hammer Window-Smashing Rampage at Pediatric
Office, Cleaners, NBC NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021, https://
www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nj-man-nabbed-in-hammer-window-smashing-
rampage-at-pediatric-office-cleaners/3269199/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is just 1 of the 70 reported incidents in Bergen County in
2021--the highest in all of New Jersey.
Unfortunately, New Jersey follows the disturbing national trend of
rising incidents of hate. The ADL's Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in
the United States recorded 2,717 acts of assault, vandalism, and
harassment in 2021--an average of more than 7 incidents per day.
Combatting antisemitism and violent extremism will take a concerted
effort at every level of government.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) designated domestic
violent extremism a ``national priority area'' for grant programs. It
also awarded $180 million to through the Nonprofit Security Grant
Program,\3\ which our committee helps oversee, to nonprofit
organizations at high risk of terrorist attack.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Remarks by Secretary Mayorkas at
the Eradicate Hate Global Summit, October 19, 2021, https://
www.dhs.gov/news/2021/10/19/secretary-mayorkas-delivers-remarks-
eradicate-hate-global-summit.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
North Jersey houses of worship, synagogues, temples, and schools
have been awarded more than $8 million from the nonprofit security
grant program to help bolster their security.
Additionally, the Problem Solvers Caucus, which I co-chair,
endorsed and helped pass the bipartisan Never Again Education Act. The
Act creates a new grant program within the U.S. Department of Education
to provide teachers across the country the resources, tools, and
training to teach about the Holocaust and the repercussions hate and
intolerance have on our society.
I am also proud the House recently passed my bipartisan, bicameral
bill, the Invest to Protect Act, to make critical, targeted investments
in local police departments which will allow them to help combat these
threats.
Community partners are also vital in addressing these threats. That
is why I have hosted town halls with thousands of members of the Jewish
community to further the dialog about how we can fight to combat
antisemitic threats and hate.
I will continue to connect with local leaders and constituents to
address the rise in antisemitic and extremist threats.
Today, I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about the
challenges facing our communities and how we can work together to
counter violent extremism, terrorism, and antisemitic threats.
I thank the committee for coming to my Congressional district for
this important hearing.
Mr. Torres. Other Members of the committee are reminded
that under the committee rules, opening statements may be
submitted for the record.
[The statement of Chairman Thompson follows:]
Statement of Chairman Bennie G. Thompson
October 3, 2022
Good morning.
Let me begin by saying that my thoughts are with all of those
affected by Hurricane Ian.
Millions of Americans are grappling with the storm's devastating
effects and we are certainly thinking of and praying for them.
Today, the Committee on Homeland Security is examining the increase
in violent extremism and antisemitic incidents across the country and
here in New Jersey, with the aim of finding how best to counter such
threats.
This hearing is an opportunity to focus on the factors driving the
recent rise in domestic terrorism, including antisemitic violence, the
State and local response, and how the Federal Government is supporting
that response.
I would like to thank Congressman Gottheimer for his leadership on
this critical issue and for bringing the committee to his district for
today's hearing.
In the 21 years since 9/11, the threat environment has changed
immensely. While terrorist actors backed by violent Islamist ideologies
continue to pose a serious threat, the greatest terrorism threat to the
homeland today is from domestic violent extremists, particularly those
who promote a violent white supremacy ideology.
In June, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Bureau
of Investigation, and National Counterterrorism Center released a
report assessing that threats from domestic violent extremists driven
by a belief in the superiority of the white race will persist.
These agencies also assess that there is an enduring threat posed
by domestic violent extremists to Jewish communities.
Local, State, and Federal resources must be focused on addressing
the needs of the American Jewish community, which is why the committee
is in New Jersey--a State that has seen a historic rise in antisemitic
incidents.
This committee has closely examined the pervasive domestic
terrorism threat in over a dozen hearings on the issue in recent years,
including several specifically focused on antisemitism.
Congressional Democrats have also more than doubled funding for the
Nonprofit Security Grant Program from $90 million in fiscal year 2020,
to $180 million in fiscal year 2021, and $250.15 million in fiscal year
2022.
Additionally, the Biden-Harris administration has increased efforts
to address the larger domestic terrorism threat. DHS, in particular,
has:
Issued several National Terrorism Advisory System bulletins
on the heightened threat from domestic terrorists;
Established a new domestic terrorism branch within the
Office of Intelligence and Analysis;
Designated domestic violent extremism as a ``National
Priority Area'' within the Homeland Security Grant Program,
making $77 million available to grant applicants to prevent,
prepare for, protect against, and respond to domestic terrorism
threats;
and enhanced collaboration with public and private-sector
partners to better guard against domestic violent extremist
attacks on critical infrastructure.
I commend the administration for releasing a long-overdue DHS and
Department of Justice report on data concerning acts of terrorism,
including domestic terrorism, and the Federal Government's response.
Although the Federal Government is committing more resources to
combat the grave threat of domestic terrorism and antisemitic violence,
more work remains.
For example, we are still awaiting the release of the second
iteration of the DHS-DOJ report on domestic terrorism data, which is
necessary to respond appropriately to the threat.
Additionally, it is critical that the Federal Government work with
State and local partners and community organizations to use all
available tools to combat antisemitism and domestic violent extremism.
I look forward to our witnesses' recommendations for additional
action to ensure we can combat extremist incidents here in New Jersey
and throughout the country.
Thank you.
Mr. Torres. Members are also reminded that the committee
will operate according to the guidelines laid out by the
Chairman and Ranking Member in their February 3, 2021, colloquy
regarding remote procedures.
I will now welcome our witnesses. Ms. Laurie Doran was
appointed as the director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland
Security and Preparedness on February 14, 2022. In her role,
she serves as the Federally-designated Homeland Security
Adviser to the Governor and as the Cabinet-level executive
responsible for coordinating and leading New Jersey's
counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and emergency preparedness
efforts. Ms. Doran previously served as the director of the
Intelligence and Operations Division after retiring from the
Central Intelligence Agency after 32 years of service.
Mr. Scott Richman is director for ADL's largest regional
office covering New York and New Jersey, I would say the two
greatest States, although I love Texas. He oversees the work of
the region, which includes incident response, anti-bias
education, legislative initiatives, and fundraising and
leadership development, all designed to fight antisemitism and
combat hate in all its forms.
Ms. Susan Corke is the director of the Southern Poverty Law
Center Intelligence Project. At the SPLC, Ms. Corke leads a
team of investigators, analysts, and writers who track and
expose the activities of hate groups and other extremists,
including neo-Nazi groups.
Mr. Ken Stern is the director of the Bard Center for the
Study of Hate. Mr. Stern is an award-winning author, an
attorney, and was most recently executive director of the
Justus & Karin Rosenberg Foundation. Before that, he was the
director of the Division on Antisemitism and Extremism at the
American Jewish Committee, where he worked for 25 years.
Rabbi Esther Reed is the interim executive director of the
Rutgers Hillel. Rabbi Reed has served as the director there for
the last 21 years. The Rutgers Hillel is the gateway to Jewish
life at Rutgers University, providing every Jewish student at
Rutgers University a sense of people, place, and pride.
Finally, Ms. Holly Huffnagle serves as the U.S. director
for combating antisemitism for the American Jewish Committee.
In this role, she is responsible for leading AJC's response to
antisemitism in the United States and its efforts to better
protect the Jewish community. Ms. Huffnagle has also overseen
AJC's international relations in all projects and programs
related to monitoring and combating antisemitism.
Without objection, the witnesses' full statements will be
included in the record.
The Chair recognizes Ms. Doran to summarize her statement
for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF LAURIE R. DORAN, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF HOMELAND
SECURITY AND PREPAREDNESS, STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Ms. Doran. Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Katko,
thank you for the opportunity to testify today. The New Jersey
Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness leads and
coordinates the State's counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and
resiliency efforts.
While an evolving threat landscape has presented New Jersey
with a diverse set of security challenges, we work in
coordination with law enforcement partners to address our
shared domestic security.
We have seen a recent uptick in domestic violent extremist
activity around the country. OHSP's analytical capabilities
have concentrated on domestic extremism and the threat it
presents. Our 2022 threat assessment designated home-grown
violent extremists and white racially-motivated extremists as
high-level threats and forecasted that foreign terrorist
organizations will continue to seek opportunities to inspire
extremists to conduct attacks.
Domestic extremists employ similar attack methods,
recruitment strategies, and propaganda distribution. These
elements, coupled with the availability of social media, create
unique security challenges.
Racially-motivated extremists remain committed to spreading
antisemitic rhetoric on-line, with a focus on alternative
social media and encrypted messaging platforms. Nation-wide,
supporters of the white racially-motivated extremist ideology
demonstrated their willingness to capability to coordinate and
network globally as well as to direct and inspire sympathizers
on-line.
In New Jersey, white racially-motivated extremists
primarily use propaganda distribution for conversion and
recruitment purposes. Additionally, they may attempt to
establish stronger ties in the State while stockpiling weapons
and tactical equipment.
Black racially-motivated extremists may engage in low-level
criminal activities, demonize law enforcement, and spread
antisemitic conspiracies, while lone offenders may conduct
isolated attacks.
In 2019, two individuals espousing antisemitic and anti-law
enforcement views with fringe affiliations to Black racially-
motivated extremist ideology shot and killed a total of four
people in two separate incidents in Jersey City, New Jersey, to
include Detective Joseph Seals and victims inside a Kosher
grocery store. Although the investigation is on-going, this
past April a lone offender was charged with attempting to kill
and cause injuries to three after allegedly targeting the
Orthodox Jewish community during several violent attacks in and
around Lakewood, New Jersey. Both occurrences are examples of
individuals, driven by hate and bias, singling out and
terrorizing a community.
While we cannot stop every attack, we can mitigate the
risks. We can build resiliency, educate the public, promote
information sharing among our partners and identify and
forewarn of potential threats to the best of our ability.
With the support of our State's administration and
leadership, we proudly embrace a whole-of-community approach to
security. Our Interfaith Advisory Council continues to be a
national model for faith-based community engagement, with
members regularly updated on best practices and security
resources to assist them in identifying security gaps.
OHSP serves as a State administrative agency to nonprofits
that are seeking grant funding and can demonstrate a high-risk
for terrorist attacks. To address these vulnerabilities, over
the past year we have provided these organizations with $32
million from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and $6.9
million since 2019 from the New Jersey Nonprofit Security Grant
Program, a previous pilot that Governor Phil Murphy made
permanent just this past January.
As the public continues to be our first line of defense in
the fight against terrorism, OHSP has partnered with DHS to
counter violent extremism by amplifying the If You See
Something, Say Something campaign messaging and by
participating alongside selected security partner agency
personnel in the National Threat Evaluation and Reporting
Master Trainer Program. This program certifies Homeland
Security professionals and behavioral threat assessment
techniques to assist in identifying, investigating, assessing,
and managing potential threats of targeted violence, regardless
of motive.
OHSP is also collaborating with our partners on a
Behavioral Threat Assessment Management Team to deter violent
extremists from radicalizing, inspiring, or recruiting
individuals and to stop the mobilization toward violence.
Furthermore, OHSP works closely with the State's Division
of Criminal Justice as well as county and local partners to
review bias incident reports, which are assessed to determine
if they meet the threshold for submission to the State's
Suspicious Activity Reporting System.
Conversely, OHSP shares all suspicious activity information
and a weekly report outlining suspicious activity that may have
a potential bias motivation with the State's Office of the
Attorney General and DCJ. This ensures that the proper
authorities thoroughly review, vet, and investigate all
incidents.
OHSP aims to utilize these different initiatives to better
understand and combat the evolving threat landscape. The nation
as a whole has witnessed substantial changes in recent years,
and the threats that come from violent extremism and terrorism
are no exception. These threats emphasize a continued need to
for resiliency and OHSP's important mission as we continue to
meet these security challenges in collaboration with our
partners.
Chairman Thompson, Ranking Member Katko, and distinguished
Members of the committee, I thank you again for the opportunity
to testify. I look forward to your questions and yield back to
the Chairman.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Doran follows:]
Prepared Statement of Laurie R. Doran
Monday, October 3, 2022
Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Katko, thank you for the
opportunity to testify before you and the House Committee on Homeland
Security. My remarks today will largely center around New Jersey's
efforts to help ensure the security of our residents, communities,
visitors, and institutions, especially our work to counter violent
extremism, terrorism, and bias-motivated crimes. The New Jersey Office
of Homeland Security and Preparedness leads and coordinates the State's
counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and resiliency efforts. While an
evolving threat landscape has presented New Jersey with a diverse set
of security challenges, we work in coordination with Federal, State,
and local law enforcement partners to address our shared domestic
security. We recognize the nature of the work requires constant
improvement, the on-going development of strategies, and continued
expansion of current capabilities to help prevent, thwart, and mitigate
threats at all levels.
It is no secret that we have seen a recent uptick in domestic
violent extremist activity around the country. New Jersey's analytical
capabilities have concentrated on domestic extremism and the threat it
presents. In 2020, we were one of the first States in the Nation to
sharpen its focus on extreme ideologies that incite individuals to take
violent action. Our most recent threat assessment designated home-grown
violent extremists and white racially-motivated extremists as high-
level threats and forecasted that foreign terrorist organizations will
continue to seek opportunities to inspire extremists to conduct attacks
in the homeland and abroad.
Over the last decade, certain extremists have adopted the belief
systems of multiple domestic extremists and foreign terrorist
organizations and tailored those belief systems to develop and
ultimately form unique, radical worldviews that advance their own
violent goals. These extremists use this ideological convergence for
guidance or to justify violence against shared targets. They also
employ common tactics, such as attack methods, recruitment strategies,
and propaganda distribution. Their aversion for institutions and
beliefs are often in close alignment, with Western government
democracies consistently among their shared common enemies. These
elements combined, coupled with the availability of various social
media platforms, create unique security challenges for law enforcement.
Racially-motivated extremists remain committed to spreading
antisemitic rhetoric on-line, with a focus on alternative social media
and encrypted messaging platforms. Nation-wide, supporters of the white
racially-motivated extremist ideology have demonstrated their
willingness and capability to coordinate and network globally, as well
as to direct and inspire sympathizers on-line. In New Jersey, to spread
their ideology and recruit new members, white racially-motivated
extremists' primary tactic is mostly through the distribution of
propaganda. Additionally, white racially-motivated extremists may
attempt to establish stronger ties in the State, while stockpiling
weapons and tactical equipment. Black racially-motivated extremists may
engage in low-level criminal activities, demonize law enforcement, and
spread antisemitic conspiracies, while lone offenders may conduct
isolated attacks. Violent lone offenders with various motivations have
targeted law enforcement in opportunistic or ambush incidents, leading
to several fatal attacks around the Nation, including here in New
Jersey.
In December 2019, two shooters killed a total of four people and
injured three others in two separate incidents in Jersey City, New
Jersey, when they targeted a kosher grocery store, shortly after
killing Jersey City Police Detective Joseph Seals at a nearby cemetery.
The shooters, who had a fringe affiliation with Black racially-
motivated extremist ideology, espoused antisemitic and anti-law
enforcement views prior to the attack, according to authorities. Law
enforcement responded and both assailants were neutralized following a
stand-off at the grocery store. This past April, an incident unfolded
in and around Lakewood, New Jersey, when a lone offender conducted
several violent attacks on members of the Orthodox Jewish community.
Authorities charged the perpetrator with willfully causing bodily
injury to four victims and of those, attempting to kill and cause
injuries with dangerous weapons to three. While the incident in
Lakewood is still an on-going investigation, the attacker allegedly
targeted these individuals solely on the basis of their culture and
religion. Both occurrences are examples of individuals, driven by hate
and bias, singling out and terrorizing a community.
Although we know we cannot stop every attack, there are steps we
can take to mitigate the risks. We can build resiliency, we can educate
the public, we can promote information sharing among our partners and
we can identify and forewarn of potential threats to the best of our
ability. With the support of our State's administration and leadership,
we are proud of our work and continue to embrace a whole-of-community
approach to security. OHSP's Interfaith Advisory Council continues to
be a national model for faith-based community engagement. With a 4,000-
person membership base, the IAC has been able to successfully foster
open dialog and promote honest conversations, charting a collaborative
and all-inclusive approach to security. Members are regularly updated
on best practices, grant opportunities, and free training programs,
along with resources and information that will assist them in
identifying vulnerabilities and closing any security gaps. OHSP works
with homeland security and law enforcement partners by sharing
information, facilitating their connection with faith-based community
leaders and taking all the necessary actions against any form of
targeted violence and terrorism.
Through our Grants Bureau, OHSP serves as the State Administrative
Agency to eligible nonprofit organizations seeking homeland security
funding provided by both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and
the State of New Jersey. Over the past 2 years, our agency has
administered more than $32 million in Federal Nonprofit Security Grant
Program funding to those organizations demonstrating a high risk for a
terrorist attack. Additionally, in January, Governor Phil Murphy signed
legislation establishing the New Jersey Nonprofit Security Grant
Program. Introduced as a pilot program, this funding has proven to be
an important State resource to supplement available Federal security
grants. Since 2019, OHSP has administered $6.9 million through this
competitive and successful program.
As the public continues to be our first line of defense in the
fight against terrorism, OHSP has partnered with the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security on the ``If You See Something, Say Something''
campaign, amplifying its message throughout New Jersey. Furthermore,
OHSP works closely with the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, as
well as county and local partners, to review bias incident reports,
which are assessed to determine if they meet the threshold for
submission to the State's Suspicious Activity Reporting System.
Conversely, OHSP shares all suspicious activity information and a
weekly report outlining suspicious activity that may have a potential
bias motivation with the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General and
Division of Criminal Justice. This ensures that the proper authorities
thoroughly review, vet, and investigate all incidents.
Two new security initiatives will also contribute to the State's
efforts to counter violent extremism. This year, OHSP and selected
partner agency personnel participated in the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security's 4-day training, the ``National Threat Evaluation
and Reporting Master Trainer Program.'' The training certifies homeland
security professionals in behavioral threat assessment techniques and
best practices. This will enable our Master Trainers to empower
communities to identify, investigate, assess, and manage potential
threats of targeted violence regardless of motive. Additionally, OHSP,
along with our partners, is collaborating on a Behavioral Threat
Assessment Management Team. The goal of this multidisciplinary,
multiagency initiative is to deter violent extremists from
radicalizing, inspiring, or recruiting individuals and to stop the
mobilization toward violence. The New Jersey team consists of the FBI,
OHSP, New Jersey's Department of Education, State Police, Office of the
Attorney General, Division of Mental Health, Department of Human
Services, and the Urban Areas Security Initiative. A portion of OHSP's
role in this initiative is utilizing our Suspicious Activity Reporting
System to help identify individuals that may be exhibiting certain risk
factors.
OHSP aims to utilize these different initiatives to better
understand and combat the evolving threat landscape. Our State, and the
Nation as a whole, has witnessed substantial change in recent years,
and the threats that come from violent extremism and terrorism are no
exception. This emphasizes the continued need for resiliency, and
OHSP's mission has never been more important as we continue to meet
these security challenges in the areas of counterterrorism,
cybersecurity, and preparedness. To counter these evolving threats,
OHSP and its staff have dedicated themselves to responding in kind with
evolving strategies, such as robust intelligence and information
sharing, preparedness initiatives, amplified public awareness
campaigns, and joint investigative operations through interagency
partnerships. This last component in particular, further stresses that
our mission is not a solo effort, as continued collaboration with our
partners at the local, county, State, and Federal levels has been vital
to meeting these security challenges, and we would be remiss if we did
not acknowledge that we are stronger working together than alone.
Chairman Thompson, Ranking Member Katko, and distinguished Members
of the committee, I thank you again for the opportunity to testify
today.
I look forward to your questions and yield back to the Chairman.
Mr. Torres. The Chair recognizes Mr. Richman to summarize
his statement for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF SCOTT RICHMAN, REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR NEW YORK AND
NEW JERSEY, ADL
Mr. Richman. Vice Chairman Torres, Members of the
committee, it is an honor to appear before you today to address
the threat that antisemitism, hate, and extremism pose to New
Jersey and the Nation.
For more than a century, ADL has worked to stop the
defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair
treatment to all. Our experts track and respond to hate and
extremism from across the ideological spectrum, and we work
with community partners, law enforcement, and policy makers to
address these threats head-on.
ADL sees this moment as an inflection point. Hate and
extremism are metastasizing, threatening our communities and
democratic institutions. Amidst this rising hate, the Jewish
community continues to be a primary target.
ADL's audit of antisemitic incidents reached its highest
recorded number ever in 2021, with 2,717 antisemitic incidents
in the United States. Known extremist groups or individuals
motivated by extremist ideology were responsible for one out of
every five of those incidents.
Locally, New York led the Nation, with 416 antisemitic
incidents in 2021. New Jersey came in a close second, with 370,
the highest number ever recorded in the State. Of the 21
counties in New Jersey, Bergen County, where we are today, had
the highest number.
These troubling trends have continued this year, from
harassment to violence to hateful content on-line. In April, my
office worked closely with the Lakewood community and the
county prosecutor following a series of violent attacks that
culminated in the stabbing of an Orthodox Jewish man.
Antisemitism lurks across the political spectrum. Radical
anti-Israel and anti-Zionist sentiment drive incidents across
this country. I want to be clear. Criticism of Israel is not by
itself antisemitic. However, efforts to delegitimize and
demonize the Jewish state often rise to that level. Last year
in New Jersey, ADL recorded 27 antisemitic incidents motived by
anti-Israel sentiment, a 35 percent jump from the year before.
The uptick in antisemitism goes hand-in-hand with rising
extremism across the country, as ADL research has shown.
Recently, the Goyim Defense League distributed its hate-filled
content in New Jersey, blaming Jews for spreading COVID, having
too much power, and threatening the ``white race''.
White supremacist groups cloak themselves in feigned
legitimacy with innocuous-sounding names, like the New Jersey
European Heritage Association, which was responsible for one-
third of the white supremacist propaganda in New Jersey last
year, while on-line platforms enable and amplify their reach.
Such hate yields deadly results, most recently in Buffalo,
where a gunman espousing white supremacist and antisemitic
conspiracy theories killed ten people. I was among the first on
the scene, supporting our local partners, including the
National Urban League and law enforcement, and continued by
working with State leadership to combat domestic extremism.
Together, we can and must do more to prevent future tragedies.
ADL has repeatedly called for a whole-of-Government, whole-
of-society approach to curb the rising tide of hate. We call on
Congress to adopt ADL's strategies, the COMBAT Plan to fight
antisemitism, the PROTECT Plan to mitigate extremism, and the
REPAIR Plan to curtail on-line hate.
I would like to highlight seven key recommendations: No. 1,
prioritize and promote efforts to counter violent extremism as
well as oversight and transparency for those efforts; No. 2,
establish an interagency task force to combat antisemitism; No.
3, adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism as a
guideline for understanding antisemitism and identifying its
modern-day manifestations; No. 4, legislate to end the
complicity of social media companies; No. 5, create an
independent clearinghouse to identify extremist content; No. 6,
continue to fund and grow programs that protect marginalized
communities, like the Nonprofit Security Grant Program; and
finally, No. 7, ensure that the measures announced at the White
House Summit United We Stand, which ADL supported, are
implemented in full.
Last week, I helped at Rosh Hashanah services at my
synagogue. As part of my duties, I was designated to wear a
panic button around my neck to alert law enforcement in an
emergency. Like so many worshippers, I spent the service
distracted by the fear that our synagogue could be next, the
next Colleyville, the next Jersey City, the next Tree of Life.
As Yom Kippur begins tomorrow, I urge you to remember the
way that these threats tear at the fabric of our communities,
our democracy, and our country. Now, now is the time for
action. Thank you for your attention to this critical issue,
and I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Richman follows:]
Prepared Statement of Scott Richman
October 3, 2022
introduction to adl
Since 1913, the mission of ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) has
been to ``stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure
justice and fair treatment to all.'' For decades, one of the most
important ways in which ADL has fought against bigotry and antisemitism
has been by investigating extremist threats across the ideological
spectrum, including from white supremacists and other far-right violent
extremists, producing research to inform the public of the scope of the
threat, and working with law enforcement, educators, the tech industry
and elected leaders to promote best practices that can effectively
address and counter these threats.
Domestic violent extremism has been on the rise in recent years.
The Jewish community continues to be a primary target of extremists,
regardless of ideology.
Without a doubt, right-wing extremist violence is currently the
greatest domestic terrorism threat to everyone in this country. From
Charleston to Charlottesville to Pittsburgh, to Poway and El Paso and
Buffalo, we have seen the deadly consequences of white supremacist
extremism play out all over this country. Moreover, at ADL we are
tracking the mainstreaming, normalizing, and localizing of the hate,
disinformation and toxic conspiracy theories that animate this
extremism. We cannot afford to minimize this threat. We need a
bipartisan ``whole-of-Government approach''--indeed, a ``whole-of-
society'' approach--to counter it, and the work must start today.
current trends
Antisemitic Violence
Antisemitism is an on-going threat to the American Jewish
community, other marginalized groups, and our democracy itself.
According to the FBI's annual data on hate crimes, defined as criminal
offenses which are motivated by bias, crimes targeting the Jewish
community consistently constitute over half of all religion-based
crimes. The number of hate crimes against Jews has ranged between 600
and 1,200 each year since the FBI began collecting data in the 1990's.
There were 683 hate crimes against Jews in 2020, 963 in 2019 and 847 in
2018. The FBI's data is based on voluntary reporting by local law
enforcement and appropriate characterization of crimes as also being
hate crimes. For a variety of reasons, dozens of large cities either
underreport or do not report hate crime data at all. For that reason,
experts, including at ADL, know that the real figure for crimes
targeting Jews, as well as other marginalized communities, is even
higher than the FBI reporting indicates.
A violent attack against the Jewish community occurred earlier this
year on January 15, when a gunman entered Congregation Beth Israel in
Colleyville, Texas, during services, taking three congregants and the
rabbi as hostages. Though the standoff ended with all hostages freed
and physically unharmed, the violent act reinforced the need to
forcefully address the threat of antisemitic violence--experienced by
the Colleyville community and far too many others. The fact that the
Colleyville attacker traveled from the United Kingdom underscores that
there can be foreign influences on domestic terrorism, either through
incitement, coordination, or direct participation.
Rising Antisemitism
ADL has recorded a 37 percent increase in antisemitic incidents
over the past 5 years. While antisemitism has commonalities with
racism, anti-Muslim bias, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia,
misogyny, and other forms of hate and discrimination, it also has
certain unique characteristics as a specific set of ideologies about
Jews that have migrated across discourses--and across centuries. In
almost every part of our society, this hatred has been conjured and
adjusted to suit the values, beliefs and fears of specific demographics
and contexts. The underlying conspiracy theories employing Jew-hatred
morph to fit the anxieties and upheavals of the time--for example, that
Jews were responsible for the Black Death in medieval times and for
``inventing,'' spreading, or profiting from COVID in the 21st Century;
or that Jews exercise extraordinary power over governments, media, and
finance--from the charges of a conspiracy to achieve world domination
set forth in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and used by the Nazis,
to thinly-veiled antisemitism blaming ``globalism'' and ``cosmopolitan
elites'' for all the ills of the world and for planning a ``new world
order.''
Each year, ADL's Center on Extremism (COE) tracks incidents of
antisemitic harassment, vandalism, and assault in the United States.
Since 1979, we have published this information in an annual Audit of
Antisemitic Incidents. ADL's 2021 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in the
United States recorded 2,717 acts of assault, vandalism, and harassment
in 2021 alone, an average of more than seven incidents per day. This
represents a 34 percent increase from 2020 and the highest year of
incidents on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in
1979.
Known extremist groups or individuals inspired by extremist
ideology were responsible for 484 incidents in 2021, up from 332
incidents in 2020. This represents 18 percent of the total number of
incidents in 2021.
ADL's 2021 audit also revealed that antisemitic incidents in the
United States more than doubled during the May 2021 military conflict
between Israel and Hamas and its immediate aftermath compared to the
same time period in 2020. For the entire month of May, 387 antisemitic
incidents were tabulated by ADL. The lion's share of 297 occurred
between May 10--the official start of military action--and the end of
the month, an increase of 141 percent over the same period in 2020
(123). The perpetrators of many of these incidents explicitly referred
to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. After peaking during that
period, incident levels gradually returned to a baseline level.
Murder and Extremism: By the Numbers
The alarming uptick in antisemitic incidents is representative of
the rising hate and extremist violence threatening minority and
marginalized communities across the country.
In 2021, based on ADL's research, domestic extremists killed at
least 29 people in the United States, in 19 separate incidents. This
represents a modest increase from the 23 extremist-related murders
documented in 2020 but is far lower than the number of murders
committed in any of the 5 years prior (which ranged from 45 to 78).
While this could be cause for optimism, more likely it is the result of
COVID lockdowns reducing mass gatherings and the increased attention of
law enforcement following the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
Most of the murders (26 of 29) were committed by right-wing
extremists, who have been responsible for roughly 3 in 4 domestic
extremist murders over the last decade.
White Supremacist Propaganda
ADL's Center on Extremism (COE) tracked a near-doubling of white
supremacist propaganda efforts in 2020, which included the distribution
of racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ fliers, stickers, banners and
posters. The 2021 data shows a slight 5 percent drop in incidents from
the previous year, with a total of 4,851 cases reported to ADL,
compared to 5,125 in 2020. Despite the drop in overall incidents, 2021
saw a 27 percent increase in antisemitic propaganda distributions,
rising from 277 incidents in 2020 to 352 incidents in 2021.
Propaganda gives white supremacists the ability to maximize media
and on-line attention, while limiting the risk of individual exposure,
negative media coverage, arrests, and public backlash that often
accompanies more public events. The barrage of propaganda, which
overwhelmingly features veiled white supremacist language with a
``patriotic'' slant, is an effort to normalize white supremacists'
message and bolster recruitment efforts while targeting marginalized
communities including Jews, Black people, Muslims, non-white
immigrants, and LGBTQ+ people.
Modern White Supremacy
Extremist white supremacist ideology is more than a collection of
prejudices: it is a complete ideology or worldview that can be as
deeply seated as strongly-held religious beliefs.
Different variations and versions of extremist white supremacist
ideology have evolved and expanded over time to include an emphasis on
antisemitism and nativism. These extremists themselves typically no
longer use the term ``white supremacist,'' as they once proudly did,
but instead tend to prefer various euphemisms, ranging from ``white
nationalist'' to ``white separatist'' to ``race realist'' or
``identitarian.'' Even in the face of these complexities, it is still
possible to arrive at a useful working definition of the concept of
extremist white supremacy.
Through the Civil Rights era, white supremacist ideology focused on
the perceived need to maintain the dominance of the white race in the
United States. After the Civil Rights era, extremist white supremacists
realized that their views had become increasingly unpopular in society
and their ideology adapted to this new reality.
Today, white supremacist ideology, no matter what version or
variation, tends to focus on the notion that the white race itself is
now threatened with imminent extinction, doomed--unless white people
take imminent action--due to a rising tide of people of color who are
being controlled and manipulated by Jews. Extremist white supremacists
promote the concept of on-going or future ``white genocide'' in their
efforts to wake white people up to their supposedly dire racial future.
The popular white supremacist slogan known as the ``Fourteen
Words'' reflects these beliefs and holds center stage: ``We must secure
the existence of our people and a future for white children''--secure a
future, as white supremacists see it, in the face of their enemies'
efforts to destroy it.
This twisted and conspiratorial ideology was on display in 2017 in
Charlottesville as white supremacists marched with tiki torches
chanting ``Jews will not replace us,'' a rally that ended in the death
of counter-protester Heather Heyer. It was on display in 2019 during
the horrific mass shooting in El Paso. When a white supremacist opened
fire in a shopping center, killing 23 people, he was motivated by what
he called ``the Hispanic invasion of Texas.'' And when the mass shooter
at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue massacred 11 Jews on the
Jewish Sabbath, he shouted not only ``All Jews Must Die!'' but claimed
to be murdering Jews because they were helping to transport members of
the large groups of undocumented immigrants making their way north
toward the United States from Latin America, which is perceived by
white supremacists as a Jewish effort to replace the ``rightful'' white
population of the United States.
The world watched in horror as this rhetoric took violent form yet
again in May 2022, when a gunman killed 10 people and injured 3 more
inside a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, after espousing violent
white supremacist and antisemitic views on-line. This shooter was the
latest in a long line of violent domestic terrorists who embraced the
virulently racist and antisemitic ``Great Replacement'' conspiracy
theory, which argues that Jews are responsible for non-white
immigration into the United States, and that non-white immigrants will
eventually replace (and lead to the extinction of) the white race.
Anti-Zionist and anti-Israel Antisemitism
While the preponderance of antisemitism and violent threats to the
Jewish community emanate from the right, a steady stream of
antisemitism on the left persists, often related to Israel. Of course,
some criticism of Israel is part of a healthy political ecosystem.
However, a segment of the left sometimes espouses ideas that go beyond
legitimate critique and into antisemitic tropes or the vilification and
ostracization of Jews. Often, anti-Israel activists will claim they are
only targeting ``Zionists,'' but this encompasses the vast majority of
Jews who feel a connection to or affinity with Israel as part of their
Jewish identities. The bottom line is that the Jewish community
suffers.
The vilification of Zionism and ostracization of Zionists is
increasingly emerging as a common phenomenon within some left-wing
spaces. Zionism, broadly defined as the movement for Jewish self-
determination and statehood in the Jewish people's historic homeland in
the Land of Israel, is increasingly seen by left-wing activists as
unjustifiable or illegitimate. This has absolutely no basis in reality.
To be clear: Zionism is not in opposition to the Palestinians and
affords the Palestinians the exact same rights to self-determination
and statehood as the Jewish people. Yet anti-Zionist activists on the
left often invoke the words ``Zionism'' and ``Zionist'' in a pejorative
manner to demean, disparage, and attempt to ostracize Jews. Some claim
one cannot be a feminist and a Zionist or that Zionism and Zionists are
inherently linked to white supremacy. This has real-world consequences:
About a year ago, we saw the DC chapter of environmental
justice group Sunrise Movement attempt to exclude Jewish groups
from their coalition due to their ``Zionism.'' The DC chapter
apologized and reversed course--but not without significant
organizing by the Jewish community--and pushback from many
anti-Zionist activists.
In at least two cases just this year, student groups
expelled members due to their ``Zionism.'' In February 2022, a
student testified that she was harassed on campus and dismissed
from her a cappella group for being a Zionist [UConn]. Also in
February 2022, two members of a campus support group for sexual
assault survivors [at SUNY New Paltz] were forced to resign
from the group due to their self-identification as Zionist.
Segments of the left are increasingly holding American Jews or
``Zionists'' responsible for alleged human rights abuses committed by
the State of Israel against the Palestinians, which can lead to not
only ostracization but harassment:
In June 2021, someone in a vehicle passing Hillel at
Princeton University yelled ``Free Palestine'' at a group of
Jewish students and faculty who were preparing to begin
religious services on the lawn.
In Lakewood in March 2021, an individual yelled at a visibly
Jewish person, ``Free the Palestine'' and ``F*** the Jews.''
In Brooklyn in September 2021, a visibly Jewish boy with a
group of other Jewish children was approached by a man on a
subway platform. The man shook the child's arm and yelled at
him, asking why they were ``killing kids in Gaza.''
On campus, we have also seen the vandalizing of Hillel property,
calls for Hillel to be cut off from the broader campus community and
anti-Israel protests outside of Hillel. Off campus, we have seen
protestors outside of synagogues. Protesting outside a synagogue,
Hillel or any Jewish institution may be considered tantamount to
holding the Jewish community responsible for the alleged actions of the
Israeli State.
The espousal of antisemitic tropes by some anti-Zionist and left-
wing activists is also an issue. ``Zionists,'' or mainstream American
Jewish institutions, have been accused of having outsized and nefarious
influence in government, control over the media, or of having excessive
financial greed. For instance, Roger Waters, who is often invited to
speak by anti-Zionist groups, has claimed that a nefarious ``Israel
lobby'' prevented the election of Jeremy Corbyn in the United Kingdom.
He has also referred to Zionists with the antisemitic canard ``cabal.''
On campus, just this April, in an email to much of the student body,
NYU Law's SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) group alleged that
``the Zionist grip on the media is omnipresent.''
These tropes are becoming more and more normalized in mainstream
progressive spaces. Today, unfortunately, Jews on campus who so much as
publicly express affinity with Israel's existence are ever more likely
to have a difficult time being accepted. Some Jews may feel forced to
hide their connection to Israel in order to be included. The net effect
is that much of the Jewish community feels a sense of being under
siege.
On-line Hate
In recent years, extremists' on-line presence has reverberated
across a range of social media platforms. This extremist content is
intertwined with hate, racism, antisemitism, and misogyny--all also
through-lines of white supremacist ideology. Such content is enmeshed
in conspiracy theories and explodes on platforms that are themselves
tuned to spread disinformation. We can look no further than the deadly
insurrection at our Capitol, which ADL called the most predictable
terror attack in U.S. history, because it was planned and promoted out
in the open on mainstream platforms such as Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and YouTube, as well as fringe platforms such as Parler,
Gab, 4Chan and Telegram. There is little doubt that fringe platforms
have helped radicalize users and normalize both on-line and off-line
extremist actions, but Big Tech platforms are no longer unwitting
accomplices.
Mainstream Social Media Platforms
Fringe platforms, despite having relatively small user bases,
leverage Big Tech platforms like Twitter and Facebook to increase their
reach and influence. In the case of Big Tech, white supremacist
propaganda has found its viral channel. It's a perfect storm. First,
there is the well-researched human propensity to engage with the most
incendiary, inciting, and hateful content. This in turn meets the
business model of Big Tech, which depends on increasing engagement of
users to surveil them and collect copious amounts of data about them--
and their associates and activities--all to sell as many hyper-targeted
advertisements as possible. The profit incentive demands engagement;
hate, antisemitism, and extremism deliver it; and then algorithms
amplify that hateful and antisemitic content to generate even more
engagement. Toxic speech is thus given reach and impact unparalleled in
human history. For example, in 2020, a single ``Stop the Steal''
Facebook group gained more than 300,000 members within 24 hours.
Thousands of newcomers a minute joined this group and some of them
openly advocated civil war.
Meta
Meta, which owns platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and
WhatsApp, claims that it is meaningfully addressing hate and
antisemitism on its platforms. ADL and others, however, continue to
expose egregious examples of on-line antisemitism, hate,
misinformation, and extremism across the company's products. The spread
of QAnon and its consistent elevation of antisemitism, the
mainstreaming of the foundational white supremacist and neo-Nazi
``Replacement Theory,'' the Big Lie about the 2020 Presidential
election, and COVID conspiracies, all are examples of extremism,
antisemitism, and hate that has become increasingly normalized and
mainstreamed--in large part because of its viral spread on-line.
Social media companies, like Meta, know their role in the spread
and normalization of this hate. Documents disclosed to the SEC by
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen made it clear that Facebook was
aware of both the specific role its platform played in the insurrection
and the broader role the platform plays in the spread of
disinformation, extremism, and hate. The SEC disclosure included
statements from Facebook's internal documents. These documents
acknowledged Facebook's role in augmenting ``combustible election
misinformation,'' noting ``we amplify them and give them broader
distribution.'' Internal Facebook documents also stated that the
company had ``evidence from a variety of sources that hate speech,
divisive political speech and misinformation on Facebook and the family
of apps are affecting societies around the world . . . Our core
products mechanics, such as virality, recommendations, and optimizing
for engagement, are a significant part of why these types of speech
flourish.''
Notably, extremists leverage mainstream platforms like Meta's
Facebook to ensure that the hateful and antisemitic philosophies, which
often began to germinate on message boards like Gab and 8chan (now
8kun), find a new and much larger audience. Meta's platforms have
served as a gateway for extremists and hatemongers to recruit curious
individuals. Extremists use strategies like creating private pages and
events; using coded language (called dog whistles) to imply and spread
a hateful and antisemitic ideology on mainstream platforms; and linking
to hate-filled sites (versus outright posting certain content) to avoid
content moderation.
TikTok
In less than 7 years, TikTok--the social media app that allows
users to create and share short videos--has amassed over 1 billion
users. It is particularly popular among young people. As ADL documented
in August 2020 and June 2021, while much of the content on TikTok is
lighthearted and fun, extremists and antisemites have exploited TikTok
to share hateful messages and recruit new adherents. Antisemitism
continues to percolate across the app, with posts perpetuating age-old
anti-Jewish tropes and conspiracy theories. Recordings of Louis
Farrakhan, Rick Wiles (of TruNews), and Stephen Anderson--all
antisemitic individuals whose bigotry has been thoroughly documented by
ADL--were readily available on TikTok in 2021. One such post, shared on
May 23, 2021, showed a clip of a TruNews segment in which Rick Wiles
states: ``And our leaders are lowlife scum that screw little girls so
the Jews can screw America . . . we've allowed Kabbalah practicing Jews
to defile the Nation.'' TruNews, a fundamentalist Christian streaming
news and opinion platform that produces antisemitic, anti-Zionist,
anti-LGBTQ+, and Islamophobic content, has been banned from YouTube and
Facebook for violating the platforms' content rules.
Twitter
The pending purchase of Twitter by billionaire Elon Musk has
significantly damaged Twitter's efforts to address extremism and
antisemitism. Musk has expressed open disdain both for the idea of
content moderation and for the work of specific Twitter staff in making
the platform safer and more inclusive. In July 2022, ADL tested
Twitter's enforcement against antisemitism by reporting 225 strongly
antisemitic tweets to the platform. Twitter only removed 5 percent of
the reported content (11 tweets). Their reasoning was not that this was
an enforcement error but rather that they either took ``non-removal
actions'' or that the tweets in question did not have ``repeated''
antisemitic content, and thus did not rise to a level of breaking their
platform policies. The response from Twitter significantly minimizes
the impact that antisemitism and hate have on individuals from targeted
communities. In another study from this year, ADL found a 37 percent
overlap between a set of Twitter users that tweeted false and
misleading narratives about the Buffalo extremist attack in May 2022
and disinformation related to the outcome of the 2020 election. Twitter
took no or minimal action on these users who repeatedly spread harmful
and dangerous false information, which is further evidence of the
significant work Twitter must undertake to make their platform safe
against antisemitism and harmful false information.
YouTube
YouTube has remained under the radar for its role in spreading
hate, antisemitism, disinformation, and misinformation as compared to
Facebook and Twitter. YouTube waited more than a month after the 2020
Presidential election to remove videos claiming electoral fraud--by
then, millions of people had been exposed to false information that
eroded trust in our democracy. Furthermore, ADL research shows YouTube
continues to push people toward extremist content despite the company's
claim that it has overhauled its recommendation algorithms.
ADL's February 2021 Belfer Fellow report indicates that exposure to
videos from extremist or white supremacist channels on YouTube remains
disturbingly common. The report's authors conducted a study that
measured the browsing habits of a diverse national sample of
participants and found that approximately one in ten participants
viewed at least one video from an extremist channel (9.2 percent) and
approximately two in ten (22.1 percent) viewed at least one video from
an alternative (gateway) channel. Moreover, participants often received
and sometimes followed YouTube recommendations for videos from
alternative and extremist channels. Overall, consumption of alternative
and extremist content was concentrated among highly-engaged
respondents, most frequently among those with negative racial views. In
total, people with high racial resentment were responsible for more
than 90 percent of views for videos from alternative and extremist
channels.
An investigation undertaken this year showed the ways in which
hateful organizations such as the antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ New
Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement (New IFB) have utilized new
product features on YouTube to grow their followings, and how YouTube
has not put sufficient protections in place to keep hateful groups from
weaponizing their product features. Utilizing the new ``YouTube
Shorts'' product feature, the New IFB was able to grow the views on
their content by over 100-fold from an average of 85 views to an
average of 8,500 views.
Extremism in 2021 and 2022
The January 6, 2021 siege on the Capitol was an assault on our
country and our democracy. Many of those who were roused to violence
that day did so as the result of weeks and months (and years) of
incitement, on- and off-line. These individuals included a range of
right-wing extremists united by their fury with the perceived large-
scale betrayal by ``unprincipled'' Republican legislators. Many of the
individuals who stormed the Capitol have ties to known right-wing
extremist groups, including Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, Groypers, and
other white supremacists, and those who believe the QAnon conspiracy
theory. A number of Proud Boys members and Oath Keepers have been
charged with conspiracy in connection with the January 6 insurrection.
More information on these extremist groups is provided below.
Others who participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol are
considered part of the new pro-Trump extremist movement, a
decentralized but enthusiastic faction made up of self-described
``patriots'' who continue to pledge their fidelity to the former
President and his false assertions that he actually won the 2020
election and that it was stolen from him by, among other things,
massive voter fraud. This new breed of extremist is foundationally
animated by devotion to Trump, placing him over party or country. They
are living inside an ecosphere of misinformation, disinformation, lies,
and conspiracy theories, fertilized by Alex Jones, QAnon, the former
President and his enablers, and many others.
Oath Keepers
The Oath Keepers are a large but loosely organized collection of
right-wing anti-Government extremists who are part of the militia
movement, which believes that the Federal Government has been seized by
a shadowy conspiracy that is trying to strip U.S. citizens of their
rights. Though the Oath Keepers will accept anyone as members, what
differentiates them from other anti-Government extremist groups is
their explicit focus on recruiting current and former military, law
enforcement, and first responder personnel.
New analysis from ADL's Center on Extremism (COE) found that the
leaked membership list for the Oath Keepers includes hundreds of
elected officials, law enforcement officers, members of the military,
and first responders.
In September 2021, the non-profit journalist collective Distributed
Denial of Secrets released the membership database for the Oath Keepers
organization. The membership data, which includes more than 38,000
names, provides unique insight into the people who signed up for the
organization over the years, and helps illuminate the extent to which
the group's anti-Government ideology has permeated mainstream society.
ADL's analysis uses the leaked data to highlight the number of
individuals who signed up for or supported the Oath Keepers in key
areas: Elected office, law enforcement, the military, and emergency
services--as well as in the general population.
Key Findings
As of August 8, the Center on Extremism (COE) has identified
373 individuals on the Oath Keepers membership list believed to
be currently serving in law enforcement agencies across the
country. This number is far higher than any previously
identified number of extremists within law enforcement. For
comparison, an ADL report released in 2021 identified 76
cases--73 of which were unique--in which extremists were found
serving in law enforcement.
ADL identified individuals we believe are currently holding
senior leadership positions within their respective agencies,
including at least ten chiefs of police and 11 sheriffs.
In addition to those actively serving in law enforcement,
ADL identified more than 1,000 individuals who we believe
previously served in law enforcement.
ADL's Center on Extremism (COE) analysis identified 81
individuals on the Oath Keepers membership list who are
currently holding or running for public office across the
country in 2022. These individuals run the gamut from local
office--mayors, town council members, school board members--to
State representatives and senators.
Prior to this year's primary season, ADL confirmed 42 Oath
Keepers-aligned individuals who were up for election for public
office in 2022, consisting of 22 incumbents and 20 candidates.
As of August 8, 21 of these candidates have advanced to
the general election either by winning their primary or
having their primary canceled. Thirteen of the candidates
have lost their primary race. Even more concerning, 4
individuals have already won their general election.
ADL identified 117 individuals who we believe currently
serve in the U.S. military, an additional 11 people who serve
in the reserves, and 31 individuals who hold civilian positions
or are military contractors.
In addition to those currently serving in the military, ADL
estimates that one in ten of the individuals in the database
previously served in the military in some capacity.
The Proud Boys
The Proud Boys are a right-wing extremist group with a violent
agenda. They are primarily misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic, and
anti-immigration. Some members espouse white supremacist and
antisemitic ideologies and/or engage with white supremacist groups.
Proud Boys are known to attend public rallies and protests sporting
black and yellow Fred Perry polo shirts, other black and yellow
clothing, and tactical vests. Members have been known to engage in
violent tactics and several members have been convicted of violent
crimes.
Nationally, Proud Boys members account for one of the highest
numbers of extremist arrestees in relation to the January 6th
insurrection, including three New Yorkers who belong to local Proud
Boys chapters. Additionally, the Proud Boys latched on to anti-mask and
anti-vaccine activism, attending, and at times disrupting, school board
meetings as well as related protests and rallies.
There are nine chapters affiliated with the Proud Boys in New York,
with the newest chapter created in early 2022. Local Proud Boys have
staged flash demonstrations and have advertised and participated in
protests against COVID-19 measures in multiple locations around the
State.
In December 2021, ADL joined D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine and
other pro bono counsel in bringing a civil lawsuit arising out of the
January 6 insurrection on behalf of Washington, DC against the Proud
Boys, Oath Keepers, and individuals associated with both groups. The
case, which brings allegations under the Reconstruction Era KKK Act,
among other laws, seeks to hold accountable the groups and affiliated
individuals for their role in planning and executing the attack on the
Capitol in an attempt to overturn a lawful Presidential election.
Groypers/Groyper Army
The so-called ``Groyper army'' (the term ``Groyper'' is explained
below) is a white supremacist group, led by Nick Fuentes, that presents
its ideology as more nuanced than that of other groups in the white
supremacist sphere. While the group and its leadership's views align
with those held by the white supremacist alt-right, Groypers attempt to
normalize their ideology by aligning themselves with ``Christianity''
and ``traditional values,'' ostensibly championed by the church,
including marriage and family.
Like the alt-right and other white supremacists, Groypers believe
they are working to defend against demographic and cultural changes
that are destroying the ``true America''--a white, Christian nation.
They identify themselves as ``American nationalists'' who are part of
the ``America First'' movement. To the Groypers, ``America First''
means that the United States should close its borders, bar immigrants,
oppose ``globalism,'' promote ``traditional'' values like Christianity,
and oppose ``liberal'' values such as feminism and LGBTQ+ rights. They
claim to not be racist or antisemitic and see their bigoted views as
``normal'' and necessary to preserve white, European-American identity
and culture. However, some members have expressed racist and
antisemitic views on multiple occasions. They believe their views are
shared by the majority of white people.
QAnon and Other Conspiracy Theories
QAnon is a global, wide-reaching and remarkably elaborate
conspiracy theory that has taken root within some parts of the pro-
Trump movement. It is an amalgam of both novel and well-established
theories, with marked undertones of antisemitism and xenophobia.
Fundamentally, the theory claims that almost every President in recent
U.S. history up until Donald Trump has been a puppet put in place by a
global elite of power brokers hell-bent on enriching themselves and
maintaining their Satanic child-murdering sex cult. These theories are
based largely on cryptic posts from an anonymous user called ``Q'' who
started posting on message boards such as 4chan in late 2017 and claims
to have high-level access to secret intelligence within the U.S.
Government. Q is a reference to ``Q clearance'' or ``Q access
authorization''--terms used to describe a top-secret clearance level
within the Department of Energy.
According to QAnon lore, this global elite, known as ``The Deep
State'' or ``The Cabal,'' control not just world governments, but the
banking system, the Catholic church, the agricultural and
pharmaceutical industries, the media, and entertainment industry--all
working around the clock to keep the people of the world poor,
ignorant, and enslaved.
Conspiracy theories, rampant in the United States, have an unusual
power to motivate people to action. Some conspiracy theories are
associated with various right-wing or left-wing ideologies, while
others transcend ideology, like those surrounding the 9/11 attacks or
the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Under the right circumstances,
such theories can motivate people to violence, especially if the
conspiracy theories single out specific people or organizations as the
villains.
Most extremist movements develop or depend on conspiracy theories
to some degree. In the United States, extreme right-wing movements have
a particularly close relationship to conspiracy theories. Anti-Muslim
extremists promote ``Sharia law'' conspiracy theories, for example, to
increase anti-Muslim animus, while anti-immigrant border vigilantes
justify their patrols with conspiracy theories about Mexican drug
cartels waging a secret invasion of the United States.
For some right-wing extremist movements, conspiracy theories lie at
the heart of their extreme worldviews. The modern white supremacist
movement, for example, centers its beliefs on the notion that the white
race is in danger of extinction from growing numbers of people of color
who are controlled and manipulated by a nefarious Jewish conspiracy.
Anti-Government extremist movements, such as the militia movement and
the sovereign citizen movement, are based on conspiracy theories that
focus on the Federal Government.
As a result, much of the violence stemming from extremist white
supremacists and anti-Government extremists can be attributed, directly
or indirectly, to such conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories often
sharpen anger that extremists already feel to the point where they
become willing to take violent action.
In 2021, disparate groups of QAnon adherents, election fraud
promoters and anti-vaccine activists organized events around the
country to promote their causes. This phenomenon underscores the extent
to which the line separating the mainstream from the extreme has
blurred, and how mainstream efforts to undermine our democratic
institutions are bolstered by extremist and conspiratorial narratives
and their supporters.
These narratives include:
That the 2020 Presidential election was stolen by the
Democrats (touted at the Health and Freedom events organized by
right-wing entrepreneur Clay Clark);
That a global cabal of pedophiles (including Democrats) who
are kidnapping children for their blood, will be executed when
Donald Trump is reinstated as President (popular at The Patriot
Voice: For God and Country conference, organized by QAnon
influencer John Sabal, a/k/a ``QAnon John,'' and at the We the
People Patriots Day event and the OKC Freedom conference);
That the coronavirus was co-created in a lab by director of
the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr.
Anthony Fauci and Microsoft founder, Bill Gates;
That the coronavirus vaccine contains dangerous ingredients
that change your DNA and make vaccinated people ``shed''
dangerous toxins;
That Satanic socialists are attempting to take over the
country; and
That if Democrats and ``the left'' remain in power, a
confrontation, potentially violent, will be necessary to
``reclaim'' the country.
These narratives go well beyond the mainstream into extreme
territory.
Long-Term Trends: The Growing Threat of Domestic Terrorism
While it is impossible to say with absolute certainty what lies
ahead, we know that white supremacists and some other extremists,
including anti-Muslim extremists, anti-immigrant extremists, and
antisemites, are driven by conspiracy theories as well as manufactured
fears around demographic change. Some extremists fear that this will
only accelerate as the Biden administration is perceived by them to
enact more humane policies toward immigrants and refugees who are
people of color. Extremists equate those policies to ``white
genocide.''
Militia and other anti-Government groups may also be very active in
the next few years. The militia movement has historically derived much
of its energy and vitality from its rage toward the Federal Government.
However, the movement's support of President Trump during his
administration dulled that anger. As it progresses, the Biden
administration's existence may give militias an excuse to return to
their foundational grievances: the belief that a tyrannical government
in league with a globalist conspiracy is coming to enslave them by
taking first their guns and then the remainder of their rights.
Finally, antisemitism will likely continue to be a central part of
the conspiratorial views that fuel right-wing violence, as it has been
for so long. It is crucial to recognize not only the threat to Jews and
Jewish institutions this poses, but also both the foundational and
animating impetus it gives violent white extremism, whatever its
targets. And it is also vitally important to understand the role that
antisemitic conspiracies play in the wider threat to our democracy.
Antisemitism isn't just bigotry directed toward Jews. Antisemitism uses
hatred and bigotry against the Jewish community to undermine democratic
practices by framing democracy as a conspiracy, as Eric Ward of the
Western States Center notes, ``rather than as a tool of empowerment or
a functional tool of governance. In other words, the more people buy
into antisemitism and its understanding of the world, the more they
lose faith in democracy.''
Extremist and Antisemitic Trends and Incidents in New Jersey
New Jersey has been a hotbed for extremist activity and antisemitic
incidents over the past few years, as white supremacist and extremist
groups have continued to maintain an active presence in the State,
using propaganda to communicate their hateful messages more broadly and
to recruit new members.
In 2020, ADL documented a whopping 323 incidents of white
supremacist propaganda distribution across New Jersey.\1\ Last year,
ADL recorded 179 such incidents--positioning New Jersey among the top
10 States in the country for documented incidents. Patriot Front (101),
based in Texas, along with the New Jersey European Heritage Association
(59), were the most active groups in the State in 2021, followed by
White Lives Matter (10).
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\1\ Propaganda incidents are counted as a single incident even if
thousands of pamphlets are distributed.
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The New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA), despite its
seemingly innocuous name, is a white supremacist group--active in New
Jersey and elsewhere--whose members see themselves as defenders of
people of white European descent and white culture. Members hold the
white supremacist worldview that unless immediate action is taken, the
white race is doomed to extinction by a ``rising tide of color''
purportedly controlled and manipulated by Jews. The group believes its
mission is to ``wrest political, economic, and social control away from
the hostile elite who have usurped power in America.'' To do this,
followers are called upon to ``Reclaim America.'' The group espouses
antisemitic, racist, and anti-immigrant rhetoric, propagandized in the
form of flyers, stickers, banners, and social media posts. Known
members have current and former ties to racist skinhead organizations,
the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, other white supremacist
groups, and the White Lives Matter movement. Many of NJEHA's members or
close associates organized and attended the neo-Nazi, antisemitic
``Fash Bash 2019'' celebrating Hitler's 130th birthday. Most recently,
members of the NJEHA disrupted the South Plainfield Labor Day parade
carrying a banner that read ``Defend American Labor Close the Border.''
In 2021, white supremacist propaganda was distributed in the
following New Jersey municipalities: New Brunswick (8), Trenton (8),
Montclair (6), Princeton (6), Bordentown (5), Cherry Hill (4), Hamilton
(4), Lambertville (3), Asbury Park (3), Somerset (3), Newark (3),
Morristown (3), Lyndhurst (3), and Totowa (3). The Northern New Jersey
area (Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Somerset, Hunterdon, Morris, Warren,
Sussex, Passaic, Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Union) had the most reported
incidents of white supremacist propaganda (143). The Southern New
Jersey area (Ocean, Burlington, Atlantic, Camden, Gloucester, Salem,
Cumberland, Cape May) had 36 reported instances of white supremacist
propaganda.
Against this concerning backdrop, antisemitic incidents rose by 25
percent in New Jersey in 2021, reaching 370 total incidents, as
detailed in ADL's Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents released in
April 2022. This is the highest number of antisemitic incidents ever
recorded by ADL in New Jersey, and the second-highest number recorded
in any State across the country last year (New Jersey was second only
to New York).
According to the data, New Jersey experienced increases in
antisemitic incidents across all three main categories compiled by
ADL--harassment (252 incidents; 34 percent increase from 2020),
vandalism (112 incidents; 7 percent increase from 2020) and assault (6
incidents; 150 percent increase from 2020). Incidents took place in
public areas (123), in non-Jewish K-12 schools (82), at Jewish
institutions (44), at private residences (4), at business
establishments (35), and on-line (29).
Geographically, Bergen County accounted for the highest number of
documented antisemitic incidents, with 70 antisemitic incidents
recorded in 2021. Ocean County had 44 incidents, Mercer County had 39
incidents, Middlesex County had 31 incidents, and Union County had 30
incidents. Of the 70 reported incidents in Bergen County, 49 were
incidents of harassment and 21 were incidents of vandalism. In one
notable Bergen County incident, a man smashed the windows of a doctor's
office with a hammer and asked patients, ``Are you Jewish?'' Three of
the six antisemitic assaults in New Jersey in 2021 occurred in Ocean
County.
Antisemitic attacks have continued in 2022, and the Jewish
community in Lakewood, New Jersey has been particularly vulnerable. In
January 2022, for example, a snowplow driver posted a video to his
Facebook page appearing to show his plow intentionally targeting two
Orthodox Jewish men. Alongside his video post, the driver wrote, ``This
one's for you JC.'' A few months later, in April 2022, multiple victims
were hospitalized following a violent crime spree in nearby Jackson,
New Jersey involving a carjacking, stabbing, and two pedestrians being
struck by the stolen vehicle. Acting New Jersey Attorney General
Matthew Platkin approved a terrorism charge in this case as Prosecutor
Bradley Billhimer stated these attacks were ``intended to terrorize the
Jewish community in Lakewood and Jackson.''
On New Jersey university and college campuses, there was a 17
percent increase in incidents of antisemitic harassment in 2021. ADL
recorded five incidents of antisemitic vandalism on college campuses in
New Jersey in 2021, including swastikas being drawn on academic and
residential buildings, mezuzahs being stolen and even a Jewish
fraternity being egged. This same Jewish fraternity was egged once
again during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, in 2022.
Jewish institutions also saw a sharp increase in antisemitic
incidents in 2021--the 44 incidents that took place at Jewish
institutions far exceeded pre-pandemic levels and represented a 76
percent increase relative to incidents recorded in 2020. Of these
incidents, 39 were incidents of harassment, four were incidents of
vandalism, and one was an incident of assault.
Incidents related to Israel or Zionism in New Jersey, which may be
broadly defined as support for Jewish statehood and self-determination
in the Jewish people's ancestral homeland in the Land of Israel,
increased by 35 percent in 2021, reaching a total of 27 incidents.
Notably, ADL recorded the highest number of antisemitic incidents in
New Jersey during the month of May 2021 (56), which directly coincided
with the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. This was
86 percent higher than the State's average monthly total (30). Of the
56 incidents recorded in New Jersey that month, 14 included explicit
references to Israel or Zionism. These included:
On May 8, an individual in a passing car yelled ``Free
Palestine'' and antisemitic slurs at a group of Jewish people
who were praying outside.
On May 16, four individuals shouted, ``Fuck Israel, Free
Palestine'' after passing a visibly Jewish person on the
street.
On May 17, a Jewish man was harassed with anti-Israel and
antisemitic remarks by a passerby in a car.
Consistent with these disturbing trends, 2021 was a record-high
year for total reported bias incidents in New Jersey. According to
preliminary statistics released by the New Jersey State Police, the
overall number of bias incidents reported in 2021 (1,871 incidents)
represents the highest annual number of bias incidents reported since
the State began tracking them in 1994. Notably, 2021 was the first year
in which New Jersey State Police separately tracked incidents occurring
in ``cyber space,'' which previously were classified as ``other/
unknown.'' There were 275 reported bias incidents occurring in cyber
space in 2021 (roughly 15 percent of all reported incidents).
Underreporting continues to be a challenge in many New Jersey
communities--particularly for those in marginalized communities--as
victims of bias crimes and antisemitic incidents face significant
barriers to reporting hate crimes in the first instance. There is also
significant underreporting of hate crimes to the FBI, particularly
where reporting remains voluntary by law enforcement agencies. ADL
strongly encourages law enforcement agencies to report hate crime
statistics to the FBI and is working with elected officials, law
enforcement leaders, and community members across New Jersey to tackle
these challenges.
Finally, ADL has been increasingly concerned about anti-Government
extremist activity across the country and in New Jersey, including from
groups like the Oath Keepers. According to the recently leaked Oath
Keepers membership list reviewed by ADL's Center on Extremism (COE),
588 individuals had ties to New Jersey, including 1 elected official,
12 members of law enforcement, 2 active military, and 4 first
responders.
Extremist and Antisemitic Trends and Incidents in New York
The last 2 years have seen a significant proliferation of hate
incidents in New York State, as detailed in ADL's Center on Extremism's
(COE) June 2022 joint report with the Community Security Initiative
(CSI)--Hate In The Empire State. There is a broad diversity of
extremist threats in New York, including from anti-Government
extremists, militias, white supremacists, and radical Islamists.
Throughout 2020 and 2021, extremist groups have engaged in an array of
activities, including: Threatening local officials, disrupting school
board meetings, running for elected positions, funding terrorism,
conducting cyber attacks, organizing rallies, engaging in propaganda
distributions and even committing violence.
White supremacist propaganda distribution accounts for a large
proportion of extremist-related incidents in New York. In 2021, New
York State ranked seventh nationally in terms of white supremacist
propaganda distribution incidents, with 212 such incidents recorded
across the State.
The Goyim Defense League (GDL), a network of virulently antisemitic
propagandists attracting a range of antisemites and white supremacists,
has already been very active in 2022. Other extremist groups active in
New York include Black nationalist extremist groups, Islamist
extremists that align with al-Qaeda and ISIS, QAnon, and the New York
Watchmen. Oath Keepers also has a strong presence. ADL researchers
recently documented 1,996 individuals on the leaked Oath Keepers
membership list who have ties to New York--5 are elected officials and
45 are members of law enforcement.
Extremist incidents in New York, as is the case across the country,
are often rooted in wide-spread campaigns of disinformation and
conspiracy theories. A tragic manifestation of this national phenomena
occurred on May 14, 2022 in Buffalo, New York, when a gunman killed 10
people and injured 3 more inside a Tops supermarket. According to an
on-line screed allegedly written by the shooter and posted before the
attack, he espoused white supremacist, racist, and antisemitic
conspiracy theories (including the Great Replacement Theory) and
claimed his goal was to ``spread awareness to my fellow whites about
the real problems the West is facing,'' and ``encourage further attacks
that will eventually start the war that will save the Western world.''
Hate crimes remain a significant concern across New York State, and
in New York City specifically, where documented hate crimes have more
than doubled since 2020. Indeed, according to NYPD data, hate crimes
increased 196 percent from 2020 (266 incidents) to 2021 (522
incidents). At the State level, and according to FBI data, antisemitic
hate crimes accounted for 88.3 percent of the religiously motivated
hate crime incidents in 2020.
Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that New York leads the
Nation in antisemitic incidents, according to the ADL's annual Audit of
Antisemitic Incidents. In 2021, the number of reported incidents
increased 24 percent over 2020 numbers, rising from 336 to 416
incidents. These numbers include a spike in antisemitic incidents
driven by extreme anti-Israel sentiment during the May 2021 Israel-
Hamas conflict. Incidents motivated by such animus included assault,
arson threats, and harassment. For example:
On May 11, a Jewish preschool received a harassing phone
call from an individual who accused Jews of persecuting
Palestinians and said that Jews should die.
On May 15, a Jewish family was harassed while walking to
synagogue by a woman who yelled at them, ``You evil Jewish
people are killing Palestinian children.''
On May 20, a number of individuals beat and yelled
antisemitic slurs at a Jewish man in Times Square.
Overall, ADL's annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents found a total
of 62 reported incidents in New York in 2021 which occurred at Jewish
institutions such as synagogues, Jewish community centers, and Jewish
schools--an increase of 41 percent from 2020. One hundred and sixty-one
incidents involved a swastika, and 51 incidents involved assault, the
highest number ever recorded by ADL in New York.
ADL has continued to track a series of deeply concerning
antisemitic incidents in 2022. One particularly troubling incident took
place on April 20, 2022, when a 28-year-old man on crutches, who was
carrying an Israeli flag, was allegedly assaulted at 42nd Street and
Lexington Avenue in Manhattan by a pro-Palestinian activist. According
to reports, the victim was punched and knocked to the ground, dragged
across the sidewalk and kicked, and told, ``This is what happens when
you're a terrorist.'' He reportedly sustained injuries, including a
concussion. The alleged assailant is being charged with a hate crime,
as the attack is believed to have been carried out because of the
``perceived national origin or religion'' of the victim. Underreporting
continues to be a challenge in New York communities for similar reasons
as in New Jersey, as described above. In 2020, only 14 percent of
reporting agencies in New York reported one or more hate crimes to the
FBI.
policy recommendations
We need a whole-of-Government approach to address these threats.
ADL strongly recommends urgent action to fight antisemitism, prevent
and counter domestic violent extremism, and push hate and extremism
back to the fringes of the digital world. To achieve this, ADL created
the COMBAT, PROTECT, and REPAIR plans. The COMBAT Plan is a
comprehensive, six-part framework for elected officials and policy
makers to take meaningful action to fight antisemitism. The PROTECT
plan is a comprehensive, seven-part plan to mitigate the threat posed
by domestic extremism and domestic terrorism while protecting civil
rights and civil liberties. The REPAIR plan is a comprehensive, six-
part framework for policy makers and platforms to meaningfully decrease
on-line hate, harassment, and extremism. Together, these plans can have
an immediate and deeply significant impact in challenging the rise of
antisemitism, preventing and countering domestic terrorism, and
decreasing on-line hate--all while protecting civil rights and
liberties and ensuring that government overreach does not harm the same
vulnerable people and communities that these extremists target. Our
suggestions come under these areas:
The COMBAT Plan
C--Condemn Antisemitism
O--Oppose Hate and Extremism Driven by Antisemitism
M--Make Institutions Safe from Antisemitism
B--Block Antisemitism On-line
A--Act Against Global Antisemitism
T--Teach About Antisemitism
Condemn Antisemitism
Public officials and civic leaders must use their bully pulpits to
speak out against antisemitism and all forms of hate and extremism.
Regardless of its origins--from the far left to the far right and
anywhere in between--leaders must call out antisemitism and rally their
communities to action.
Condemning all forms of antisemitism, and responding to
antisemitic incidents, in timely, specific, and direct ways.
Challenging antisemitism in the United States via a whole-
of-Government strategy.
Adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
(IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism.
Oppose Hate and Extremism Driven by Antisemitism
Fighting hate crimes is a critical task, especially as
antisemitism, anti-AAPI violence, anti-Black racism, and other forms of
bigotry are at such high levels. According to the FBI's annual hate
crimes report, hate crimes targeting the Jewish community make up
nearly 55 percent of all religion-based crimes.
Supporting hate crime laws and improving hate crime data
collection and reporting.
Adopting wide-ranging measures to combat all forms of
domestic antisemitic extremism, most notably the array of
policy recommendations outlined in ADL's PROTECT plan.
Make Institutions Safe from Antisemitism
Whether the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the
Chabad in Poway, or hate against Jewish students on college campuses,
there is an acute threat of antisemitic violence and harassment. The
Jewish community must be protected from these threats and counter the
movements that produce them.
Protecting the physical security of Jewish community
institutions.
Safeguarding Jewish students in post-secondary institutions.
Block Antisemitism On-line
Federal and State governments have an important role in reducing
on-line hate, harassment, and extremism fueled by antisemitism. Eighty
percent of Americans agree there should be more police training and
resources to help people with on-line hate and harassment. And an
overwhelming majority of Americans agree that laws should be
strengthened to hold perpetrators of on-line hate accountable for their
conduct (81 percent).
Adopting ADL's comprehensive approach to combatting on-line
hate, harassment, and extremism, including antisemitism, as
delineated in the REPAIR plan.
Act Against Global Antisemitism
Global antisemitism is on the rise. Cultures of violence, silence,
and complacency have helped antisemitism to gain new currency around
the world. Without the requisite proactivity and knowledge to recognize
this evil, we are at a disadvantage to stop it.
Strengthening the Office of the U.S. Special Envoy to
Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.
Amplifying intergovernmental cooperation between the United
States and foreign governments to fight global antisemitism and
specific regional manifestations.
Countering state-sponsored antisemitism and related
terrorism.
Mobilizing against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions
(BDS) campaign and other efforts to demonize, delegitimize, and
isolate Israel in international fora.
Teach About Antisemitism
Eliminating antisemitism and other forms of bigotry requires
Government and civil society leaders to promote anti-hate, anti-bias,
and civics education programs. Particularly now, better understanding
of the Jewish community, and robust Holocaust and antisemitism
education are crucial to mitigating the hate threatening all of our
communities.
Promoting understanding of Jewish people today.
Including antisemitism in anti-bias education and related
training.
The PROTECT Plan
P--Prioritize Preventing and Countering Domestic Terrorism
R--Resource According to the Threat
O--Oppose Extremists in Government Service
T--Take Public Health and Other Domestic Terrorism Prevention
Measures
E--End the Complicity of Social Media in Facilitating Extremism
C--Create an Independent Clearinghouse for On-line Extremist
Content
T--Target Foreign White Supremacist Terrorist Groups for Sanctions
Prioritize Preventing and Countering Domestic Terrorism
First, we urge Congress to adopt a whole-of-Government and whole-
of-society approach to prevent and counter domestic terrorism.
In mid-June 2021, the Biden-Harris administration released
the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Domestic Terrorism.
The strategy is laudable, and a step in the right direction.
However, many critical details were left unaddressed. Congress
must press for further details into how the plan will be
implemented, and the steps that will be taken to ensure
protection for civil rights and civil liberties. Further,
departments and agencies must create their own implementation
plans for the Strategy.
As Congress considers appropriations bills, resources to
prevent and counter domestic terrorism are critical to
mitigating the threat. ADL urges committee Members to consider
supporting significant increases for these necessary resources
across the Government in the Commerce, Justice, and Science;
Homeland Security; Defense; State and Foreign Operations;
Interior; and Labor, Health, and Human Services appropriations
processes.
Resource According to the Threat
We must ensure that the authorities and resources the Government
uses to address violent threats are proportionate to the risk of the
lethality of those threats. In other words, allocation of resources
must never be politicized but rather based on transparent and objective
security concerns.
Congress must ensure that offices addressing domestic
terrorist threats have the resources they need and can deploy
those resources in a manner proportionate to existing threats.
Those resources must be matched with transparency and oversight
to hold leaders accountable.
Congress must exercise careful oversight to ensure that no
resources are expended on counterterrorism efforts targeting
protected political speech or association. Investigations and
other efforts to mitigate the threat should be data-driven and
proportionate to the violent threat posed by violent extremist
movements.
Oppose Extremists in Government Service
It is essential that we recognize the potential for harm when
extremists gain positions of power, including in Government, law
enforcement, and the military.
To the extent permitted by law and consistent with
Constitutional protections, take steps to ensure that
individuals engaged in violent extremist activity or associated
with violent extremist movements, including violent white
supremacist and unlawful militia movements, are deemed
unsuitable for employment at the Federal, State, and local
levels--including in law enforcement. Appropriate steps must be
taken to address any current employees, who, upon review, match
these criteria.
To the extent permitted by law and consistent with
Constitutional protections, take steps to ensure that
individuals engaged in violent extremist activity or associated
with violent extremist movements, including violent white
supremacist and unlawful militia movements, are not given
security clearances or other sensitive law enforcement
credentials. Appropriate steps must be taken to address any
current employees, who, upon review, match these criteria. Law
enforcement agencies Nation-wide should explore options for
preventing extremists from being among their ranks.
The Department of Defense (DoD) released its internal
extremist threat review on December 20, 2021. While the review
represents significant progress, we need more information to
truly determine the threat posed by extremists within the
ranks. DoD should provide further detail on how it will
evaluate white supremacists and related threats, as well as how
commanders' ability to adjudicate extremism-related guidelines
will be overseen.
Similarly, DHS announced that it completed a review of
extremism in its ranks, but the Department itself noted a lack
of capacity to fully understand the threat. DHS must develop
on-going protocols for a comprehensive picture of insider
threats related to domestic violent extremism.
ADL has worked with law enforcement experts to provide tools
for identifying and weeding out extremists in the recruitment
process as well as within law enforcement ranks. While there is
no evidence that white supremacist extremists have large
numbers in our law enforcement agencies, we have seen that even
a few can undermine the effectiveness and trust that is so
essential.
Take Domestic Terrorism Prevention Measures
We must not wait until after someone has become an extremist or
until a terrorist attack occurs to take action. Effective and promising
prevention measures exist, which should be scaled.
Congress can provide funding to civil society and academic
programs that have expertise in addressing recruitment to
extremist causes and radicalization, whether on-line or off-
line. By providing funding for prevention activities, including
education, counseling, and off-ramping, Congress can help
empower public health and civil society actors to prevent and
intervene in the radicalization process and undermine extremist
narratives, particularly those that spread rapidly on the
internet.
These initiatives must be accompanied by an assurance of
careful oversight with civil rights and civil liberties
safeguards. They must also meaningfully engage the communities
that have been targeted by domestic terrorism and the civil
society organizations already existing within them, and those
communities which have been unfairly targeted when prior anti-
terrorism authorities have been misused and/or abused. These
initiatives must be transparent, responsive to community
concerns, publicly demonstrate careful oversight, and ensure
that they do not stigmatize communities. Further, DHS should
not be the only agency working on prevention; ADL urges the
Department to partner with Health and Human Services and other
non-security Departments whenever possible.
While Congress has funded a small grant program for
prevention measures domestically, the program is too small to
have an impact at scale. Now that the administration has
launched the Center for Prevention Programming and Partnerships
within DHS, Congress should significantly scale its grant
program; ADL has recommended a $150 million annual grant level.
End the Complicity of Social Media in Facilitating
Extremism
Congress must prioritize countering on-line extremism and ensure
that perpetrators who engage in unlawful activity on-line can be held
accountable. ADL has launched the REPAIR Plan, outlined below, which
offers a comprehensive framework for platforms and policy makers to
take meaningful action to decrease on-line hate and extremism.
Create an Independent Clearinghouse for On-line Extremist
Content
Congress should work with the Biden-Harris administration to create
a publicly-funded, independent nonprofit center to track on-line
extremist threat information in real time and make referrals to social
media companies and law enforcement agencies when appropriate.
This approach is needed because those empowered with law
enforcement and intelligence capabilities must not be tasked
with new investigative and other powers that could infringe
upon civil liberties--for example, through broad internet
surveillance. Scouring on-line sources through an independent
organization will act as a buffer, but will not prevent the
nonprofit center from assisting law enforcement in cases where
criminal behavior is suspected. This wall of separation,
modeled in part on the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children (NCMEC), will help streamline National
security tips and resources while preserving civil liberties.
Target Foreign White Supremacist Terrorist Groups
Congress must recognize that white supremacist extremism is a major
global threat of our era and mobilize with that mindset.
To date, no white supremacist organization operating
overseas has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist
Organization. Only one has been designated as a Specially
Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). Congress should review how
these designation decisions are made, whether any additional
racially or ethnically motivated extremist groups outside the
United States, particularly white supremacist groups, have
reached the threshold for either designation, and whether such
designations would help advance U.S. National interests.
The Department of State was required to develop a strategy
to counter global white supremacist extremism and to add white
supremacist terrorism to annual Country Reports on Terrorism.
That State has implemented the Country Reports guidance is
laudable, and State may have created the strategy. However, the
strategy has not been released publicly, making it impossible
to evaluate. We urge more transparency from State in this
process, for Congress to seek accountability for any gaps in
the strategy, and to provide resources to implement it.
The Department of State must mobilize a multilateral effort
to address the threat of white supremacy globally. Multilateral
best-practice institutions, such as the Global Counterterrorism
Forum, the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, and
the International Institute for Justice and Rule of Law, may be
helpful mechanisms through which to channel some efforts.
Moreover, the Global Engagement Center should be charged with
undermining the propaganda of violent extremist groups--not
just designated terrorist organizations, but overseas white
supremacist violent extremists as well. DHS should participate
in these efforts, supporting overseas exchanges, partnerships,
and best practices sharing to engage in learning from other
countries and sharing U.S. best practices, where applicable.
The REPAIR Plan
R--Reorient and Resource Government
E--Expose Platform Recklessness
P--Put People Over Profit
A--Advocate for Targets of On-line Hate and Harassment
I--Interrupt Disinformation
R--Regulate Platforms
Reorient and Resource Government
The responsibility to address on-line harms is fragmented across
the Federal and State governments, making it difficult to share
information, coordinate enforcement, and establish leadership to ensure
accountability. To date, the U.S. Government has not adequately
invested in efforts to mitigate these problems. Without concerted
action, the Government continues to cede power to social media
companies who shirk their responsibility to protect users.
Government entities must fully use existing authorities to
hold social media companies accountable for their complicity in
furthering on-line harms.
Policy makers must convene and prioritize the work of
coordinating bodies like the White House Task Force to Address
On-line Harassment and Abuse, develop comprehensive strategies
to guide their work, modernize and pass legislation to protect
against 21st Century hate, bolster research efforts on on-line
harms, and appropriately reorient departments to respond to the
fluid and diffuse on-line threat landscape. Efforts must be
adequately resourced to ensure meaningful and lasting change.
Expose Platform Recklessness
Platforms say they have implemented robust protections for users,
yet there is no way to independently verify these claims. Moreover,
revelations from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed that,
despite Facebook's claims, its ``AI systems only catch a very tiny
minority of offending content and best-case scenario in the case of
something like hate speech, at most they will ever get 10 to 20
percent.'' Although platforms allege that providing access to data
would undermine user privacy and be too burdensome or expensive to
implement, we know Big Tech is made up of billion- and trillion-dollar
companies capable of improving systems, hiring additional staff,
developing better products and practices, and providing genuine
transparency.
Policy makers must prioritize passing legislation that
increases independent oversight and transparency of social
media platforms. ADL's Stop Hiding Hate campaign advocated for
California Assembly Bill 587, which was signed into law in
September 2022, to ensure platforms produce transparency
reports we can read. Congress must build off of measured
solutions, such as AB 587 to truly understand how platform
practices impact society and its most vulnerable.
Platforms must provide access to robust data for
researchers, watchdogs, and users. Social media companies must
also increase independent oversight of their platforms,
including engaging in independent audits of platforms'
algorithmic systems, enhanced content moderation, and
improvements to user engagement features to help safeguard
users. Simultaneously, policy makers should explore legislative
solutions such as these to better hold platforms accountable
for their wrongdoing and protect users' civil rights.
Put People Over Profit
Targeted advertising, the fundamental business model utilized by
mainstream social media platforms, maximizes profits by optimizing
product mechanics that will keep users engaged on-line. To do this,
social media companies recommend, rank, and amplify content that keeps
us scrolling, reacting, and sharing. The longer users spend on-line and
the more engaged they are, the more social media companies track and
analyze their activity so platforms can better predict what content to
suggest and find as many opportunities as possible to serve users
targeted ads. Unfortunately, as research and whistleblowers have shown,
the most engaging content is often the most corrosive and divisive.
This problematic content, amplified by platforms' algorithms,
radicalizes users and mainstreams fringe narratives previously
relegated to the underbelly of the internet.
Policy makers must bolster data privacy and ban surveillance
advertising to disrupt harmful business models to protect
users, especially children.
Government agencies and authorities tasked with protecting
consumers must boost efforts to protect platform users as tech
companies continue to engage in unfair and deceptive practices.
Platforms must implement recommendations found in ADL's
Social Pattern Library and build anti-hate by design principles
into their products.
Infrastructure providers who host platforms complicit in the
spread of on-line harms must be held accountable. Providers can
no longer support and profit from platforms that are agnostic
about content that incites, promotes, or glorifies violence.
Advocate for Targets of On-line Hate and Harassment
On-line harassment intrudes into users' lives in many ways and
often hampers their ability to communicate. While many users have been
affected by this activity, data demonstrates on-line harassment
disproportionately impacts members of marginalized communities in their
ability to work, socialize, learn, and express themselves on-line.
According to ADL's latest data, 65 percent of marginalized groups,
including women, religious minorities, people of color, LGBTQ+ people,
and people with disabilities reported being harassed for an aspect of
their identity. These harms are also prevalent in on-line gaming
spaces. Findings from ADL's 2021 on-line gaming survey showed 5 in 6
adults ages 18-45 have experienced harassment in on-line multiplayer
games. This cannot continue, especially in spaces designed to be pro-
social.
ADL's Backspace Hate campaign supports legislative reform to
close gaps in laws that deny victims redress for serious acts
of on-line harassment and abuse like doxing, swatting, and non-
consensual distribution of intimate imagery.
Congress must continue to modernize hate crime laws and data
collection practices to capture the totality of on-line hate in
the 21st Century.
Law enforcement agencies need enhanced training and
additional resources for tracking crimes and developing prudent
policies to protect targets of on-line hate.
Platforms must provide sufficient support services for
targets of on-line harassment and abuse.
Interrupt Disinformation
Violent extremists and malicious actors spread falsehoods to
terrorize vulnerable communities, chill civic participation, and
disrupt democracy, all while advancing their political aims,
radicalizing followers, and inciting violence. Their messages become
further engrained in the mainstream by algorithms optimized to amplify
content that increases user engagement. Influential people, including
elected and appointed officials, candidates, media pundits, and
ideological influencers, spread and normalize this content further,
exacerbating profound distrust in Government institutions and
processes, science, medicine, and education. The deadly insurrection at
the United States Capitol in January 2021 is a key example of how
violence can erupt when social media amplifies falsehoods.
Policy makers and platforms must take a proactive approach
to stem the flow of disinformation. Despite fact checks on on-
line content, some studies suggest people tend to remember the
original falsehood rather than its correction. This behavioral
bias underscores the need for creative, forward-leaning
solutions. New and meaningful ways to counter disinformation
should be identified, including implementing tactics that
increase ``friction'' to slow down and mitigate the spread of
harmful content.
Policy makers must establish effective media literacy
programs and share information with the public in a timely and
transparent fashion to stymie potential harms from
disinformation.
Platforms must prioritize and increase resources to combat
English and non-English language disinformation.
Policy makers, especially those in party leadership, should
penalize elected or appointed officials when they spread
disinformation.
Regulate Platforms
Tech platforms provide the means for transmitting hateful content
on a massive scale, while frequently amplifying and legitimizing this
content through algorithmic promotion. Although algorithms can assist
with facilitating discrimination, harassment, and increased off-line
harms, platforms are almost completely shielded from legal liability
due to the breadth of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
(Section 230) and the broad interpretation it has been given by the
courts. These sweeping legal protections enjoyed by tech platforms are
harmful and continue to perpetuate an on-line ecosystem of hate.
ADL supports careful legislative reform, but not
elimination, of Section 230 to hold social media companies
accountable for their role in fomenting hate and extremism that
leads to violence. Section 230 reform must address social media
platforms' role in amplifying content that incites violence,
discriminates against users, and promotes terrorism. Reform
must be focused so that it does not result in an overbroad
suppression of free speech, nor unintentionally cement the
monopolistic power of Big Tech. Any reform effort must learn
from past mistakes and ensure that well-intentioned policy
changes do not adversely impact those they are meant to
protect. Thoughtful and targeted reform of Section 230 is an
important and necessary component to fighting on-line harms and
creating a more equitable internet.
conclusion
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before this august body
and for calling a hearing on this urgent topic. ADL data clearly and
decisively illustrate that the impact of hate is rising across the
United States, and that domestic extremism, terrorism, and antisemitism
will continue to pose a grave threat. It is long past time to
acknowledge that these threats overwhelmingly come from right-wing
extremists, especially white supremacists, and allocate our resources
to address the threat accordingly. We must also address these threats
holistically rather than piecemeal. This is precisely what ADL's
COMBAT, PROTECT, and REPAIR plans do, applying a whole-of-Government
and whole-of-society approach to the fight against antisemitism, hate,
and extremism both on- and off-line. On behalf of ADL, we look forward
to working with you as you continue to devote your attention to this
critical issue.
Mr. Torres. The Chair recognizes Mr. Stern to summarize his
statement for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF KENNETH STERN, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF
HATE, BARD COLLEGE
Mr. Stern. Thank you, Chairman Thompson, Vice Chair Torres,
Ranking Member Katko, Representative Gottheimer, and the
honorable Members of this committee.
In my written testimony, I described how hate against
others seen as unrelated to antisemitism actually helps create
a climate where antisemitism can grow, and how increased
understanding of hate is a prerequisite for effectively
combating antisemitism.
The attack on the Tree of Life synagogue was an act of
antisemitism. But no one classifies the murder of Mexicans and
Mexican Americans at the El Paso Walmart months later as an act
of antisemitism, but if you look at the ideology of the two
shooters, they were almost identical. They just picked
different targets.
Imagine you are a white supremacist fearful of demographic
changes. How can superior people be losing to their inferiors?
Someone must be putting their fingers on the scale, and that is
where Jews come in. Antisemitism throughout history is a belief
that Jews conspire to harm non-Jews, and it provides an
explanation for what goes wrong in the world.
Antisemitism gets more traction when democratic norms are
threatened, endangering more than just Jews. The 1990's
militias took antisemitic tropes and repurposed them to vilify
Federal employees. Once people are sucked into a system of
conspiratorial thinking, they will inevitably be exposed to
antisemitic ideas.
Conspiratorial thinking is more mainstream today than in
the 1990's. Frankly, I am less concerned today about what
leaders may be saying about Jews and more about what they may
be saying about immigrants and Muslims. When people are primed
to divide others in this country into us and them, it is
inevitable that antisemitism will grow.
Brain science, social psychology, and other fields
demonstrate that we are hardwired or at least prewired to see
an us and a them. When perceived threats to our identities are
tethered to issues of justice or injustice, we feel more
comfortable with certainty than complexity and are drawn to
binaries, us versus them, good versus evil.
I have four recommendations from hate studies, three of
which I will discuss briefly. First, as a society, we calculate
the cost of many things, potholes even. But what does hate cost
us? We plan to publish an economic analysis approximating the
cost of hate crime as a first step in this inquiry, but it
would be much more impactful if it is a regular part of the
Government reporting of hate crime statistics and also included
data drawn from the particular incidents, not only to document
the costs but also to illustrate them in real human relatable
terms.
Second, how do we make antisemitism and antisemitic
violence less likely, especially in a country that is so
divided? There is a social psychology study called the Robbers
Cave Experiment. Two groups of boys from very similar
backgrounds went to a summer camp. Each group didn't know that
the other existed, but then they were exposed to each other in
a competitive environment. They not only had animosity but
acted on it. Later, they had to cooperate to fix the camp's
water supply. That superordinate goal or perhaps the creation
of a larger group identity helped reduce the hate.
I was inspired by Colin Powell, who suggested a program of
national service. I have long wondered what if we took high
school seniors from different backgrounds and sent them on a
common public service mission. How about a LatinX person from
Texas and a Jewish person from New York and a Black person from
Los Angeles, and sent them together to work for an organization
that builds homes for American Indian people in South Dakota,
for example.
Bring people together from different groups, have them
interact with each other and form a new group identity and
having them together help someone else might--and I stress
might--make them less likely to be drawn into the us versus
them thinking that threatens our democracy and increases the
potential for antisemitic and other types of hate crimes.
Finally, when the late Robert Hess, the president of
Brooklyn College, faced an incident that threatened to tear his
campus into tribal groups, his message was: We are all members
of the Brooklyn College family. We are all of us in us.
Part of our center's work is to give practical guidance to
help communities reject appeals of actors who want to target
those amongst us as a them. We recently co-published a
community guide for opposing hate. It is a nuts-and-bolts
manual about what to do in the aftermath of a hate crime or
antisemitic threats.
We stress the importance of working in partnership with
political leadership. I can't overemphasize in our divided
country how important it is for leaders to underscore that we
are all human beings breathing the same air. One way to beat
back the acceptance of the idea that we have to be protected
from a nefarious them is to find as many ways possible to
expand the us.
So finally, I ask that we all find as many ways possible to
stress the equivalent of Bob Hess' refrain. We are all human
beings, all part of this great Nation, each of whom has an
equal right to be part of the social contract in our democracy.
The more we expand the us, the less likely there will be
attacks on our neighbors, Jews included, because they are seen
as a them. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Stern follows:]
Prepared Statement of Kenneth S. Stern
October 3, 2022
Dear Chairman Thompson, Ranking Member Katko, Representative
Gottheimer, and the other honorable Members of the committee: My name
is Kenneth Stern. I am the director of the Bard Center for the Study of
Hate,\1\ which works to increase the serious study of human hatred, and
ways to combat it.\2\ Before that I directed a small foundation focused
on hate,\3\ and before that I was the director of the American Jewish
Committee's division on antisemitism and extremism, where I worked for
25 years. Among other things during that time at AJC I was the lead
drafter of what is now known as the IHRA definition of antisemitism, I
was part of the defense effort of Dr. Deborah Lipstadt (today
Ambassador Lipstadt, the Department of State's Special Envoy to Monitor
and Combat Antisemitism) in her 2000 London defense of a libel charge
brought by a Holocaust denier, and I authored a report on the growing
danger of the militia movement, released 10 days before the Oklahoma
City bombing, with a covering memo warning that there might be some
sort of attack on Government on April 19, the anniversary of the siege
of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, a date of great
importance to the militias. I also worked closely with various law
enforcement officials, including in New Jersey, particularly Paul
Goldenberg who is now a senior fellow for Transnational Security at the
Rutgers University Miller Center for Community and Protection and
Resilience, but was then working on hate crimes committed by skinheads
and others. Mr. Goldenberg and I also worked together on a training
program for law enforcement officials in Europe through the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which
included a focus on hate crime, including antisemitic hate crime, and
on conceiving the Secure Community Network,\4\ of which Mr. Goldenberg
was a founder.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ https://bcsh.bard.edu/.
\2\ Hate Studies is defined as ``Inquiries into the human capacity
to define, and then dehumanize or demonize, an `other,' and the
processes which inform and give expression to, or can curtail, control,
or combat, that capacity.''
\3\ The Justus and Karin Rosenberg Foundation was founded by the
last surviving member of the Varian Fry group--an operation lead by
American Varian Fry to rescue artists and intellectuals--among them
Marc Chagall and Max Ernst--from Vichy France.
\4\ https://securecommunitynetworks.org/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I know others testifying today will focus, appropriately, on
questions of antisemitism, looking at the hatred of Jews in focused
ways--on surveys and hate incidents and hate groups and questions of
antisemitism in particular venues.
I'd like to focus more on how best to understand antisemitism,
perhaps from a bit of a different and broader perspective and a wider
lens. And I'll do that in three ways:
(1) Discuss how antisemitic works as a system of ideas that can
pose dangers to people and institutions that aren't Jewish or
associated with Jews.
(2) Discuss how hate against others, seen as unrelated to
antisemitism, actually helps create a climate where
antisemitism can grow.
(3) Explore how increased understanding of hate is a prerequisite
for effectively combating antisemitism.
First, though, I'd like to provide some historical context. Despite
horrible incidents--including attacks on Jews by white supremacists,
attacks on Jews by people upset with Israel, and attacks that seem
almost a random picking out of Jews (much as in recent years some Asian
Americans and others have also been attacked)--I still believe, when it
comes to antisemitism, we are in a golden age. During my parents and
grandparent's generations there were quotas that kept Jews out of
colleges and professions. There were restrictive covenants on property,
and overt discrimination in country clubs and public accommodations.
Antisemitism isn't just a matter of one data point or another, whether
it be the number of hate crimes, attitudes, or anything else. It also
has to take into consideration the fact that I--a baby boomer--didn't
face the level of antisemitism encountered by my ancestors, and my
children, millennials, have experienced it even less. Plus, for the
last few decades, one of the major concerns in the Jewish community has
been intermarriage. That's a data point too--we're being loved to
death.
But of course we're at a moment when I too am concerned, not only
about the present, but about the future. I believe that our ability to
fight antisemitism is directly related to the strength of our
democratic institutions, and I am worried--this even before the events
of January 6--about the erosion of democratic norms.
It's been said that antisemitism is like the canary in the coal
mine--that hate that starts toward Jews never ends with Jews alone.
That's true, but the reverse is true too, and perhaps more important--
hate, empowered in society against others, ends up creating a climate
where antisemitism is likely to grow. Simply stated, we can't
understand antisemitism, and what to do about it, if we limit our
thinking to what people say or think about Jews. Antisemitism at heart
is an idea, and it works among human beings in systems that encourage
ideas to have more or less traction.
For instance, we'd all consider the murderous attack on the Tree of
Life synagogue in 2018 as an act of antisemitism. I don't recall anyone
classifying the murder of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans at the El Paso
Walmart months later as an act of antisemitism, but if you look at the
ideology of the two shooters, they were almost identical--they just
picked different targets.
And if you look at what helped motivate the Pittsburgh shooter, it
was a crescendo of warnings, from political leaders and others, that
America was suffering an ``invasion'' on brown-skinned people from
south of our border. He saw Jews as helping make that happen. The El
Paso shooter decided to take on the ``invaders'' directly.
We did a somewhat better job connecting the dots after the horrific
mass murder in Buffalo's TOPS market earlier this year. The shooter
killed Black people, but he also hated Jews. Yet the two hatreds are
not only related--someone who hates one group of people may be more
likely to hate another too--but fear of people of color and hatred of
Jews actually function as part of systems of ideas--ideologies and
theologies.
Kathleen Blee, a sociologist in Pittsburgh who researched women in
the Klan and spoke at the founding Hate Studies conference at Gonzaga
University in Spokane in 2004, said that the women all had a story
about how they came to hate Black people. Whether it was true or not,
there was always some anecdote cited, perhaps about how a Black person
was playing their radio loudly, and that's when they discovered they
hated Black people. But with Jews it was different--an ``aha'' moment,
not related to meeting a Jew, but an understanding of how the world
really works.
If you see America as a land where white people have been a
majority throughout history, but also know that in the next decades
non-white people will be the majority, you might feel that your
birthright is being taken away. America, of course, is an idea that
binds us all together, and not defined by any particular racial
identity, but nonetheless there are those who feel a sense of loss at
this impending change.
Now imagine that you're a white supremacist, who is not only
worried about white ``survival,'' but also believes whites are actually
superior to non-whites. Yet, by the demographics, they see themselves
losing to ``inferior'' people of color. How can this be, that superior
people are losing to their inferiors? Someone must be putting their
finger on the scales. So while racism may be a motivation for much
white supremacy, its ideological core is antisemitism, positing the Jew
as the secret puppet master making sure whites lose this battle. This
has been a theme--the allegation that Jews conspiring to harm non-
Jews--throughout history, and in the white supremacist movements in the
United States too, positing Jews as behind open immigration,
affirmative action, and other efforts viewed as harming white people.
The ``Great Replacement'' theory and the chants of ``Jews will not
replace us'' at Charlottesville are simply the latest incarnation of
this very old story line.
antisemitism as a form of hate
There are various definitions of antisemitism, some better for one
purpose or another, some that are actually used in a counterproductive
way (a few words more on that later in footnote 15), but they each have
one element in common which is the core of antisemitism, although
expressed in slightly different wording. Antisemitism, at heart, is
conspiracy theory positing that Jews conspire to harm non-Jews, and
antisemitism gives an ``explanation'' for what goes wrong in the world.
But it isn't like antisemitism is the only form of hate. We can't
understand antisemitism fully if we see it as an isolated phenomenon
rather than one that is an important subset of the human capacity to
hate. Regardless of where, when, major economic system or political
system, or any other variable, people have always had the capacity to
define, and then sometimes demonize and/or dehumanize, an ``other.''
Antisemitism is a member of the family of hatreds.
The emerging interdisciplinary field of Hate Studies teaches us
many things about how human beings think and feel that are essential
for understanding antisemitism and what to do about it. Hate, as I
said, has been around as long as human beings have. We may need help
figuring out whom to hate, but to hate is part of who we are. New
studies in neuroscience and neurobiology, supplementing those in social
psychology and other fields, confirm that we are hardwired, or at least
pre-wired, to see an ``us'' and a ``them.'' Today brain scientists can
even put people in MRIs and see what part of the brain fires in
different hate-related circumstances.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ Dr. Robert Sapolksy discussed the brain and hate in this BCSH
webinar: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=S5g_LAoUYZQ&t=19s&ab_channel=BardCenterfortheStudyof- Hate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evolutionary psychology also helps us understand why we're
frequently influenced more by emotions, even instincts, than pure
rational thought. James Waller, writing a landmark essay in Gonzaga
University's Journal of Hate Studies,\6\ noted that if you were
thinking rationally, you'd be more afraid of automobiles than snakes
and spiders: we're more likely to die in an automobile accident than by
an interaction with a snake. But our brains were formed millennia ago,
when there were no cars, however snakes and spiders could cause us real
harm. So too could the group of ``others'' on the other side of a hill.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ Waller, J.E., 2004. Our Ancestral Shadow: Hate and Human Nature
in Evolutionary Psychology. Journal of Hate Studies, 3(1), pp.121-132.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.33972/jhs.25.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I could take everyone who is attending this hearing today, flip a
coin, divide us into group A and group B, with everyone knowing that
the assignment to each group was completely arbitrary. But after a
group identity is formed, social psychology teaches us that each group
will think it is better than the other one, smarter and more
attractive.\7\ Ethnocentrism and tribal thinking are part of who we
are. We're always defining ``in-groups,'' but that also means we have
to define what the in-group isn't, and frequently we are xenophobic
about the out group. There's also what's called ``uncertainty-identity
theory,'' suggesting that people crave certainty, especially about
important things related to them, like ethnic, religious, and other
identities, particularly when they see their group as under some sort
of threat. And much of what goes on is, again, not a matter of pure
rational thought, but intuition and emotion. Jonathan Haidt, a leading
social psychologist, uses the metaphor of an elephant and a rider. The
elephant is our instincts and sets of morals. Rational thought is the
rider, that can steer an elephant to a degree, but in many ways is just
along for the ride.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ The scholarship described in this section from Hate Studies is
summarized in the ``Thinking about Thinking'' chapter from The Conflict
over The Conflict: The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate. http://
kennethsstern.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thinking-about-
thinking.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's also scholarship showing that we want to reduce things to
simple formulas. Complexity makes us uncomfortable. We frequently
default to easy, binary answers--good and bad, us or them. And
especially when our identity is tethered to an issue of perceived
social justice or injustice, we may feel righteous trying to suppress,
rather than counter, different points of view, and demonize those who
hold those views. And of course as part of this process we backfill our
thinking, not engaging different ideas as if they might have merit, but
looking for ways to reaffirm the correctness of our opinions.
This simplistic way of looking at the world around us, especially
when amplified by media, institutions, and leaders, feeds the binary.
Our hardwired minds are more likely to see a ``them'' threatening an
``us'' when theology or ideology tells us that truth, God, or the
combination identifies the ``them'' as a danger. And it's inevitable
that on this us/them plane, antisemitism plays out spectacularly.
Whether from the early days of Christianity when Jews were
discriminated against and persecuted as an example of what happens when
the ``them'' doesn't recognize ``our truth'' (in this case that Jesus
is God), to the targeting of Jews during the black death for
``poisoning wells,'' to the blood libel--blaming Jews for ritual
sacrifice when Christian children disappeared--to its more modern
manifestations (including Nazism), antisemitism, whether on the right
and on the left, defines Jews as conspiring to harm non-Jews, and
provides an explanation for what goes wrong in the world.
Antisemitism works as a system of ideas, and it has implications
for society beyond the question of attacks on Jews. The 1990's militias
were targeting Government officials, and I explained in my book about
the Oklahoma City bombing that it wasn't coincidental that the leaders
of the movement were ones with solid white supremacist and antisemitic
credentials. Their vilification of Government officials frequently took
antisemitic tropes, and repurposed and transferred them to forest
service workers and other Federal employees. The director of program
for the Montana Human Rights Network at the time described the militias
as ``a funnel moving through space.'' He meant that at the wide end of
the funnel, people were being sucked into the movement by mainstream
issues (in the 1990's militias' case, gun control, Federal
intrusiveness, land use issues, etc.). Further into the funnel they
were exposed to us/them conspiratorial thinking. Further down, the
antisemitic conspiracy theories. And, at the small end, warriors who
gave their entire identity to militia ideology and committed acts of
terror--like Timothy McVeigh--popped out. The beauty of this metaphor
is the suggestion that the more pressure there is to move people into
the lip of the funnel, the more will be propelled out of the short end.
And that's one of my worries today--this type of conspiratorial
thinking was fairly relegated to the extremes of society in the 1990's.
It's much more mainstream today, and promoted by many more leaders and
politicians. One historic measure of the climate of antisemitism--to me
a more important data point than how many actors decide to spray paint
swastikas in a given year--is whether ideas that may fuel antisemitism
are on the extreme, or the mainstream.
Conspiracy theories inevitably gain adherents when leaders define
people among us as a ``them,'' then demonize and dehumanize ``them,''
casting the vilification not as hate but as a matter of self-defense
and something noble. When I speak to Jewish groups I tell them that
even if they are only thinking about the danger to Jews, I'm less
concerned about what leaders might be saying about Jews and more about
what they are saying in recent years about immigrants and Muslims. When
people are primed to divide people in this country into ``us'' and
``them'' it's inevitable that antisemitism will grow.
practical lessons from hate studies
Hate Studies is an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the
human capacity for hate, and what to do about it. It derives from two
observations: (1) That hate has always been part of the human
condition, yet we don't approach it as we do other human needs and
worries, and (2) the efforts to confront hate in society are largely
driven by factors other than the application of testable theories of
what works, what doesn't, and why.
People get sick, so we have a field of medicine that combines
biology, chemistry, physics, and other fields, to help cure diseases
and make people healthier. People need structures, so we have a field
of architecture that combines physics, math, art, and other fields.
Hate Studies is an effort to pull together the knowledge from all the
diverse fields that tell us something about hate (on the molecular,
personal, cultural, communal, societal, political, and other levels),
and help guide us to better understand it and what to do about it.
The first Hate Studies Center was established at Gonzaga University
in 1996, which publishes the Journal of Hate Studies. Today there are
Hate Studies centers at Bard College, California State University at
San Bernardino, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Melon
University (a joint program), the University of Ontario Institute of
Technology (in Canada), the University of Leister (in England), and the
University of Limerick (in Ireland). Another at a major California
university will be announced soon.
And while there is still much work to be done, in fact we're still
only about 20 years into building the field, there are some lessons
learned about hate and how to approach it that are directly relevant to
the mission of this committee, and also generally relevant to the role
of Congress, not only for today but also for the decades to come. I
have four recommendations, one very concrete, one more of a framework,
one aspirational, and one of messaging.
LESSON 1--THE COST OF HATE CRIME
Hate Studies is an interdisciplinary field, and economics is an
important part. As a society we calculate the cost of many things--
childhood obscenity,\8\ smoking,\9\ gun violence,\10\ air
pollution,\11\ even potholes.\12\ But what does hate cost us?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3047996/.
\9\ https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/
fast_facts/cost-and-expenditures.html.
\10\ https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-economic-cost-of-gun-
violence/.
\11\ https://earth.stanford.edu/news/how-much-does-air-pollution-
cost-us#gs.cu1c8b.
\12\ https://newsroom.aaa.com/2022/03/aaa-potholes-pack-a-punch-as-
drivers-pay-26-5-billion-in-related-vehicle-repairs/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
When we think of challenging hate, we think of it generally in
moral terms, how it harms people or groups, or as I mentioned earlier,
concerns about its effect on our democratic institutions and values.
But even if people don't care about the harm hate inflicts on others,
they might be concerned if they realized that it actually cost them
money. If there's something that could be called a ``hate tax,'' how
much would it be?
The groundbreaking work in this field is by Lee Badgett, who wrote
a book about the cost of anti-LGBTQ discrimination.\13\ In the coming
months the Bard Center for the Study of Hate plans to publish an
analysis informed by a team of experts, and written by economist
Michael Martell, looking at the cost of hate crime, as a first step to
encourage economists to look at the cost of hate more broadly. His
calculations will include: Direct victim costs (of both the people who
died, and those who were wounded), (2) indirect costs--pain, suffering,
stress, such to family, counselling, etc., (3) costs of any
investigation--to rule out accomplices, responding on scene, etc., (4)
costs from lost contributions of victims to society (including missed
work, less volunteering--basically examples of behavior changes that
followed the event), (5) damage to facilities (repair, new security,
etc.). His data is drawn from synthesizing publicly-available
information, including that found in the National Crime Victimization
Survey and the National Incident-Based Report System of the FBI, in
order to approximate a cost. And as valuable as I believe Dr. Martell's
report will be, it would be much more useful to underscoring the cost
of hate if, as a regular part of the Government reporting of hate
crime, it also included data, drawn from the particular incidents, not
only to document the costs but to illustrate them in real, human,
relatable terms.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ M.V. Lee Badgett, The Economic Case for LGBT Equality: Why
Fair and Equal Treatment Benefits Us All (Beacon Press, 2020). Dr.
Badgett also spoke about her research for a Bard Center for the Study
of Hate webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsFxIsCV-
zj0&t=8s&ab_channel=BardCenterfortheStudyofHate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Further, as far as a I know there is no calculation of the cost of
antisemitism, and it would likely be impossible (and, frankly,
inappropriate) to have a formula for such an inquiry, given the
differences of opinion of what constitutes antisemitism when it comes
to issues like Zionism,\14\ let alone the cost of the impact of
antisemitism on non-Jews. But it might be worthwhile for this committee
to consider, for purposes of homeland security, investigating or
encouraging the calculation of the societal costs of hate crimes in
general, including antisemitic ones.\15\ The Department of Justice and
the FBI already compile data (incomplete, as we all know) on hate
crimes. Some sense of the monetary cost associated with these crimes
would be helpful, and appropriate to include and publicize among the
other hate crime statistics.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ Kenneth Stern, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, and the Fallacy of
Bright Lines, The Institute for National Security Studies, Tel Aviv
University, June 14, 2021. https://www.inss.org.il/publication/anti-
zionism-antisemitism-and-the-fallacy-of-bright-lines/.
\15\ As I mentioned in passing on page 3, there are various
definitions of antisemitism being promoted by different Jewish groups
and scholars, including the International Holocaust Remembrance
Alliance (IHRA) definition (https://www.state.gov/defining-
antisemitism/), the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (https://
jerusalemdeclaration.org/), and the NEXUS definition (https://
israelandantisemitism.com/--in full disclosure, while the Bard Center
for the Study of Hate doesn't endorse one definition or another, we
provide an academic home for the NEXUS Task Force's deliberations). As
I detailed before the House Committee on the Judiciary in 2017 (https:/
/docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20171107/106610/HHRG-115-JU00-WState-
SternK-20171107.pdf), I was the lead drafter of what is now known as
the IHRA definition. I believe the IHRA definition has the best
language to guide thinking on what constitutes an antisemitic hate
crime (that being this specific part of the definition, one that
doesn't mention Israel: ``Criminal acts are antisemitic when the
targets of attacks, whether they are people or property--such as
buildings, schools, places of worship and cemeteries--are selected
because they are, or are perceived to be, Jewish or linked to Jews'').
It tracks the holding of the U.S. Supreme Court case Wisconsin v.
Mitchell (https://supreme.justia.com/cases/Federal/us/508/476/) (see
also AJC amicus brief--http://kennethsstern.com/wp-content/uploads/
2018/09/Wisconsin-V.-Mitchell.CV01.pdf) that the intent to single out
(in this case someone or something Jewish or seen associated with Jews)
is the gravamen of a hate crime, rather than the question of whether
the perpetrator really hated Jews. Thus if I think Jews are rich, and I
decide to target Jewish homes for burglary or kidnap a Jew for ransom,
even though that is the result of a positive stereotype, that's still a
hate crime. Likewise, attacking a Jew or Jewish institution because it
is Jewish, in reaction to events in the Middle East, thus holding all
Jews responsible for perceived wrongdoing by Israel, would also
appropriately fall under this part of the definition.
However, I've also been outspoken against the broad adoption of the
definition (which included language about Israel but was written
primarily to help data collectors, and was intended to take a
temperature of antisemitism over time and across borders) as a type of
hate speech code. The definition has been used primarily to suppress
and chill some pro-Palestinian political speech, and it is particularly
inappropriate to use it in this fashion on university campuses, where
the point is to examine ideas, including ones that might be contentious
or disturbing. It is important to make a distinction between actual
harassment, intimidation, and bullying, on the one hand, and expression
of opinions, on the other. The parallel situation would be adopting and
employing a state-endorsed definition of racism with political
examples, like opposition to the Movement for Black Lives or
affirmative action or the removal of Confederate statues. Further,
there are also church/state concerns (the question of whether a
particular view of Israel and Zionism is necessary to be inside the
Jewish ``tent'' is an internal question that shouldn't be decided by
lawmakers), and concerns that, just as there's a danger of promoting
hate when people take complex systems and try to reduce them to simple
formulas, anti-hate programs that rely on a simple formula also are to
be discouraged. They are like black holes sucking away attention from
other things that can actually be much more effective. I see a parallel
here to the mantra that the obvious and go-to answer to antisemitism is
Holocaust education. Holocaust education is of course important and to
be encouraged, but it makes little sense to think it will be a panacea
for curing antisemitism (see https://www.jta.org/2007/01/21/opinion/
holocaust-education-wont-stop-hate).
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LESSON 2--FURTHER CONNECTING ACADEMICS AND POLICY MAKERS, GLOBALLY
Economics isn't the only field in Hate Studies where policy
insights might be useful for this committee.
One of the premises for founding Hate Studies is that ideas from
the academy should find better ways of informing policy.
The Bard Center for the Study of Hate is negotiating with a
publisher about creating a book (hopefully to appear in 2024) written
largely by Hate Studies scholars focused on helping Non-Governmental
Organizations apply better, and testable, theories to their work.
Essentially, the scholars from a wide variety of hate-related
disciplines are being asked, knowing what you know, if you were running
an NGO that looked at hate, or some subset of it, what would you do,
what wouldn't you do, and why?
One of the chapters will be on hate crimes, written by Jennifer
Schweppe of the University of Limerick, Ireland and Mark Walters, of
the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. They, along with scholars such
as Barbara Perry of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology,
Oshawa, Canada and Neil Chakraborti of the University of Leicester, UK,
have been in the forefront of, as Chakraborti calls it, the need to
``mind the gap'' between scholars and policy makers.
Connecting conversations about hate crime, and the different models
and lessons to be shared and learned, is part of the reasons for the
creation of the International Network for Hate Studies (INHS).\16\
While, as Chakraborti wrote in 2016 ``we now know much more about hate
crime than ever before; more about the nature, extent and impact of
victimization; more about the factors behind the selection of victims;
and more about the effectiveness, or otherwise, of different
interventions,''\17\ there still remains too much of a disconnect
between ``real world'' experiences and academic insights and research.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\16\ https://internationalhatestudies.com/.
\17\ Chakraborti, Neil, Mind the Gap! Making Stronger Connections
between Hate Crime Policy and Scholarship, Criminal Justice Policy
Review (2016) Vol. 27(6), 577, 579.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Groups like the ADL and AAPI do essential work in the United States
collecting and sharing information about antisemitic and anti-Asian
hate crimes, and this is a critical contribution especially since hate
crime reporting isn't as complete as it ought to be, as was recognized
at the recent White House United We Stand Summit. The steps by the
Department of Justice announced on September 15 \18\ are important. Yet
the scholarship of Walters and Schweppe and their colleagues, looking
at international norms and trends in understanding and countering hate
crimes, and in direct consultation with law enforcement officials to
inform their scholarship, offer some new ideas for not only improving
data collection and reporting, but also for research into why people
might be less inclined to report hate crimes (both because of negative
experiences in reporting, and also because of fear and anxiety
associated with the incident itself). While hate crime is an
international problem, lessons from other jurisdictions are frequently
ignored because different countries have different understandings, not
only of which groups should be included under hate crime legislation as
potential victims of hate crime, or different norms of protection for
speech, but even of the term ``hate crime'' itself.\19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\18\ https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-launches-
nationwide-initiative-combat-unlawful-acts-hate.
\19\ Schweppe, Jennifer, What is a hate crime? Cogent Social
Science (2021), 7.
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Hate crimes, of course, impact entire communities and threaten
people's sense of safety and belonging. And there are challenges, not
only with reluctance and fear or reporting, or institutional
impediments (I've heard of desk sergeants suggesting that incidents
that might well be hate crimes not be reported because of fear of
increased paperwork), but other political and structural challenges as
well. It was important that the White House, under both presidents
Clinton and Biden, convened meetings about hate and hate crimes. But we
should encourage ways to incorporate better the insights of scholars
and practitioners around the world about hate-related violence. They
have a lot to learn from us, but we can learn more from them too.
LESSON 3--BREAKING DOWN ``US'' ``THEM'' WITH COMMUNITY SERVICE?
I suspect there's general agreement on this panel and on this
committee that reducing the incidents of antisemitism isn't only a
matter of better security for Jewish institutions, or better hate crime
reporting, or better educational initiatives. Antisemitism historically
has been influenced by events and trends, including political and
cultural ones, in society at large. One perplexing question is how do
we make antisemitism and antisemitic violence less likely, especially
in a society that seems more divided in recent years along political
and other fault lines, one in which more people seem willing to be
animated by hatred of others (including of Jews)?
Hate Studies might have some additional concrete suggestions here--
although I stress what I'm going to propose is something that has not
yet been fully explored.
There's an old study in social psychology study called the Robbers
Cave experiment,\20\ a study that involved sending two groups of boys
from very similar backgrounds to a summer camp in Oklahoma. Each group
didn't know the other existed, but once each bonded separately as a
unit, and then were given evidence of the other group's existence in a
competitive environment, they not only had animosity toward each other,
but acted on it. At the end, they however, had to cooperate to fix the
camp's drinking water supply. That superordinate goal--or perhaps the
creation of a larger group identity--helped reduce the hate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ Sherif, M. (1954). Experimental study of positive and negative
intergroup attitudes between experimentally produced groups: robbers
cave study. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma.
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That suggestion--an additional layer of connected identity--is one
I observed from colleagues during my years at AJC involved with
intergroup relations. The groups that seemed to have the most staying
power--say a project bringing together Blacks and Jews--were the ones
that had an additional layer of identity (Black and Jewish lawyers or
accountants, for example).
Years ago I was inspired by Colin Powell and others who suggested
the potential societal and personal benefits of a program of national
service for young people. I've long wondered, what if we had a national
program that would offer to take teenagers from different backgrounds,
say as they were finishing high school, and sent them on a common
public service mission? How about a Latinx person from Texas and a
Jewish person from New York and a Black person from Los Angeles, and
sent them, together, to work for an organization that builds homes for
American Indian people in South Dakota, for example? There are lots of
ways to mix and match such groups, but the idea of bringing people
together from different groups that they might not have met before,
have them interact with each other and form a new group identity, have
them together help someone else, and create new and negotiated
collective memories drawn from their own communal memories might, and I
stress might, make them less likely to be drawn into the ``us'' vs
``them'' thinking that threatens our democracy, and thus reduce the
potential for antisemitic and other types of hate crimes. A pilot
project and, if later evaluation documents a reduction of hate over
time results, there might be consideration of building such a national
service program. It might even pay for itself, if it reduces the cost
of hate.
LESSON 4--EXPANDING THE ``US''
When I was at AJC I worked very closely with the late Robert Hess,
president of Brooklyn College. He was instrumental in thinking through
a guide I wrote on how to handle ``Bigotry on Campus.''\21\ One off-
hand comment from Bob always stayed with me, and it made sense even
before I started learning more about hate and how it works. When an
incident at Brooklyn College threatened to tear the campus apart into
tribal groups, he would always emphasize what he called ``the myth of
the institution.'' He, as a leader, would reiterate, almost to the
point of a mantra, ``We're all members of the Brooklyn College
family.'' We are all, thus, an ``us.''
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\21\ http://kennethsstern.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/
BigotryOnCampus.pdf
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As I noted, one core lesson from social psychology and other
related Hate Studies fields is that we divide the world into ``us'' and
``them.'' In most instances that can be not only innocuous but a source
of entertainment--whether we cheer for this sports team or that. But
this tendency can also lead to decisions that violence is necessary,
justified, and proper against a ``them.''
Part of the work of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate is to
give practical guidance on how to help communities reject appeals of
actors who want to target those amongst us as a ``them.'' Too often a
hate incident occurs, people of good will want to ``do something,'' and
they scramble about trying to figure out what to do on the fly, and
then, over time, the impetus fades, people more on to other things, and
the opportunity to build community and support democratic norms goes
by--until the next time, when the cycle repeats.
Earlier this year, in partnership with the Western States Center
and the Montana Human Rights Network, we published ``A Community Guide
for Opposing Hate.''\22\ It is a nuts and bolts manual, written by
people with years of expertise in studying and organizing against hate,
with instructions about how to build a group or sustain an already
existing one, how to work with academics, journalists, and Government
officials, what to do (and not do) in various scenarios, including in
the aftermath of a hate crime or antisemitic threats.\23\
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\22\ https://bcsh.bard.edu/files/2022/05/OpposingHateGuide-single-
pages-8M-5-3.pdf.
\23\ The manual highlights ``Project Lemonade,'' an approach that
uses social media to crowdsource pledges tied to a metric such as how
long a proposed neo-Nazi march might last. The white supremacists would
actually be raising money for things they detest, like increased hate
crime training for police. The people targeted would feel supported,
and others around the world could do something useful to help. See also
https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/13/opinions/kkk-plans-march-on-mlk-day-
stern.
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All the authors had experience helping local communities cope with
white supremacist and aligned organizations and actors who were trying
to build their movements by promoting hatred of others, whether it be
based on religion or race, sexual orientation or expression, or people
with different political points of view.
We stressed the importance of working in partnership with political
leadership, not only on matters of policy, but also in building
relationships that can be mutually beneficial, helping stand up
together against efforts of hate groups to vilify human beings in the
community.\24\
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\24\ In 2021 we also published a ``State of Hate Index'' by
political scientist Robert Tynes (https://bcsh.bard.edu/files/2021/09/
State-of-Hate-Index.pdf). He was inspired by the old ``Green Book,''
used for decades by Black people traveling the South, listing
restaurants, hotels, and other services that would serve them (and by a
similar book from that period telling Jews which places would serve
them, and which would not, in the Catskills). The idea is that not only
the number of hate crimes in a State, but also its laws and policies,
affect the level of hate a person can experience when crossing a State
border. The value of Tyne's approach is that, again, we don't silo
antisemitism here, sexism and racism and homophobia there, but rather
see them as creating a joint tapestry in a geographic area where hate
might, in general, be able to flourish more.
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I can't overemphasize, in the divided country we're in, how
important it is for leaders, and especially political leaders, to set
an example of civil discourse despite deep disagreement, and to
underscore by action and word that while there may be policy and
philosophical differences at play, we're all human beings breathing the
same air. In other words, one way to beat back the acceptance of the
division of our community into ``us'' who have to be protected from a
nefarious ``them'' is to find as many ways possible, in normal speech
and practice, to expand the ``us.''
So, this isn't a policy or legislative suggestion, and it's
something that I know many of you do instinctively, and frequently
exhibiting political courage when you do. As leaders, regardless of
political differences and the political necessities about which I'm not
naive, I'd ask that you find as many ways possible, intentionally, to
underscore the equivalent of Bob Hess' refrain. We're all human beings,
all part of this great Nation, each of whom has an equal right to be
part of the social contract and this great democracy. The more we can
expand the ``us,'' the less likely there will be attacks on our
neighbors, Jews included, because they are seen as a ``them.''
Mr. Torres. The Chair recognizes Ms. Corke to summarize her
statement for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF SUSAN CORKE, DIRECTOR, INTELLIGENCE PROJECT,
SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER
Ms. Corke. Thank you, Chairman Thompson, Vice Chairman
Torres, and honorable Members of the committee, for the
opportunity to testify today for this important hearing, which
comes at a precarious time for American democracy. I am Susan
Corke, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's
Intelligence Project.
There had been a disturbing rise in antisemitic incidents
in New Jersey and elsewhere in the country. This uptick in
hate-fueled activity is part of a larger hard right movement
that stokes the fires of antisemitism, promoting racism, fear,
and extremist violence.
Antisemitism, in addition to being a toxic form of
prejudice, is also an animating feature of white nationalist
ideology, and it is often a leading indicator that a society is
more broadly infected and divided by racism.
Established in 1971, the SPLC has been tireless in finding
and rooting out hate and extremist groups to create a more
fair, inclusive, and unified Nation. The Intelligence Project,
which I direct at SPLC, has deep expertise in monitoring and
exposing as well as countering the activities of hundreds of
domestic hate groups and other extremists across the country,
including the Ku Klux Klan, the neo-Nazi movement, anti-
Government militias, and others.
White supremacy has gone mainstream, which increasingly
threatens people of color, our communities, our education
system and democracy itself. The great replacement narrative
has become mainstream on the political right over the past few
years. This racist conspiracy, which says there is a systematic
global effort to replace White European people with non-white
foreign populations, provides the central framework, rooted in
antisemitic ideology, for the white supremacist movement. The
theory has motivated many deadly terror attacks.
Having lived in New Jersey with my multiracial family, I
can attest that New Jersey exhibits some of the most incredible
benefits of living in a multiracial democracy. However, it was
antisemitism which fueled a December 2019 deadly shooting at a
Jewish market in Jersey City, New Jersey, where I was living at
the time.
I want to urge the committee to focus on the need to invest
more in the prevention of radicalization. We want to stop hate
crimes before they are committed and build stronger, more
resilient communities.
My written statement provides details on some of the 26
hate and anti-Government groups SPLC tracked in New Jersey in
2021, which includes a State-wide chapter of the Proud Boys as
well as other notorious hate groups on the hard right,
including Patriot Front, the Oath Keepers, as well as the New
Jersey European Heritage Association.
SPLC has been closely tracking the anti-Government,
heavily-armed, extremist Oath Keepers group. There are multiple
Oath Keeper chapters in New Jersey from Morristown to Cape May.
The Oath Keeper leaders consistently pushed for a second Civil
War in the build-up to January 6th. Several of the Oath Keepers
are currently on trial for seditious conspiracy. The Oath
Keepers organization is in some disarray as it faces justice.
However, more than 40 members of the violent Proud Boys
also face charges in relation to January 6th alleged
activities, including at least two men from New Jersey. Yet the
influence of the Proud Boys has grown, not waned. The number of
active Proud Boys chapters increased almost 67 percent between
2020 and 2021.
We at SPLC strongly believe that all who helped plan,
finance, inspire and perpetrate the deadly January 6th attack
must be held accountable. Without such accountability, our
democracy will continue to be at risk, with false and nefarious
attacks on our elections, on voting rights, and the diversity
that makes us strong.
What can we do? My written statement includes many policy
recommendations. I will summarize five.
No. 1, expand antiracism education and upstream prevention
initiatives. We must bolster community well-being and work to
inoculate young people against radicalization. To do that, we
must increase funding for prevention and antiracism education
initiatives.
No. 2, speak out against hate, political violence, and
extremism. Words matter. It is impossible to overstate the
importance of hearings like today, with leaders condemning hate
and extremism.
No. 3, enforce hate crime laws already on the books and
improve hate crime data collection efforts. After 30 years of
incomplete data and underreporting, we should support mandatory
hate crimes reporting.
No. 4, improve Government response to domestic extremism
and fund digital literacy initiatives and evidence-based
prevention programs.
No. 5, promote on-line safety and hold the tech and social
media companies accountable.
Thank you so much for holding this hearing today. We deeply
appreciate the committee's attention to the issue, and we stand
ready to work with you as you continue to focus on this
important issue. I am happy to answer your questions and yield
back to the Chairman. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Corke follows:]
Prepared Statement of Susan Corke
October 3, 2022
I am Susan Corke, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's
Intelligence Project. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before
you today on ``Countering Violent Extremism, Terrorism, and Antisemitic
Threats in New Jersey.''
This hearing comes at a precarious time for American democracy.
There has been a disturbing rise in antisemitic incidents in New Jersey
and elsewhere in the country. This uptick in hate-fueled activity is
part of a larger hard-right movement that stokes the fires of
antisemitism, promoting racism, fear, and extremist violence.
Antisemitism, in addition to being a toxic form of prejudice in its own
right, is also an animating feature of white nationalist ideology and
is in many instances a leading indicator of societal ills that threaten
the rights of all.
Established in 1971, the SPLC has been tireless in identifying and
rooting out hate and extremist groups to create a fair, inclusive, and
unified nation. We are a nonprofit advocacy organization serving as a
catalyst for racial justice throughout the South and beyond. We work in
partnership with communities of color and allies to dismantle white
supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements through transformative
policies and initiatives, and advance human rights of all people.
Through ``Learning for Justice,'' our organization provides free
resources to caregivers and educators to help advance human rights and
inclusive democracy.
The Intelligence Project, which I direct at SPLC, has deep
expertise in monitoring the activities of domestic hate groups and
other extremists--including the Ku Klux Klan, the neo-Nazi movement,
racist skinheads, antigovernment militias, and others. We currently
track hundreds of extremist groups operating across the country and
publish investigative reports, share key intelligence, and offer expert
analysis to the media and public.
We have monitored and assessed how the vile ecosystem that fuels
hate and extremism has changed. The current far-right movement is more
diffuse than a geographic census of groups. It flourishes on-line and
seeks young recruits and political access. In a dangerous shift over
the past year, extremist groups like the Proud Boys are getting
involved in local politics and creating alliances around other far-
right issues like anti-vax, anti-CRT, and anti-LGBTQ.
We are continually evolving our work to better expose, prevent,
counter, and remedy hate and extremism in America. To push white
supremacy out of the mainstream and remedy harms in communities, we
believe it is vital to be able to better spot warning signs and
intervene earlier by supporting grassroots partners with resources.
Our dedicated research and analysis of the hate spreading across
America requires that we invest wisely in the technology needed to
track white supremacy across the digital frontier. We seek to use our
research and expertise with policymakers to hold the perpetrators of
hate and extremism accountable. We are building capacity for more
proactive and long-term prevention of extremism through the adoption of
public health models. We also see hope as we listen to the stories of
those fighting back against white supremacy and extremism, those who
use activism to build community strength.
antisemitism: the ``energizing principle'' behind white nationalism
Eric Ward, senior advisor to the Western States Center and a core
SPLC partner, has written widely on antisemitism.\1\ In recent
testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs, he said, `` . . . [a]ntisemitism is the loom on
which other hatreds are woven, so essential that it's easy to ignore.
If we seek to counter domestic extremism, we must recognize that
antisemitism remains the energizing principle behind white
nationalism.''\2\
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\1\ Eric K. Ward, Skin in the Game: How Antisemitism Animates White
Nationalism, Pol. Rsch. Assocs. (Jun. 29, 2017), (https://
politicalresearch.org/2017/06/29/skin-in-the-game-how-antisemitism-
animates-white-nationalism.)
\2\ Hearing on Domestic Extremism in America: Examining White
Supremacist Violence in the Wake of Recent Attacks Before the S. Comm.
On Homeland Sec. & Gov't Affs., 117th Cong. 6 (2022) (Statement of Eric
K. Ward, Exec. Dir. At W. States Ctr.), https://
westernstatescenter.medium.com/written-testimony-submitted-to-the-
senate-hearing-on-domestic-extremism-in-america-examining-3a8ea9c86953.
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White supremacy has gone mainstream, which increasingly threatens
people of color and our communities, our education system, and
democracy itself. The ``great replacement'' narrative has become
thoroughly mainstream on the political right over the past few years.
This racist conspiracy, which says there is a systematic, global effort
to replace white, European people with nonwhite, foreign populations,
provides the central framework, rooted in antisemitic ideology, for the
white supremacist movement. The theory has motivated numerous deadly,
terror attacks.
In a SPLC/Tulchin poll \3\ released June 1, 2022, we found that
nearly 7 in 10 Republicans believe that demographic changes in the
United States are deliberately driven by liberal politicians. Inherent
in this central racist tenet of white supremacy is the false belief
that this is part of an effort to gain political power by ``replacing
more conservative white voters.'' In some manifestations of the great
replacement theory, believers blame Jews for the supposed genocide of
the white race.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ SPLC Releases Poll Finding Extensive Mainstreaming of Extremist
Narratives, S. Poverty L. Ctr. (June 1, 2022), https://
www.splcenter.org/presscenter/splc-releases-national-poll-finding-
extensive-mainstreaming-extremist-narratives.
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White nationalists seek to return to an America that predates the
implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Immigration and
Nationality Act of 1965. There is also a core belief among many
antisemitic or racist organizations that the Civil Rights Movement was
beyond the capability of African Americans and that their progress was
due to the Jewish financiers and puppet masters. These racist
aspirations to resist diversity and liberalism are frequently
articulated as the desire to form a white ethnostate--with violence as
the likely means to accomplish it. In sum, the hard right in America is
steeped in white supremacy and sees America's increasing diversity as a
threat that must be countered in politics, in law, in court, in the
media--and with violence.
In 2021, the Anti-Defamation League documented a 25 percent
increase in antisemitism in New Jersey from 2020.\4\ That was the
highest number recorded since ADL began tracking incidents in 1979. In
recent years, we have seen how antisemitic beliefs inspire deadly
violence. Antisemitism led to a deadly shooting at a Jewish market in
Jersey City, New Jersey (my former home city); another mass killing at
the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and a hostage-
taking at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Sophie Nieto-Munoz, Reports of Antisemitism in N.J. reached
record levels in 2021, group says, N.J. Monitor (April 27, 2022, 7:02
AM), https://newjerseymonitor.com/briefs/antisemitism-in-nj-reached-
record-levels-in-2021-report-says/.
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SPLC tracked 26 hate and antigovernment groups in New Jersey last
year. The 12 hate groups include a State-wide chapter of the Proud
Boys.\5\ In 2019, SPLC tracked and reported on the alarming case--at
the intersection of antisemitism and racism--of Richard Tobin, an 18-
year-old living in Brooklawn, New Jersey, who orchestrated a campaign
dubbed ``Operation Kristallnacht'' for the neo-Nazi white supremacist
group, The Base. In reporting on the trial, the Department of Justice
stated that in documents filed in this case and statements made in
court, ``Tobin admitted that in September 2019, he was a member of a
white supremacist group, ``The Base,'' and during that time, he
communicated on-line with other members and directed them to destroy
and vandalize properties affiliated with African Americans and Jewish
Americans.''
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\5\ In 2021, We Tracked 733 Hate Groups Across the U.S., S. Poverty
L. Ctr., https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map (last visited Sept. 30,
2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPLC also reported that Tobin had steeped himself in extremist
material on-line, including the infamous livestreamed video from the
Christchurch Mosque shooter on March 15, 2019, set to the song
``Another One Bites the Dust.'' SPLC received and reported on exclusive
and never-before-heard recordings from The Base which revealed their
tactics and terrorist plots. Through the conviction of Base members for
their violent plots, our SPLC analysis is that the group suffered
insurmountable setbacks and is now defunct; but its members have likely
continued to act as part of the white power movement, either as members
of other groups or participants in informal on-line extremist
communities.
A particular shift over the past year has been that extremist
groups, like the Proud Boys have been getting involved in local
politics and creating alliances to promote other far-right issues
(e.g., running hard-right candidates for school board, threatening
volunteer school board members, and running divisive local anti-vax and
anti-inclusive accurate history curricula campaigns.)
One of the strongest far-right reactionary campaigns now is being
led by anti-LGBTQ activists, targeted especially at trans people
through legislation and demonization--attacks that dovetail with QAnon-
based conspiracy theories and show a willingness of many GOP activists
to entertain the most radical ideas in their midst.
New Jersey is home to chapters of a number of the most notorious
groups on the hard right, including the Proud Boys, the Patriot Front,
the Oath Keepers, as well as those that are unique to New Jersey, such
as the New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA).
proud boys
The Proud Boys is an authoritarian, ultranationalist group that
believes in what they call ``western chauvinism''--the notion that
Western culture and white men are superior to all others.\6\ They
believe society should be hierarchically ordered, and those who do not
conform to their idealized heteronormative, Christian, patriarchal
society--including LGBTQ people, feminists, Muslims, and others--should
be intimidated into silence or punished by violence.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ Proud Boys, S. Poverty L. Ctr, https://www.splcenter.org/
fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys (last visited Sept. 30,
2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since the Proud Boys formed in 2016, their political activism has
focused on mitigating the perceived threats posed by the left and
supporting the agenda of former President Donald Trump and the broader
hard-right movement. During the organization's early years, this meant
hosting rallies across the country where they would arrive ready to
attack counter protesters, resulting in events that frequently
descended into violence.
In 2020, the group mobilized around the far right ``Stop the
Steal'' campaign. To overturn the results of that year's Presidential
election, the Proud Boys participated in the January 6 insurrection and
were among the first to enter the Capitol building. More than 40
members currently face charges in relation to their alleged actions
that day, including at least two men from New Jersey.\7\ Rather than
leading to a decrease in Proud Boy chapters and their influence, the
number of active Proud Boys chapters jumped to 72 in 2021, up from 43
in 2020.
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\7\ Kevin Shea, A Year Later, most of the 2 dozen N.J. residents
charged in Capitol attack await trial, N.J.com (Jan. 7, 2022, 7:11 AM),
https://www.nj.com/news/2022/01/a-year-later-most-of-the-2-dozen-nj-
residents-charged-in-capitol-attack-await-trial.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The events of 2020 sparked a broader hard-right focus on masking
and COVID-19 policies, inclusive education, LGBTQ rights and inclusion,
and what they characterize as ``critical race theory''--along with a
renewed effort to engage in local politics. Proud Boys have aided this
campaign by attending school board meetings, city council meetings, and
other local events, where they attempt to intimidate those who hold
views they oppose. In December 2021, for example, members of the Proud
Boys attended a Woodbridge, New Jersey, city council meeting--where
members were discussing inclusive school curricula--to protest what
they called ``sexual degeneracy'' and ``the rewriting of history along
with racial guilt.''\8\
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\8\ Carley Baldwin, Proud Boys, BLM Spar at Woodbridge Council
Meeting, Patch (Dec. 17, 2021, 11:17 AM), https://patch.com/new-jersey/
woodbridge/proud-boys-blm-spar-woodbridge-council-meeting.
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In recent months, the Proud Boys have shifted their attention
toward a tightly-focused campaign of transphobia, homophobia, and
misogyny. In the first 6 months of 2022 alone, Proud Boys
counterprotested or harassed people on at least 28 separate occasions
at LGBTQ and reproductive justice events around the country. Their
actions have included carrying guns outside LGBTQ story hour events at
libraries, harassing adult patrons at a brunch featuring drag queens,
and repeatedly referring to drag queens and LGBTQ people as
``pedophiles'' and ``groomers.''
The Proud Boys' on-the-ground activism reinforces a larger
campaign, being waged in State legislatures and our Nation's courts, to
deprive LGBTQ people, women, and all people who can become pregnant
from fully controlling their bodily autonomy. New Jersey Proud Boys
have praised other members of their organization who have forced
establishments--fearing violence--to cancel LGBTQ events. ``We're so
proud to call these men our brothers,'' the New Jersey chapter posted
to their Telegram channel following the Memphis Museum of Science and
History cancellation of the Memphis Proud Drag Show & Dance Party after
a group of Proud Boys began protesting outside the museum.
activities of patriot front in new jersey
Patriot Front is a white nationalist hate group that seeks to build
a white ethnostate.\9\ Thomas Rousseau founded the group after the
deadly violence at the ``Unite the Right'' rally in Charlottesville,
Virginia, in August 2017. Patriot Front focuses on in-person action.
The group is responsible for the vast majority of hate group flyering
in the United States, outpacing other groups in placing racist flyers
by a factor of 10 to 1.\10\
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\9\ Patriot Front, S. Poverty L. Ctr., https://www.splcenter.org/
fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/patriot-front (last visited Sept.
30, 2022).
\10\ Map of Hate Group Flyering in the U.S., S. Poverty L. Ctr.,
https://www.splcenter.org/flyering-map (last visited Sept. 30, 2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patriot Front also conducts banner drops and holds permit-less
rallies in cities across the U.S. Patriot Front uses permit-less
rallies as a tactic to avoid scrutiny by law enforcement and public
officials. For example, in July 2022, approximately 100 members of
Patriot Front marched through the narrow streets of downtown Boston
without a permit, forcing pedestrians into traffic lanes. As the group
marched, members of Patriot Front allegedly assaulted Charles Murrell,
a Black activist and artist.
Patriot Front members in New Jersey are part of a chapter that
extends into Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. Patriot Front
members in New Jersey also work closely with group members in New York
to post racist propaganda and conduct banner drops. All Patriot Front
members are required to post a certain amount of propaganda each month.
Members must purchase Patriot Front propaganda at a premium from
Rousseau, who is based in Haslet, Texas.
Patriot Front members in New Jersey send their flyering orders
through a chapter leader based in Pennsylvania, who oversees and
coordinates the activities of members across State lines. New Jersey
members of Patriot Front also must get approval from their chapter
leader in Pennsylvania to target areas for racist flyering runs and
banner drops.
According to the SPLC's map of hate group flyering in the United
States, Patriot Front members have posted 34 separate, distinct pieces
of racist propaganda in New Jersey between January 1, 2022, and August
30, 2022. This is a slight decrease in activity from the same time
period in 2021 when Patriot Front members circulated 45 pieces of
racist propaganda. In 2020, Patriot Front members posted 28 pieces of
racist propaganda during the same time period.
Patriot Front members in New Jersey also must get approval from
their chapter leader to destroy public murals and memorials. In June
2021, Patriot Front members destroyed a statue to George Floyd in
Newark. The same night, Patriot Front members destroyed a bust of
George Floyd in Brooklyn, New York. Suspects have not been identified
in the vandalism, and the investigations are on-going. In 2021, Patriot
Front members destroyed 32 murals that celebrate Black history, Hmong
culture, LGBTQ pride, as well as memorials to Black victims of police
brutality.
New Jersey members of Patriot Front show up to permit-less rallies
and conduct racist flyering runs across the United States. As SPLC's
Hatewatch reported earlier this year, a Patriot Front member from New
Jersey died in a car crash while on a propaganda run in Utah in
February 2021.\11\ The accident occurred after the driver fell asleep
at the wheel, causing the minivan he was driving to careen into a ditch
and flip over. All the occupants of the vehicle were leaders in Patriot
Front, most from Texas and one from New Jersey. All six passengers and
the driver were taken to local hospitals. Patriot Front founder
Rousseau was on board and had to undergo emergency surgery. Patriot
Front member and medic Kevin Bersuch from New Jersey died.
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\11\ Jason Wilson & Jeff Tischauser, Patriot Front Leader Involved
in Fatal Utah Car Crash, S. Poverty L. Ctr. (Mar. 2, 2022), https://
www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/03/25/patriot-front-leader-involved-
fatal-utah-car-crash.
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activities of new jersey european heritage association (njeha)
The NJEHA is a white nationalist group that has operated in the
State since 2018. The group holds rallies, harasses people at
demonstrations and civic events, and has led prolific racist, anti-
Black, and antisemitic flyering campaigns.
However, NJEHA drastically decreased posting racist propaganda in
the first 8 months of 2022. From January 1, 2022, to August 30, 2022,
NJEHA members posted 9 pieces of racist propaganda across the United
States, with 3 incidents in New Jersey. In comparison, NJEHA members
placed 348 pieces of racist propaganda across the United States during
the same period in 2021, which included 81 flyering incidents in New
Jersey.
The drop-in flyering incidents most likely shows that the group is
adjusting its tactics to focus on real-world harassment campaigns. From
June to September 2022, NJEHA has held 5 rallies in which 4 to 6
members participated, including:
June 18.--The group held a rally outside of Joint Base
McGuire-Dix Lakehurst in New Jersey against what they labeled
``Jewish supremacist control of American foreign policy . . .
''
July 30.--NJEHA members verbally harassed people at a Pride
event in Bordentown, New Jersey, and displayed a banner with
anti-trans slurs.
August 6.--The group held a rally outside a marijuana
dispensary in Bordentown, New Jersey, and displayed a banner
that used antisemitic messaging about the perceived Jewish
control over access to legal and illegal drugs in the United
States.
August 30.--NJEHA members distributed racist flyers to a
rally of Trump supporters in Bedminster, New Jersey.
September 4.--NJEHA members held a march in South
Plainfield, New Jersey.
As NJEHA members decrease the amount of racist propaganda they
post, members have started to work closely with members of Patriot
Front in New Jersey. NJEHA propaganda is often located next to Patriot
Front propaganda. Members of NJEHA have marched in permit-less marches
orchestrated by Patriot Front, including in Washington, DC, on December
4, 2021.
oath keepers
SPLC has been tracking for years the anti-Government, heavily-armed
extremist Oath Keepers group and their leader, Stewart Rhodes.\12\ SPLC
has repeatedly warned that Rhodes and many of his followers are a
threat to communities across the country, given their stated intentions
to undermine our democratic institutions.
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\12\ Oath Keepers, S. Poverty L. Ctr., https://www.splcenter.org/
fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/oath-keepers (last visited Sept.
30, 2022).
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Last week, the Department of Justice began jury selection in the
seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, along
with members Thomas Caldwell, Kenneth Harrelson, p--t)D65tlly [sic]
Meggs, and Jessica Watkins.
The group parroted false claims that the 2020 Presidential election
was stolen, but it was not the first time the organization had engaged
in election conspiracies mongering. Oath Keepers had previously worked
to interfere with elections, like at their so-called ``Operation
Sabot'' in 2016, when they patrolled at polling locations and at
``Operation DefendJ20'' in 2017 when Oath Keepers, Three Percenters,
and the far-right Bikers for Trump groups descended on the Capitol to
``protect'' Trump supporters.
Since the inception of the group in 2009, the Oath Keepers has
steeped itself in conspiracy theories and trained for a revolution
against the State. Like the rest of the anti-Government militia
movement, Oath Keepers use fear of gun confiscation, globalization, and
other anti-Government conspiracy theories (often rooted in coded
antisemitism) to organize outside legitimate channels. The group uses a
military-style hierarchical structure, arms training, and emergency
response events to engage members.
Since 2015 there have been multiple Oath Keeper chapters that have
actively operated in New Jersey, in communities from Morriston to
Northvale, Southampton Township to Cape May, and Manville to Newton.
Notably, former New Jersey State Assembly Republican candidate Ed
Durfee attended the events outside the Capitol on January 6. Durfee has
been a member of Oath Keepers since 2009, a regional director for the
organization at times, and as a volunteer, he contributed to the
organization's national efforts. Durfee followed a similar path to the
organization as founder Stewart Rhodes, first dipping his toes in the
extremist politics of Libertarian Ron Paul and energized in opposition
to the election of President Barack Obama.
The group has long focused their recruitment efforts on elected
officials, veterans, first responders, active military, and law
enforcement. Rhodes himself did a short stint in the army, attended
Yale University Law School, and formerly was a politically active Ron
Paul staff member. Rhodes was later disbarred in Montana and admonished
by the Arizona bar for his unethical practices.
Rhodes' inflammatory calls to action were shocking prior to January
6 and are shocking now. He did not call for a military uprising but a
militia one, stating, ``When is the military going to march on D.C. and
clean out that den of vipers? . . . To be free, Americans must be
armed, and the bulk of the military power must be in the hands of the
people themselves within sovereign States.''
Rhodes and other leaders have consistently pushed the idea of a
``second civil war'' in the build-up to January 6. Prior to the
insurrection, four Oath Keepers had been convicted of crimes ranging
from stockpiling bombs to threatening public officials. The
organization had engaged in a number of stand-offs with the government
between 2011 and 2020, from Arizona to Montana and Virginia.
They used these events served as test cases, culminating in the
attack on the Nation's capital. In the weeks before, Oath Keepers
trained at the State level, recruiting so-called security for the
November 21, 2020, Stop the Steal rally in Atlanta, Georgia. They urged
volunteers to bring long guns, batons, and body armor.
The threat Oath Keepers and similar organizations pose to our
communities is perhaps best said by 86-year-old Jack Hines, a WWII
veteran. After an Oath Keepers event in 2010, Hines said his fear was
that Rhodes or some other Oath Keeper leader will declare an emergency,
mobilizing its membership to mount an armed insurrection against the
government. ``I think that's one of the most dangerous things I've ever
heard of in my life,'' Hines said. ``That's court-martial material,
asking soldiers to take a dual oath. I don't see it any other way.''
As of now more than 20 Oath Keeper members or associates have been
arrested and charged for allegedly taking part in the raid that
occurred at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The Oath Keepers and Proud
Boys being charged with seditious conspiracy for the actions on and
before January 6th, are the first sedition conspiracy charges in the
country since 2010, and one of only four incidents of such charges in
80 years.
Our democracy suffered a terrible, deadly attack on Jan. 6, 2021,
when Oath Keepers joined together with other extremists to attempt to
stop the peaceful transfer of power through violence and intimidation.
Today, Oath Keepers is in disarray, its leadership being held
accountable for the destruction it caused, and the organizational brand
tarnished with the images of January 6.
It is of the utmost importance that Oath Keepers--and all those who
helped plan and perpetrate the deadly January 6 attack--be held
accountable. Without such accountability, our democracy will continue
to be at risk, with false and nefarious attacks on our elections and
voting rights. We must do everything we can to prevent that and to
protect free and fair elections to ensure a truly inclusive democracy.
mainstreaming of white supremacy
For many decades, the hard-right, anti-democracy movement pushed
forward, edging its way back into politics in order to mainstream their
hateful ideas and emerge from the extreme fringes, where they had been
relegated by the incredible efforts of civil and human rights leaders.
These leaders had worked to shift culture and policy in favor of equity
and inclusion. Using age-old tactics of fear and grievance, enabled and
enriched by new technology, the hard-right found new momentum along
with political favor with Trump and hard-right elected officials who
used their microphones to platform hate. The Fox TV network and its
headliner Tucker Carlson helped to spread and normalize these anti-
democratic and hateful ideologies among millions of American
households.
After 4 years of national alignment with the Trump administration,
these groups have not gone back to the shadows. They have coalesced
into a hard-right movement and have evolved their tactics. Hard-right
hate and anti-Government extremists returned to their bread-and-butter
focus on attacking local democratic institutions and rallying against
the Government. They are targeting local public health boards, school
boards, libraries, and elections administration. Groups like the John
Birch Society are peddling anti-science disinformation and propaganda,
forming protests and rallies, and causing disturbances in front of
hospitals, public officials' homes, schools, and libraries. The John
Birch Society has had a notable presence around the country, and States
like New Jersey are experiencing a significant organizing presence by
radical organizations claiming to be the voice for all parents.
The hard right has been involved in local education fights for many
decades. The movement has a foundation in fighting against
desegregation, busing, affirmative action in admissions, and the
creation of ethnic/Black studies programs. A decade ago, these groups
and their predecessors were fighting comprehensive sex education and
evolution curriculum. Last year hard-rightists took to local government
venues to take on COVID-19 public health measures. Today these groups
have again taken on city hall and are using local venues to spout anti-
LGBTQ messages.
As COVID-19 has waned, these organizations have not vacated their
focus on local government but have instead targeted teachers and
librarians by pushing book bans and challenging educators' employment
for the content of their lessons. Hard-right anti-democracy candidates
ran in school board races in the spring and are focusing on these races
again this fall. The loud bullying tactics have had a chilling impact,
resulting in teacher shortages and uncontested races in some places.
These intimidation tactics discourage and even prevent people,
particularly communities of color and other targeted groups, from fully
participating in local political life. In many instances--especially
the assault on education--they are designed to chill any discussion of
racism and other forms of discrimination.
The infiltration of the hard right in local politics has
exemplified how the anti-democracy hard right rejects equality and
pluralism. This movement is working to create communities in which
white people hold more political, social, and economic power than
others, just by virtue of the group they belong to by birth or by
choice. These movements are a threat because they are authoritarian,
reactionary, and very often conspiratorial. They espouse a view of
society that is exclusionary, and generally target people of color,
women, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and non-Christians.
Amid all the hate and bigotry and the railing against the
Government, we see many are fighting back and rebuilding community
every day, resisting its destruction. While Americans are fearful of
what may come, SPLC polling indicates that a broad range of people in
the United States from all parties are fearful of what may come, but
they still support their teachers, want civil discourse, and are
appalled by the January 6 attacks. There is hope and evidence of hard
work being done to save communities and democracy.
the nature and magnitude of the current hate crime threat
Criminal acts motivated by bias are very personal crimes, with
unique emotional and psychological impacts on the victim--and the
victim's community. Hate crimes are intentionally and specifically
directed toward individuals because of their personal and immutable
characteristics. These crimes effectively intimidate other members of
the victim's community, leaving them feeling terrorized, isolated,
vulnerable, and unprotected by the law. Hate crimes have a multiplier
effect and can make an entire community fearful, angry, and suspicious
of other groups--and the power structure that is supposed to protect
victims. The long-term repercussions of hate crimes are wide-ranging
and can damage the fabric of our society and fragment communities.
It is impossible to address our Nation's hate crime problem without
measuring it accurately. Under the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990
(HCSA),\13\ the FBI is required to compile hate crime data from the
approximately 18,000 Federal, State, university, city, and Tribal law
enforcement authorities and publish an annual report.\14\
Unfortunately, reporting is voluntary for State, local, and Tribal law
enforcement agencies, and many do not provide their information.\15\
Underreporting remains a persistent issue, obscuring the scale and
scope of hate crimes in this country. For the third year in a row,
participation in the FBI data collection program declined in 2020.\16\
To the extent States and cities are reporting credible hate crime data,
the HCSA report provides a measure of accountability for States and
cities and a revealing look into their ability and readiness to address
hate crime. A large city that does not report data to the FBI--or
affirmatively reports zero hate crimes--does not inspire confidence
that its leadership is ready and able to address hate violence.
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\13\ Hate Crime Statistics Act, Pub. L. No. 101-275, 104 Stat. 140
(1990) https://www.Congress.gov/101/statute/STATUTE-104/STATUTE-104-
Pg140.pdf.
\14\ See id.
\15\ See, for example, the ADL chart listing almost 70 cities in
the United States with populations over 100,000 that either did not
report any data to the FBI in 2020, or affirmatively reported zero (0)
hate crimes. https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/2022-05/
FBI%20Hate%20Crime%20Statistics%20DNR%20and%20Zero-
Reporting%20U.S.%20Cities%20- 2013-2020.pdf.
\16\ See 2020 FBI Hate Crime Statistics, Dep't of Just., https://
www.justice.gov/crs/highlights/2020-hate-crimes-statistics (last
visited Sept. 30, 2022).
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Trends documented in the 2020 FBI HCSA report are sobering and
alarming, but incomplete.
The FBI reported 8,263 hate crime incidents, compared to
7,314 reported in 2019, a 13 percent increase and the highest
numbers reported since 2001.
Race-based hate crimes were most numerous, making up 5,227
of 8,263 total hate crimes reported in 2020 (63 percent)--the
highest number of race-based hate crimes since 2004, and a
deeply disturbing 32 percent increase over 2019. As in every
year since 1991, most of the race-based crimes were directed at
Black people--2,871 of the 5,227 (55 percent), a dramatic 49
percent increase over 2019.
Crimes against individuals and property in Asian American/
Pacific Islander communities increased 56 percent, from 179
reported crimes in 2019 to 279 in 2020.
Religion-based crimes were second-most numerous, with 1,244
reported religion-based crimes--a very significant 18 percent
decline from the 1,521 reported in 2019. Crimes directed
against Jews and Jewish institutions were the most numerous
among religion-based hate crimes--683, about 55 percent--but a
significant 28 percent decline from the 953 reported in 2019.
Every year since 1991, crimes against Jews or Jewish
institutions have constituted between 50 percent and 80 percent
of religion-based hate crimes reported to the FBI.
1,110 hate crimes were directed against people and
institutions on the basis of sexual orientation, down 7 percent
from 1,195 in 2019.
266 hate crimes were directed against people and property on
the basis of their gender identity--a 34 percent increase after
an 18 percent increase in 2019--and, by far, the highest
reported since the FBI began collecting this specific data in
2013.
The FBI report documented 22 hate crime murders,
significantly down from 2019's record high of 51 hate crime
murders. Still, 22 is the third-highest number of hate crime
murders recorded since the FBI began collecting this data in
1991.
Though clearly incomplete due to underreporting, the annual FBI
HCSA reports provide the most comprehensive national snapshot available
of hate violence in America. Even more importantly, the HCSA report has
sparked many improvements in the way police departments across the
country address hate violence.
To understand the annual FBI HCSA report, there are several key
facts to keep in mind:
Reporting hate crime data to the FBI is not compulsory and
therefore vastly underreported \17\.--The FBI HCSA is reporting
exclusively on crimes. Not arrests, not prosecutions--just the facts as
they appear at the scene of the crime. Forty-six States and the
District of Columbia have hate crime laws, but even States without a
hate crime statute report hate crime data to the FBI. The recently-
updated FBI Hate Crime Data Collection Guidelines and Training Manual
contains definitions, scenarios, and best practices for reporting this
data to the Bureau.\18\
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\17\ Hate crime reports came from 15,138 law enforcement agencies
(out of 18,625 across the country), a 3 percent decline from 15,588 in
2019, and, disturbingly, the third straight year of decline in police
participation in the HCSA program. Only 2,389 of the 15,138 agencies
that participated in the FBI data collection effort--less than 16
percent--reported one or more hate crimes. Every other agency,
including almost 70 cities with populations over 100,000, either
affirmatively reported zero (0) hate crimes or did not report any data
to the FBI at all.
\18\ Hate Crime Data Collection Guidelines and Training Manual,
Fed. Bureau of Investigation (2022), https://le.fbi.gov/file-
repository/hate-crime-data-collection-guidelines-and-training-
manual.pdf/view.
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Studies have shown that more comprehensive, complete hate crime
reporting can deter hate violence. The International Association of
Chiefs of Police's March 2021 Model Hate Crime Policy promotes
mandatory hate crime reporting to the FBI and hate incident reporting
as a best practice.\19\ The National Policing Institute's Open Data
Initiative demonstrated conclusively the police-community relations
benefits of credible, real-time hate crime data.\20\
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\19\ Model Policy to Investigation of Hate Crime, Int'l Ass'n of
Chiefs of Police (2021), https://www.theiacp.org/sites/default/files/
2021-03/Hate%20Crimes%20Formatted%202021-03-23.pdf.
\20\ Releasing Open Data on Hate Crimes: A Best Practices Guide for
Law Enforcement Agencies, Nat'l Policing Inst. (2018). https://
www.policinginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/PF_Releasing-Open-
Data-on-Hate-Crimes_Final.pdf.
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The numbers do not speak for themselves. On average, more than 21
hate crimes occurred every day in America in 2020--one every 75 minutes
or so. The impact of these crimes on communities can never be reduced
to mere numbers. Behind each of the 8,263 reported criminal incidents
in 2020 is a victim of violence, intimidation, or vandalism, who has
been targeted for no other reason that their race, religion, national
origin, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Accurate hate crime data collection is a two-way street. Improved
reporting requires both law enforcement agency capability and
willingness to accurately collect the data and trust from the community
that reporting to the police will matter and make a difference. If
Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) or targeted community
members--including immigrants, people with disabilities, LGBTQ
community members, and others, along with people with limited language
proficiency--cannot report, or do not feel safe reporting, law
enforcement cannot effectively address these crimes.
the covid-19 hate crime act
Enactment of the Federal COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in May 2021,
which included the provisions of the Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer
National Opposition to Hate, Assault, and Threats to Equality Act (NO
HATE Act) in Section 5, is an important step forward.\21\ The new law--
sparked by thousands of incidents of violence, harassment, and
intimidation directed against Asian American and Pacific Islander
community members--authorizes incentive grants to stimulate improved
local and State hate crime training, prevention, best practices, and
data collection initiatives. The law also authorizes grants available
for State hate crime reporting hotlines to direct individuals to local
law enforcement and support services.
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\21\ National Opposition to Hate, Assault, and Threats to Equality
Act, Pub. L. No. 117-13, 135 Stat. 26 (2021), https://www.Congress.gov/
117/plaws/publ13/PLAW-117publ13.pdf.
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Comprehensive hate crime data collection and enforcement and
implementation of current laws are both essential. But the law is a
blunt instrument to confront hate and extremism--it does not address
the disparate root causes of hate, nor does it adequately mitigate
future harms to historically targeted and marginalized communities.
Simply put, we cannot legislate, regulate, tabulate, or prosecute
racism, hatred, or extremism out of existence.\22\
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\22\ Michael Lieberman, Hate Crimes, Explained, S. Poverty L. Ctr.
(Oct. 27, 2021), https://www.splcenter.org/hate-crimes-explained.
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victim assistance and building community resilience
Approaches to hate crimes and violent extremism should be de-
securitized, with a focus on community investment, education and
prevention initiatives, and social and economic support rather than
solely investing in law enforcement agencies and the after effect of
hate violence.\23\ Early, age-appropriate education implemented, far
upstream and prior to the exposure to radicalizing extremist content,
has also proven to be an important component of challenging and
mitigating extremist harm.\24\
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\23\ Harsha Panduranga, Community Investment, Not Criminalization,
Brennan Ctr. For Just. (2021), https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/
default/files/2021-06/2021_06_DHS_Tar- geted_Prevention.pdf.
\24\ Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab & Southern
Poverty Law Center, Parents & Caregivers Guide to Online
Radicalization, Assessments & Impact, https://www.splcenter.org/peril-
assessments-impact, July 2021.
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When religious communities, houses of worship, Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and other institutions working to
serve and uplift distinct communities are targeted for violence and
vandalism, it is imperative that the needs of victims-survivors are
addressed first. It is understandable that one instinct is to increase
physical security for our houses of worship and community
institutions--higher walls, more cameras, more bulletproof glass, and
even armed guards.
We, therefore, appreciate the robust support in Congress for
significantly increased funding for FEMA's Nonprofit Security Grant
Program (NPSG), proposals which will double the currently funding level
of $180 million. But no amount of money can ensure the security of our
communal institutions. Synagogues, other houses of worship, HBCUs, and
other community institutions cannot become armed fortresses, isolated
and segregated from the broader community.\25\
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\25\ Juliette Kayyem, A Synagogue Shouldn't Be a Fortress, The
Atlantic (Jan. 17, 2022), https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/
2022/01/colleyville-standoff-synagogues-risk-defenses/621280/.
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As Congress and the administration assess the proper budget for
NPSG programs to deter and detect attacks, we urge you to complement
this support with a parallel commitment to fund research and prevention
initiatives to address what the administration labeled as ``long-term
contributors to domestic terrorism'' in its trailblazing May 2021
National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism.\26\ Like other
recent intelligence community reports,\27\ assessments \28\ and
Congressional testimony,\29\ the review concluded the two most lethal
elements of today's domestic terrorism threat are: (1) Racially- or
ethnically-motivated violent extremists who advocate for the
superiority of the white race and (2) anti-Government or anti-authority
violent extremists, such as militia violent extremists.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\26\ National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, The White
House (2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/
National-Strategy-for-Countering-Domestic-Terrorism.pdf.
\27\ Domestic Violent Extremism Poses Heightened Threat in 2021,
Off. of the Dir. of Nat'l Intel. (2021), https://www.dni.gov/files/
ODNI/documents/assessments/UnclassSummaryofDVE- Assessment17MAR21.pdf.
\28\ Strategic Intelligence Assessment and Data on Domestic
Terrorism, Fed. Bureau of Investigation & Dep't of Homeland Sec.
(2021), https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20743448/strategic-
intelligence-assessment-and-data-on-domestic-terrorism-may-2021.pdf.
\29\ Threats to the Homeland: Evaluating the Landscape 20 Years
After 9/11: Hearing On Worldwide Threats Before the S. Comm. on
Homeland Sec. & Gov't Affs., 117th Cong. (2021) (Statement of
Christopher A. Wray, Dir. of Fed. Bureau of Investigation), https://
www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony-Wray-2021-09-21-
REVISED.pdf.; Threats to the Homeland: Evaluating the Landscape 20
Years After 9/11: Hearing On Worldwide Threats Before the S. Comm. on
Homeland Sec. & Gov't Affs., 117th Cong. (2021) (Statement of Alejandro
N. Mayorkas, Sec'y of U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec.) https://
www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony-Mayorkas-2021-09-21.pdf.
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One of the four pillars promoted in the administration's holistic,
Government-wide National Strategy approach to addressing violent
extremism is a commitment to confront long-term contributors to
domestic terrorism, which aligns with SPLC's approach:
``Individuals subscribing to violent ideologies such as violent white
supremacy, which are grounded in racial, ethnic, and religious hatred
and the dehumanizing of portions of the American community, as well as
violent anti-Government ideologies, are responsible for a substantial
portion of today's domestic terrorism. Tackling the long-term
contributors to this challenge demands addressing the sources of that
mobilization to violence--with leadership from relevant domestic-facing
agencies, coordinated by the White House's Domestic Policy Council and
in close partnership with civil society.
``That means tackling racism in America. It means protecting Americans
from gun violence and mass murders. It means ensuring that we provide
early intervention and appropriate care for those who pose a danger to
themselves or others. It means ensuring that Americans receive the type
of civics education that promotes tolerance and respect for all and
investing in policies and programs that foster civic engagement and
inspire a shared commitment to American democracy, all the while
acknowledging when racism and bigotry have meant that the country fell
short of living up to its founding principles. It means setting a tone
from the highest ranks of government that every American deserves the
life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness that our Declaration of
Independence recognizes as unalienable rights. And it means ensuring
that there is simply no governmental tolerance--and instead
denunciation and rejection--of violence as an acceptable mode of
seeking political or social change.''\30\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\30\ National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, The White
House (2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/
National-Strategy-for-Countering-Domestic-Terrorism.pdf.
SPLC is working to develop and build prevention and resilience
initiatives to prepare families, communities, and schools with
strategies to counter radicalization, empower people of color, and
build resilience. In partnership with the Polarization and Extremism
Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University and its
research that recognized young people's increased vulnerability to on-
line radicalization during the pandemic due to increased time on-line,
we partnered to create Building Resilience and Confronting Risk in the
COVID-19 Era: A Parents and Caregivers Guide to Online
Radicalization.\31\
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\31\ Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab & Southern
Poverty Law Center, Parents & Caregivers Guide to Online
Radicalization, Assessments & Impact, https://www.splcenter.org/peril-
assessments-impact, July 2021.
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The guide is a tool that enables parents, caregivers, and other
adults to understand on-line radicalization and explains how those
features can lead young people to adopt extremist views that may lead
to violence. The resource outlines strategies for engaging youth who
may have become exposed to extremist ideas--or even begun a process of
radicalization--and provides resources for additional help and support.
In an impact study of the guide, we found that after just 7 minutes
reading it, parents and caregivers feel better equipped to intervene
and engage with a young person who might be susceptible to manipulative
and hate-fueled rhetoric.\32\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\32\ Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab & Southern
Poverty Law Center, Parents & Caregivers Guide to Online
Radicalization, Assessments & Impact, https://www.splcenter.org/peril-
assessments-impact, July 2021.
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Similarly, SPLC's Learning for Justice program has developed a
``Digital Literacy Framework'' to help educators, parents, and youth
alike recognize the intricacies of internet usage and how it can be
manipulated to harm users. Learning for Justice's framework offers
seven key areas in which students need support developing digital and
civic literacy skills. The framework outlines the overarching knowledge
and skills necessary while also detailing more granular examples of
student behaviors to help educators evaluate mastery.\33\
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\33\ Learning for Justice, S. Poverty L. Ctr., https://
www.splcenter.org/learning-for-justice (last visited Sept. 30, 2022).
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Approaching and preventing radicalization, however, must be a
whole-of-community initiative. SPLC is committed to the proposition
that all adults--from educators to coaches and religious leaders--
should be equipped with information to identify susceptibility to hate-
fueled narratives and should possess the tools to build resilience
against these harmful and manipulative ideologies. We must make this
information widely available and free from accessibility barriers and
equip people with such resources to foster a sense of commitment to
social cohesion. Such wide-spread sharing of knowledge and resources
will only broaden and strengthen the network of care that will ensure a
healthy and thriving community.
For a truly empowered and healthy democracy, the needs of
individuals and communities who have been targeted and harmed by hate
must remain at the center of any response and mitigation efforts.
Basing support in the strength and experiential knowledge of the
community ensures that well-being is tailored to the specific needs and
asks of those harmed or targeted.
building for the future: the white house united we stand summit
At the United We Stand Summit hosted by the Biden administration in
mid-September, the White House rolled out an impressive number of
Government initiatives,\34\ along with funding commitments and several
public-private partnerships designed to foster unity and build
community trust and resilience in New Jersey and across the country.
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\34\ United We Stand, https://unitedwestand.gov/ (last visited
Sept. 30, 2022).
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SPLC had written to Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice in
advance of the summit, urging planners to focus on survivors and their
families, concentrate on forward-looking, long-term prevention
initiatives--not merely enforcement of existing laws--and center
community-based resources and best practices to address the harms of
hate-fueled violence.\35\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\35\ Margaret Huang, SPLC Letter to Ambassador Susan Rice, S.
Poverty L. Ctr. (2022), https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/
splc-letter-united-we-stand-summit-2022.pdf.
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We will be pressing the Biden administration to continue to address
these issues--both in Washington and in community-based, follow-up
field hearings and roundtables to highlight evidence-based best
practices, public-private partnerships, restorative justice
initiatives, and effective law enforcement and community responses to
hate crimes and extremism that can be replicated and scaled.
conclusion
We must acknowledge that hate crimes and the harms they cause to
victims and their communities cannot be solved by law enforcement
alone. We must do more to support victims, survivors, and their
communities. Congress and the administration must support programs and
initiatives designed to prevent hate, antisemitism, bias-motived
criminal activity, and extremism.
New Jersey is one of the most diverse States in the country;
notably in a recent study it has higher racial and ethnic diversity;
higher diversity of education attainment; and higher linguistic
diversity than 44 other States.\36\ Having lived in New Jersey with my
multi-racial family, I can attest that New Jersey exhibits some of the
most incredible benefits of living in a multi-racial democracy.
However, it was also in the New Jersey Tobin case, where we witnessed
one of the more extreme examples of how antisemitism and racism are
dangerously intertwined in the white power hate movement.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\36\ Adam McCann, 2022's Most & Least Diverse States in America,
Wallethub, https://wallethub.com/edu/most-least-diverse-states-in-
america/38262.
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Several States, particularly in the South, are currently passing
laws restricting teaching about racism and other painful truths about
our national history. Concealing the truth about our history does not
protect our youth; it makes them susceptible to misinformation and
fails to equip them with the critical thinking skills and education
they need to navigate a new age where disinformation and manipulation
are spreading on the internet. Much more needs to be done to teach
young people the unvarnished truth about American history--both good
and bad--so that we can learn lessons from the past to shape a better
future.
policy recommendations
Expand Anti-Racism Education and Upstream Prevention Initiatives
To bolster community well-being and ensure that all individuals are
prepared to inoculate young people against radicalization, funding for
prevention and education initiatives is imperative. We applaud the
White House's recent announcement of $1 billion in new funding through
the Safer Communities Act ``to support safer and healthier learning
environments,'' as well as new funding through the Department of
Commerce to improve digital literacy and for the Department of Health
and Human Services to ``support student well-being and resilience in
the face of hate and trauma.''\37\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\37\ White House, FACT SHEET: New Actions from the Biden-Harris
Administration and the Public and Private Sectors to Foster Unity and
Prevent Hate-Motivated Violence, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-
room/statements-releases/2022/09/15/fact-sheet-new-actions-from-the-
biden-harris-administration-and-the-public-and-private-sectors-to-
foster-unity-and-prevent-hate-motivated-violence/.
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The Department of Education and the Department of Justice
should fund programs aimed at preventing extremism and
promoting deradicalization--and move from punishment models to
restorative justice initiatives that build community
resilience. Especially in these divided and polarized times,
every elementary and secondary school should promote an
inclusive school climate and activities that celebrate our
Nation's diversity.
Congress and the Department of Education should fund
programs to develop and promote civics education and develop
curricula addressing structural racism, as well as funding for
States to implement their own related initiatives.
Congress and the Biden administration should fiercely oppose
efforts to falsely attack educational gag order on teaching
truth and hard history, and other efforts to place restrictions
on inclusive education.
Speak Out Against Hate, Political Violence, and Extremism
Words matter, especially from our leaders. It is impossible to
overstate the importance of elected officials, business leaders, and
community officials using their public platforms to condemn
antisemitism, hate crimes, threats to HBCUs, and vandalism and violence
against houses of worship and other minority institutions.
Enforce Hate Crime Laws
Enforcement of existing Federal and State hate crime laws--and
training for judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials charged
with enforcement--is critical, but insufficient. The law is a blunt
instrument against hate and racism. We cannot legislate, regulate,
tabulate, or prosecute racism, hatred, or extremism out of existence.
Improve Hate Crime Data Collection Efforts
After 30 years of incomplete data and consistent FBI HCSA
underreporting, Congress and the Biden administration should
support mandatory hate crime reporting. Until legislation to
require reporting can be support expanded incentives--more
carrots and more sticks--toward making hate crime prevention
initiatives and credible hate crime reporting by all law
enforcement agencies a condition precedent to receiving Federal
funds. Special attention should be devoted to large
underreporting law enforcement agencies that either have not
participated in the HCSA program at all or have incorrectly
reported zero hate crimes.
The FBI recently designated civil rights and hate crime as
one of its highest national threat priorities.\38\ Though
reporting hate crime data to the FBI is voluntary, the
Department of Justice and the FBI should build the capacity of
State and local law enforcement agencies to provide data to the
FBI, and support efforts to expand the use of National Incident
Based Reporting System (NIBRS) among local law enforcement
agencies. The FBI can and should do more to encourage
reporting.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\38\ U.S. Department of Justice: Combatting Hate Crime, Dep't of
Just., https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1428666/download.
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Improve Government Response to Domestic Extremism
Though most hate crimes are not committed by individuals
affiliated with an organized hate group, the Biden
administration and Congress should continue to closely track
and assess the nature and magnitude of the problem of domestic
extremism and should fund resilience and digital literacy
initiatives as well as Government and academic research on best
evidenced-based prevention programs.
Congress should enact the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act
(S. 964/H.R. 350) to establish offices within the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Justice, and the FBI
to monitor, investigate, and prosecute cases of domestic
terrorism--and require these offices to regularly report to
Congress. The legislation would also provide resources to
strengthen partnerships with State and local law enforcement
and community-based groups to confront far-right extremism.
Every State prohibits private militias, and many States have
laws prohibiting political violence, restricting firearms in
the State capital/government buildings and near polling places,
and banning paramilitary training for civil disorder. Federal
and State authorities should raise awareness about these laws--
and enforce them.
Promote On-line Safety and Hold Tech and Social Media Companies
Accountable
Social media companies should not enable the funding or amplifying
of white supremacist ideas or provide a safe haven for extremists.
Consistent with the First Amendment and privacy considerations, Federal
and State government officials should implement rules and regulations
to ensure that tech companies comply with civil rights laws prohibiting
discrimination. Law enforcement should scrutinize platforms and ensure
they are enforcing prohibitions on activities that endanger the public
or conspire against the rights of others.
Thank you for holding this hearing. We deeply appreciate the
committee's attention to antisemitism and extremist threats to New
Jersey and our Nation. We stand ready to work with you as you continue
to focus on this critical issue.
Mr. Torres. The Chair recognizes Rabbi Reed to summarize
her statement for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF RABBI ESTHER REED, INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
RUTGERS HILLEL
Rabbi Reed. My name is Rabbi Esther Reed, and I am the
executive director of Rutgers Hillel, a Hillel serving one of
the largest Jewish undergraduate populations on any campus in
North America. Hillel International is the world's largest
Jewish student organization, with a presence on more than 850
campuses.
On behalf of the global Hillel movement and Rutgers Hillel
here in New Jersey, thank you for the opportunity to submit
testimony and for your commitment to countering antisemitism.
Hillel was founded 99 years ago, and for the first time in
recent memory, Jewish students feel unsafe and unwelcome at
their own schools.
I am here today to share with you what is happening on
campus and to make two requests. We urge continued security
funding for religious institutions and enhanced enforcement of
the Department of Education's--OK.
Mr. Torres. We want to make sure you are heard.
Rabbi Reed. I appreciate that. I want to be heard.
Mr. Torres. We will restart the clock.
Rabbi Reed. Restart the clock, start all over again?
Mr. Torres. Up to you, but you will have your time
restored.
Rabbi Reed. OK. I am here today to share with you what is
happening on campus and to make two requests. We urge continued
security funding for religious institutions and enhanced
enforcement of the Department of Education's responsibility to
protect the rights of Jewish students.
Antisemitism on campus has risen to unprecedented levels.
Hillel tracked 561 incidents of hate against Jewish students
last year, a 15 percent increase from the previous year and
more than triple the number of incidents 4 years ago. This
hatred comes in the form of graffiti, physical assault, social
media rhetoric, and the social exclusion of Jewish students.
At Rutgers New Brunswick alone, AEPi, a Jewish fraternity,
was egged 2 years in a row while students were participating in
the solemn 24-hour memorial practice of reading aloud names of
Holocaust victims on Holocaust Memorial Day, as well as on the
major Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah, 1 week ago today.
The tires of Jewish students, their cars were slashed.
White supremacist groups posted antisemitic recruitment fliers
on campus. My student, Ben, who wears a kippah or yarmulke on
his head, was afraid to go to his internship in Jersey City the
day a Kosher grocery store was shot up there.
Eggs thrown at a fraternity don't make international
headlines. Slashed tires don't make the evening news. A college
student staying home from his internship isn't usually on the
agenda of a Congressional meeting.
But nobody wants Rutgers to be the next headline. Nobody
wants Rutgers to be the home to the next tragedy, like the ones
the Jewish community faced at the Tree of Life synagogue in
Pittsburgh, the shooting in Poway, or the hostage taking in the
Colleyville synagogue in Texas. We need your help to stay out
of the headlines.
First, I want to thank you, as Members of Congress, for
appropriating funds for the security needs of religious
institutions. This year, Hillels received grants totaling $1.9
million for physical security enhancements.
These Nonprofit Security Grant Program funds make a
concrete difference in the security and safety of my students.
Rutgers Hillel installed bollards in front of our building to
protect us from a car and prevent a car from ramming through
and harming Jewish students. We installed new fencing at the
back of our facility to prevent intruders. We don't want our
institutions and facilities to be ringed with security devices,
but, sadly, they have to be.
The Jewish community needs more funding to keep us safe,
and we urge the committee to be vigilant in ensuring that the
Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights will
investigate, address, and enforce violations of the Federal
civil rights of Jewish students.
There are dozens of pending cases involving allegations of
antisemitism under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
including an action filed against Rutgers University in 2011.
Many of the other pending complaints are also over a year old
and have yet to be investigated. Every week that goes by is
another example of Jewish student right to equal opportunity
not being protected.
On behalf of my students, I appreciate the committee's
vigilance in ensuring the Department of Education carries out
its responsibilities under Title VI.
I will leave you now with the words of my student Adina, a
student at Rutgers Newark. Jewish students there tell me that
they keep their heads down and they hide their Jewish
identities so that they can avoid trouble. Adina says this:
Every day I am stressed about going to school. Every single
morning I need to think about things when getting ready for
school. Am I dressed too Jewish? Do I look too Jewish? Does my
shirt have any Hebrew on it? I can't wear something if it says
Israel on it. It has become a habit that as I leave the parking
deck I check to make sure that my necklace is inside my shirt.
Jewish students like Adina should not have to tuck in their
Jewish star when they are heading to class. No student should
be afraid to express their Jewish identity in New Jersey in
2022.
Again, I thank you for the opportunity for keeping my
students safe and for your leadership on this vital issue.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Rabbi Reed follows:]
Prepared Statement of Rabbi Esther Reed
October 3, 2022
My name is Rabbi Esther Reed, and I am the executive director of
Rutgers Hillel, a Hillel serving one of the largest Jewish
undergraduate populations on any campus in North America. Hillel
International is the world's largest Jewish student organization, with
a presence on more than 850 campuses.
On behalf of the global Hillel movement and of Rutgers Hillel here
in New Jersey, thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony to the
committee and for your commitment to countering antisemitism.
Hillel was founded 99 years ago and now, for the first time in
recent memory, Jewish students feel unsafe and unwelcome at their own
schools.
I am here today to share with you what is happening on campus and
to make two requests: We urge continued security funding for religious
institutions; and enhanced enforcement of the Department of Education's
responsibility to protect the rights of Jewish students.
Antisemitism on campus has risen to unprecedented levels. Hillel
tracked 561 incidents of hate against Jewish students last year, a 15
percent increase from the previous year, and more than triple the
number of incidents 4 years ago.
This hatred comes in the form of graffiti, physical assault, social
media rhetoric, and the social exclusion of Jewish students.
At Rutgers-New Brunswick alone:
AEPi, a Jewish fraternity, was egged 2 years in a row while
students were participating in the solemn, 24-hour memorial
practice of reading aloud names of Holocaust victims on
Holocaust Memorial Day, as well as on the major Jewish holiday,
Rosh Hashana, 1 week ago today.
The tires of Jewish students' cars were slashed.
White supremacist groups posted antisemitic recruitment
flyers.
My student, Ben, who wears a kippah, or yarmulke, on his
head, was afraid to go to his internship in Jersey City the day
a Kosher grocery store there was shot up.
Eggs thrown at a fraternity house don't make international
headlines. Slashed tires don't make the evening news. A college student
staying home from his internship isn't usually on the agenda of a
Congressional hearing.
But nobody wants Rutgers to be the next headline. Nobody wants
Rutgers to be home to the next tragedy like the ones our community
faced at the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh, the shooting in
Poway, or the hostage taking in the Colleyville synagogue in Texas.
We need your help to keep us out of the headlines.
First, I wish to thank you, as Members of Congress, for
appropriating funds for the security needs of religious institutions.
This year, Hillels received grants totaling $1.9 million for physical
security enhancements.
These Nonprofit Security Grant Program funds make a concrete
difference in the safety of my students. Rutgers Hillel installed
bollards in front of our building to prevent a car from ramming through
and harming Jewish students. We installed new fencing at the back of
our facility to prevent intruders entering.
We don't want our institutions and facilities to be ringed with
security devices, but sadly, they have to be.
A Rabbi friend recently went to a clergy meeting in his town in NJ.
His Christian colleagues were having a lively debate about whether to
lock the front doors of their churches. They were weighing their desire
for privacy against the value of being a welcoming sanctuary. And my
Rabbi friend thought about the active-shooter drills his synagogue's
pre-school needs to run to keep 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old children safe
from harm. He was devastated that the current landscape of antisemitism
precludes him from leaving his door unlocked anymore.
And to be clear, locking the door is not enough.
The Jewish community needs more funding to keep us safe, and we
urge the committee to be vigilant in assuring that the Department of
Education's Office of Civil Rights will address, investigate, and
enforce violations of the Federal civil rights of Jewish students.
There are dozens of pending cases involving allegations of
antisemitism under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, including
an action filed against Rutgers University in 2011. Many of the other
pending complaints are also over a year old and have yet to be
investigated.
Every week that goes by is another example of Jewish student rights
to an equal educational opportunity not being protected.
On behalf of my students, I appreciate the committee's vigilance in
ensuring the Department of Education carries out its responsibilities
under Title VI.
I will leave you with the words of Adina, a student at Rutgers-
Newark. Jewish students there tell me that they keep their heads down
and hide their Jewish identities so they can avoid trouble.
Adina says:
``Every day I am stressed about going to school. When it was announced
that we were returning to in-person classes, I was not excited because
it is so unpleasant being a Jew on the Rutgers-Newark campus. Every
single morning, I need to think about things when getting ready for
school.
``Am I dressed too Jewish?
``Do I look too Jewish?
``Does my shirt have Hebrew on it?
``I can't wear something if it says the word, Israel.
``It has become a habit that as I leave the parking deck, I
check to make sure my necklace is in my shirt.''
Jewish students like Adina should not have to tuck in their Jewish
star when they are headed to class.
No student should be afraid to express their Jewish identity in New
Jersey in 2022.
Again, I thank you for this opportunity, for keeping my students
safe, and for your leadership on this vital issue.
______
Testimony of Rabbi Esther Reed, given in memory of her stepfather,
Michael Kesler, a Holocaust survivor brought to the United States by
the organization that later became Hillel International, who passed
away in 2021 at the age of 97.
Mr. Torres. Ms. Huffnagle.
STATEMENT OF HOLLY HUFFNAGLE, U.S. DIRECTOR FOR COMBATING
ANTISEMITISM, AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE
Ms. Huffnagle. Thank you, Vice Chairman Torres, for the
introduction. Chairman Thompson and distinguished Members of
the committee, thank you for convening today's hearing and for
offering American Jewish Committee this opportunity. I am Holly
Huffnagle, AJC's U.S. director for combating antisemitism, and
it is an honor to be with you today and with our esteemed
witnesses.
Given the limited time, I won't summarize what is happening
or why antisemitism is rising, although I have provided those
explanations in my submitted written remarks. Instead, I want
to focus on prevention. How can we go beyond simply responding
to antisemitism but actively work to prevent it.
I want to list ten measures which I pulled from AJC's
recently published Call to Action against antisemitism in
America: And the first, to prevent antisemitism, understand the
problem. Thirty-four percent of Americans today are not
familiar with antisemitism. They have either never heard the
word before or they have heard it but don't know what it means.
So to ensure that antisemitism is properly understood,
Congress should reintroduce and pass the bipartisan
Antisemitism Awareness Act.
Second, to prevent antisemitism, engage the Jewish
community. Thirty-six percent of Americans don't know someone
who is Jewish, but Americans who do are significantly more
likely to know what antisemitism is, know that it is a problem,
and know that it is increasing. Congress can lead here in
helping constituents understand antisemitism as well as who
Jews are, and they can convene stakeholders, including law
enforcement, to discuss antisemitism and hate crimes.
The third, to prevent antisemitism, invest in Jewish
community security. Fifty-six percent of Jewish institutions
have increased security between 2018 and 2020. Congress plays a
crucial role in safeguarding these institutions through
legislation and funding.
Fourth, to prevent antisemitism, be prepared for the
patterns. We know antisemitism often rises during election
cycles, around Jewish holidays, and during flare-ups in the
Middle East. Government leaders and law enforcement should be
on alert during these times and provide support to the Jewish
community as needed.
Fifth, to prevent antisemitism, gather better data,
including hate crime reporting. States, including New Jersey,
should consider creating a task force to study and prevent
antisemitism. We also need improved hate crime reporting from
law enforcement. Nearly 90 percent of cities do not report hate
crime data to the FBI, and the 2021 Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act
establishes grants to incentivize reporting, but it needs to be
funded. Only once funded will local governments, including
those in New Jersey, be able to leverage Department of Justice
resources.
Sixth, to prevent antisemitism, issue unequivocal
condemnations. Grouping antisemitism with a long list of other
hatreds and bigotry when it was only the Jewish community
attacked, it is unhelpful and even hurtful. We just saw this
exact response from Rutgers University when it was just a
Jewish fraternity house that was vandalized. Congress can lead
here and call out antisemitism unambiguously.
Seven, depoliticize the fight against antisemitism.
Instead, participate in bipartisan caucuses and coalitions to
combat antisemitism and hate.
Eight, urge the White House to create a national action
plan to combat antisemitism. Only through collaborative efforts
of all facets of government will we be able to achieve unity of
effort toward addressing the problem.
No. 9, fund educational initiatives. The importance of
education in prevention can't be overstated. While programs to
combat racism and intolerance provide an important framework,
they may downplay or ignore the problem of antisemitism.
Because of its complexity, antisemitism should be addressed as
a unique form of hatred.
Tenth and finally, to prevent antisemitism, stop its
proliferation on-line. The digitization of anti-Jewish
prejudice has been the leading contributor to its rise in the
last decade. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle can hold
social media companies liable for content on their platform if
their algorithmic amplification leads to off-line violence or
harm.
To conclude, it is much more challenging to discuss
prevention than to discuss--and to discuss what is actually
working, but we know better data, shining a flashlight on the
issue has worked. We know trainings on antisemitism within DEI
spaces has worked, as we have seen policies changed. We know
pushing on social media companies has worked. We still have a
long way to go, but we are much farther now than we were 5 to 7
years ago.
We know that coalition building has worked, especially
since behavioral science shows that people change when
information comes from someone they know and someone they
trust, and that might not always be the Jewish community, which
is why having non-Jewish allies is so paramount. We know that
fostering Jewish pride, Jewish life, being proudly Jewish, it
works.
When these interventions are used together, we notice a
difference and we see glimpses of success, which is why having
the House Homeland Security Committee take on and champion
these preventative measures right now is so critical in New
Jersey and across the United States.
Thank you for your commitment to this issue, and I look
forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Huffnagle follows:]
Prepared Statement of Holly Huffnagle
October 3, 2022
Thank you, Congressman Torres for the introduction. Distinguished
Members of Congress, thank you for convening today's hearing and for
offering American Jewish Committee this opportunity to present brief
remarks. I am Holly Huffnagle, AJC's U.S. director for combating
antisemitism. It is an honor to be with you today, and with our
esteemed witnesses.
We are gathered here in New Jersey and virtually because we are
facing a growing threat of antisemitism and extremism. In the past year
alone, in New Jersey, the Katz JCC reported a bomb threat in Cherry
Hill, NJ in March; in April, a Nazi swastika was graffitied outside of
a cemetery in Haddonfield, eggs were thrown and Jewish students were
harassed following a pro-Palestine rally at Rutgers University, and an
Orthodox Jewish man was stabbed by a man making antisemitic remarks; in
July, a Nazi swastika and ``Kill Jews'' graffiti were discovered on a
Lakewood walking path; the far-right, white supremacist Goyim Defense
League distributed antisemitic flyers in Lindenwold and Brigantine in
August; and, just a few days ago, in September, eggs were again thrown
at the Jewish fraternity at Rutgers University during Jewish New Year.
There has been a 25 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in the
State in 2021, and it is on track to increase again in 2022. New Jersey
is not alone. Unfortunately, we are witnessing rising antisemitism
across the United States.
Before the committee today, we must look at a few key questions.
The first is what is happening right now? The second is why? Why is
this happening--in this moment? And third and finally, what does rising
antisemitism mean for the future of the United States and what can be
done? While American Jewish communities continue to thrive in the
United States--and thank goodness they do not face levels of
persecution here compared to other parts of the world--we must turn the
tide back on rising antisemitism to protect not only American Jews, but
our democracy as well.
First, what is happening? Antisemitism is rising in the United
States. It is becoming more violent, and more open. According to the
FBI, crimes targeting Jews comprised 55 percent--the majority--of all
religious bias crimes, although Jews are only 2 percent of the
population of the United States.\1\ In the past year, 41 percent of
Americans have seen antisemitism--and many more than once. And American
Jews are experiencing antisemitism. In fact, one in four (24 percent)
American Jews have personally been targeted by antisemitism this past
year. American Jews are also changing their behavior out of fear of
antisemitism. They are avoiding certain places, avoiding wearing things
that might identify them as Jewish (such as a kippa or a Star of David
necklace), or avoiding posting content on-line that might reveal their
Jewish identity. That last piece jumps significantly for young American
Jews (ages 18-29).\2\ Today, antisemitism is more visible, easier to
access, easier to share and spread than ever before.
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\1\ This data comes from the FBI Hate Crime Data Explorer (2021).
\2\ These statistics are from American Jewish Committee's most
recent State of Antisemitism in America report (2021).
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Second, why? Why is antisemitism rising? And why now in 2022? No
reason justifies antisemitism, but there are several factors happening
concurrently contributing to the current rise.
1. Rising economic uncertainty: There is a long history of Jews
being blamed or scapegoated for society's economic woes.
2. Waning confidence in Government and in democracy: We have seen
antisemitism on full display in anti-Government movements.
3. An increased emphasis on race and national identity:
On the far-right, the number of white nationalist and
supremacist groups in the United States has increased by 55
percent between 2015 and 2019.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, on the far-left,
Jews are labeled as ``white'' and even ``white
supremacists.'' The irony is real white supremacists
benefit from these anti-Jewish attacks.
4. A deepening polarization over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
This cause is especially coming to a head on U.S.
college campuses and universities, where Jewish students
have been excluded from participating in certain groups or
clubs because they are seen as supportive of Israel.
5. The fading legacy of the Holocaust, combined with Holocaust
denial and distortion:
When awareness of the Holocaust diminishes, so does the
understanding of where unchecked antisemitism can lead. A
recent study shared that 48 percent of American Millennials
and Gen Zers cannot name Auschwitz, or the name of any
other concentration camp or ghetto. 63 percent of Americans
aged 18 to 39 do not know that 6 million Jews were
murdered.
Most disturbingly, 11 percent believe Jews caused the
Holocaust. That number jumps to 13 percent if we just look
at how respondents from New Jersey answered. 13 percent of
18- to 39-year-olds in New Jersey believe Jews caused the
Holocaust.
Relatedly, the distortion of the Holocaust with
inappropriate comparisons, such as to Covid-19 protocols or
to abortion, is increasing. Holocaust distortion is an
attack on Jewish memory and identity, and it normalizes
downplaying the Holocaust. It is unacceptable.
6. The internet and social media: The digitization of antisemitism
has been the greatest contributor to the rise of antisemitism,
antisemitism mis/disinformation, and conspiratorial thinking in
the last decade.
7. There are more sources of antisemitism in America today:
Antisemitism does not just come from far-right white
supremacists, as it did in Pittsburgh. We see it on the far
left, we see it from religious extremists like we did at a
kosher market in Jersey City in December 2019, and we even see
it within segments of other minority communities. And it is
this complexity of antisemitism, coming from all these
different sides, that creates the biggest challenge to combat
it.
8. And finally, ignorance: Increasing levels of ignorance about
what antisemitism is and what it looks like, is how
antisemitism is growing and spreading unnoticed. Not only do
one-third of Americans not know what antisemitism is, the
majority who do, see antisemitism solely as a hatred. We often
hear the phrase, ``I am not antisemitic. I don't hate Jews.
Jews have too much power and they control the media. But I
don't hate them.'' This lack of knowledge that antisemitism is
more than a hatred but also a certain perception about Jews--a
conspiracy about Jews--was the main issue in mislabeling the
hostage situation in Colleyville, Texas this past January.
Conspiracy is the belief that there is someone or something in
power who is exploiting humanity or controlling world events. To the
antisemite, Jews are this ``someone'' in power; for example, the
statements ``Jews control the banks'' and ``Jews control the
government'' were phrases spoken by the perpetrator in Colleyville.
That is why he chose a synagogue--the one closest to the location where
Aafia Siddiqui \3\ was held--for the site of this attack. But the FBI
originally erroneously said the incident was ``not related to the
Jewish community.'' The record was corrected, but numerous news outlets
continued to run the original line.
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\3\ A Pakistani national who is serving an 86-year sentence at the
Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, United States
for attempted murder and other felonies.
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With this example, but also many others, the conspiratorial nature
of antisemitism makes it different from other forms of racism which
vilify their victims as inferior. (Of course, Jews have also been
historically vilified as inferior.) But antisemitism is unique because
it also perceives its target--Jews--as being ``superior''--as having
too much privilege, too much power, and attacks them for that. There is
a large blind spot in today's society when it comes to antisemitism
because here we have a minority who is assailed because of their
perceived power. Therefore, we cannot just see antisemitism as a hatred
or a religious bias--it is not just about criticizing Judaism or Jews
as a religion; Jews are primarily attacked today for who they are (no
longer for what they believe), for their perceived power and influence,
or for the Jewish State, Israel.
This brings us to the crux of the issue. What does rising
antisemitism mean for the future of America? And what can be done?
Because antisemitism at its core is envy, resentment, distrust, and
conspiracy, when we see rising antisemitism, we also witness the
weakening of democratic, pluralistic society.\4\ And because we know
when societies cannot stop rising antisemitism--by ignoring it,
minimizing it, or even redefining it--they often fail to protect their
democracy as well, it is urgent to generate a society-wide effort--led
by our government leaders--to address the problem head-on.
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\4\ Because antisemitism is an ancient hatred--traced back two
thousand years, it's familiar--there is unfortunately a large
repertoire of accusations and tropes to choose from to blame someone--
often Jews (or coded words for Jews)--for these crises. But
antisemitism is not only an attack on Jews; it is really an assault on
the core values of America.
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Earlier this month, AJC published a Call to Action Against
Antisemitism in America to mobilize and unite American leadership in
all sectors of society to understand, respond to, and prevent
antisemitism, and I want to pull today from the preventative measures--
How can we go beyond simply responding to antisemitism, but actively
work to prevent it? I am going to list ten data-backed measures; I will
be skipping the details of each measure, for the interest of time, but
have provided a full account in writing for the record.
1. To prevent antisemitism, understand the problem.--34 percent of
Americans are not familiar with the term antisemitism--they have either
never heard the word before, or have heard it but do not know what it
means.\5\ For governments, law enforcement agencies, and others who
have a practical need to identify and respond to antisemitism, the best
tool continues to be the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
(IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, with almost 1,000 entities--
governments, multilateral bodies, universities, sports teams, etc.
using it, which defines antisemitism as ``a certain perception of Jews,
which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.''\6\ That ``certain
perception'' piece--that antisemitism is not just a hatred of Jews, but
a conspiracy about Jewish power and control--was vital to comprehend
the actions of the hostage-taker in Colleyville, Texas last January.
And it was initially missed. To ensure antisemitism is properly
understood, Congress should reintroduce and pass the bipartisan
Antisemitism Awareness Act.
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\5\ Members of Congress can share AJC's Translate Hate glossary on
their websites as a resource for constituents. AJC's Recognizing When
Anti-Israel Actions Become Antisemitic is designed to help elected
officials navigate and address Israel-related antisemitism.
\6\ To date, 28 States along with the District of Columbia have
endorsed the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism. New Jersey has
yet to take this important step.
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2. To prevent antisemitism, engage the Jewish community \7\.--36
percent of Americans do not know a Jew. Perhaps unsurprisingly,
Americans who say they know someone Jewish are significantly more
likely to know what antisemitism is and view antisemitism as a problem,
with 66 percent saying so, compared to 49 percent of those who do not
know anyone Jewish. But even those who know Jews, many Americans do not
know who Jews are--they think of Jews solely as a religious group. But
Jews are a diverse, multiethnic, multiracial people.\8\ Given this
diversity, characterizing Jews as only ``white'' and ``privileged''
ignores history and present reality. Congress can lead here in helping
constituents understand antisemitism and who Jews are, as well as
facilitate a standing Jewish community or interfaith advisory board to
help ensure regular communication. Convening stakeholders, including
law enforcement, and creating a diverse network of community leaders to
discuss antisemitism and hate crimes, is critical. Finally, engage
Jewish communities by empowering them. Jewish community members,
particularly leaders in Jewish institutions and synagogues, should
participate in security training to be prepared in case of an
emergency. Community members can also be trained as volunteer security
guards.
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\7\ When an antisemitic incident occurs, Members of Congress should
check in with their local Jewish communities. A standing Jewish
community or interfaith advisory board can help ensure regular
communication.
\8\ The Jewish people include Ashkenazi Jews descended from Eastern
Europe, Black Jews from Ethiopia, Brown Jews from India, and Mizrahi
and Sephardi Jews from North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey, and Iran.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. To prevent antisemitism, invest in Jewish community security.--
56 percent of Jewish institutions have increased security between 2018
and 2020. Address physical attacks and domestic terrorism. Physical
attacks against Jews are often perpetrated by white supremacist
extremist groups and home-grown violent extremists. A Federal plan to
address the propagation of extremist ideologies in public institutions,
such as prisons and law enforcement units, is recommended as well as
the reestablishment of interagency initiatives between Federal and
State agencies to address domestic terrorism. Through funding and
legislation, Congress plays a crucial role in safeguarding Jewish
institutions. The 2018 Protecting Religiously Affiliated Institutions
Act protects synagogues, community centers, and nonprofits against
threats of force. The Nonprofit Security Grant Program provides $360
million in security funding for high-risk nonprofits. Law enforcement
should encourage Jewish institutions to apply for these grants.
Additionally, the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, already passed in
the House, should be passed by the Senate to authorize dedicated
domestic terrorism offices within the Department of Homeland Security,
the Department of Justice, and the FBI.
4. To prevent antisemitism, be prepared for the patterns.--A
heightened awareness of the situations and times when antisemitism
increases enable proactive planning to combat it. Antisemitism often
rises during election cycles, around Jewish holidays, and during flare-
ups in the Middle East. Government and community leaders, allies, and
law enforcement should be on alert during these times and provide
support to the Jewish community, as needed.
5. To prevent antisemitism, gather better data, including hate
crime reporting.--To date, there still isn't a comprehensive study that
looks at antisemitic attitudes, sources of antisemitism and root
causes, and American Jews' experiences with antisemitism all in one
place. In AJC's upcoming survey, we are asking about antisemitism in
the workplace;\9\ if Jewish students feel excluded because they are
Jewish or their assumed or actual connection to Israel; Jews'
experiences with antisemitism on-line and on social media; if what
happened in Colleyville made American Jews feel less safe as a Jewish
person in the United States; if their institutions have increased
security measures; and if they feel safe in those Jewish institutions.
But civil society cannot fund this data alone. At the State level, New
Jersey should consider creating a task force to study and prevent
antisemitism. We also need improved hate crime reporting from law
enforcement. In 2020, Jews were the target of 55 percent of all
religiously motivated hate crimes, despite accounting for just 2
percent of the U.S. population.\10\ As astonishing as that number is,
many hate crimes are not reported to law enforcement by victims and
nearly 90 percent of cities do not report hate crime data to the FBI.
An insufficient grasp of the problem impedes efforts to find
solutions.\11\ The Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act, signed into law in May
2021, establishes grants to incentivize reporting; robust funding of at
least $15 million is necessary. Once funded, local governments can
leverage Department of Justice resources for hate crimes bias training
and establishing hate crimes hotlines.
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\9\ This will include asking if Jewish employees have avoided
expressing views on Israel out of fear of reprisal or animosity.
\10\ In 2021, 4 in 10 U.S. adults witnessed antisemitism, including
negative remarks or on-line content about Jewish people. It is crucial
to report these occurrences to authority figures, law enforcement or,
if on-line, to the social media platform. Everyone should be encouraged
to report anti-Jewish incidents.
\11\ Law enforcement should work with the Jewish community when
antisemitic crimes occur, increase security to Jewish institutions, and
accurately record and report antisemitic hate crimes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. To prevent antisemitism, issue unequivocal condemnations.--We
continue to see blatant incidents of antisemitism, yet responses are
often ``antisemitism and all forms of racism, intolerance, and
xenophobia are unacceptable wherever and whenever they occur.'' But
grouping antisemitism with a long list of other hatreds and bigotry,
when it was only the Jewish community attacked, is unhelpful and even
hurtful. We just saw this exact response over Rosh Hashana from Rutgers
University when a Jewish fraternity house was vandalized. In addition,
challenging rising antisemitism alone does not compete with combating
racism--an allegation we have heard. Fighting hatred, bigotry,
conspiracies about the ``other,'' go hand in hand.\12\ Antisemitism is
also present within segments of communities who experience racism and,
even in these delicate situations, it must be challenged. Congress can
lead here and call out antisemitism unambiguously.
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\12\ For example, the language of ``Jews will not replace us''
chanted by white nationalist marchers at the Unite the Right Rally in
Charlottesville, in August 2017, was the same ``great replacement''
conspiracy theory that led to the murders of African American shoppers
in Buffalo, NY in May 2022. In response to what happened in Buffalo,
Black activist Eric Ward, said it best: ``It is important for us to
understand that African Americans were killed because they were Black,
but the motivating story that drove the killer was an idea that he was
at war with the Jewish community.''
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7. To prevent antisemitism, depoliticize the fight against it.--
While bipartisanship has been critical to U.S. success in countering
hatred of Jews in the United States and abroad, the fight against
antisemitism has become increasingly politicized. When considered only
through a partisan lens, antisemitism is not being countered, but
instrumentalized. Instead, we urge Government leaders to participate in
bipartisan caucuses and coalitions to counter antisemitism and
hate.\13\ Congressional caucuses model the power of coalitions to
condemn hate, support vulnerable communities, and raise awareness.\14\
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\13\ This is especially vital now, given the divisions in our
country. A recent large Pew survey, for instance, revealed that
``growing numbers of Americans see people in the opposite political
party as close-minded, dishonest, unintelligent and even immoral.'' In
addition, there has been a massive breakdown of public (and private)
trust; not only are we not speaking as much to those who are or who
think differently than us, studies show we are less trusting--of others
and our institutions. Congress must rebuild this trust with the public
and with each other.
\14\ With more than 150 Representatives, and more than half the
Senate, the House and Senate Bipartisan Taskforces are a useful example
of reflecting political will to address the problem, which should lead
to increased legislative measures.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. To prevent antisemitism, urge the White House to create a
National action plan to combat antisemitism.--At the very least, the
White House can appoint an official to improve interagency coordination
to deploy each agency's resources most effectively and ensure a whole-
of-Government response to antisemitism, which is currently lacking.
Federal efforts should also involve Congress and include a funding
mechanism to meet security, educational, and training needs. Only
through the collaborative efforts of all facets of the government, will
we be able to achieve unity of effort toward addressing antisemitism.
Additionally, comprehensive State or city-wide strategies to respond to
and prevent antisemitism should be considered.
9. To prevent antisemitism, fund educational initiatives.--The
importance of education in prevention cannot be overstated. Education
and trainings--on Jews, the Holocaust, antisemitism, and more
importantly, Jewish life--provide an opportunity not only to show
solidarity but to gain knowledge and tools to identify and respond to
antisemitism and Jewish community needs. Programs to combat racism and
intolerance provide an important framework, but they may downplay or
ignore the problem of antisemitism. Because of its complexity,
antisemitism should be addressed as a unique form of hatred. The Never
Again Education Act, signed into law in 2020, promotes U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum educational programming around the country. As only 39
States mandate Holocaust education, Congress should continue to fund
and incentivize education on Jewish history, the Holocaust, and the
contributions of Jews to America. Congressional staff should also be
trained to identify and respond to antisemitism, including Holocaust
denial and distortion. Finally, as misinformation spreads on-line and
off, media literacy is increasingly important. Several recent
antisemitic attacks originated on social media, where posts and videos
demonizing Israel were viewed and shared hundreds of thousands of
times. Congress should allocate resources for media literacy programs
educating about the urgent need to check sources and question bias,
especially on-line and on social media.
10. Finally, to prevent antisemitism, stop its proliferation on-
line.--The digitization of antisemitism has been one of--if not the--
leading contributors to the rise of anti-Jewish prejudice in the last
decade. Fifteen percent of young American Jews (18-35) were personally
targeted by antisemitism on-line in the past year (many more have seen
it) and 31 percent have avoided posting content on-line that would
identify them as a Jew out of fear of antisemitism. Social media
companies have the responsibility to remove antisemitic content, and
lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and some platforms should work
to reform Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act to hold
social media companies liable for content on their platforms. Bills
like the Protecting Americans from Dangerous Algorithms Act would hold
social media companies accountable if their algorithmic amplification
of content leads to off-line violence. Other bills, such as the
Platform Accountability and Transparency Act, the Platform
Accountability and Consumer Transparency Act, and the 2019 Filter
Bubble Transparency Act address algorithms and the role of content
moderators. Bipartisan, common-sense Federal reforms like these should
be fully examined. For clarity and consistency, we must ensure one
solution, not 50 individual State solutions, sufficiently addresses the
problem.
To conclude, it is much more challenging to discuss prevention, and
to discuss what is actually working. We know better data--shining a
flashlight on the issue, has worked; we know trainings on antisemitism
within DEI spaces have worked as we see policies changed and corrected;
we know pushing on the social media companies has worked--we still have
a long way to go, but we are much farther than we were 5 to 7 years
ago; we know that coalition building has worked, especially since
behavioral science has demonstrated people change when information
comes from someone they trust, someone like them--which might not be
the Jewish community so non-Jewish allies are paramount here; and we
know being proudly Jewish--fostering Jewish pride and Jewish life--
works. When these interventions are used properly, used together, and
used continuously, we notice a difference and we see glimpses of
success--even if partial--which is why having the House Homeland
Security Committee take on and champion these preventative measures is
so critical--in New Jersey, and across the United States.
I want to thank you for your time and your commitment. Despite the
threats of antisemitism, Jews across the country and around the world
are proudly displaying their Jewish identities. The Jewish community
has incredible allies, from local houses of worship and community
leaders to elected officials at all levels, such as the Members of
Congress here today. And those leaders are speaking out, in defense of
their Jewish friends and for the sake of our democratic values. We are
very grateful to the House Committee on Homeland Security for bringing
attention to this pressing and pervasive issue, and for the
participation of committee Members both virtually and in-person in New
Jersey.
Thank you.
Mr. Torres. I thank the witnesses for their testimony. I
will remind each Member that he or she will have 5 minutes to
question the witnesses. I will now recognize myself for
questions.
I will start with ADL. Outside the State of Israel, the
United States is home to the largest Jewish population in the
world. The United States has historically been seen as a
sanctuary for Jews fleeing oppression and persecution
elsewhere. Has America lost its reputation as a safe space for
Jews?
Mr. Richman. I wouldn't say that America has lost its
reputation as a safe space for Jews. This is a country that has
rule of law and democracy and is a place where Jews have found
a home. But it is in trouble. There are troubling signs and, of
course, not just for the Jewish community. The Jewish community
does not live in a vacuum. Hate is on the rise against many
marginalized communities, including the Jewish community.
This is not a matter of whether or not the United States
has lost its way. It is a question of recalibration. So our
plans, our COMBAT Plan for combating antisemitism, our PROTECT
Plan for fighting extremism, and our REPAIR Plan for mitigating
on-line hate are ways to approach that.
Mr. Torres. I worry about the radicalizing trajectory of
American politics. Richard Hofstadter famously wrote about the
paranoid style in American politics. As American politics
becomes more paranoid, there is reason to think that it will
become more antisemitic.
So I am curious to know what does January 6th tell us about
the relationship between extremism in general and antisemitism
in particular? Among the insurrectionists who invaded the U.S.
Capitol were Oath Keepers and white nationalists and Holocaust
deniers. So what does it tell us about the relationship between
the two?
Mr. Richman. There is obviously a close relationship
between extremism and antisemitism. January 6th shows us
certainly a degradation of democracy. It also shows us the
increasing polarization in our country. Polarization has been a
huge driver of antisemitism.
With regard to your question about extremism, we have seen
an enormous rise in not just extremism but in extremist
rhetoric becoming more mainstream, extremists becoming more
emboldened, and that has led to antisemitism.
Perhaps here in New Jersey, we can cite some figures
related to that. White supremacist propaganda is a big and
growing problem. ADL began tracking white supremacist
propaganda. We are talking about flyering and stickering and
banner drops in communities.
We began tracking this in 2017. In 2017, there were 12
incidents of white supremacist propaganda in New Jersey. Last
year, there were 179 such incidents of white supremacist
propaganda. That is an enormous rise. It not only speaks to the
rise of extremism, but it speaks to how emboldened extremists
have become.
Mr. Torres. I want to touch on what has been a subject of
controversy, which is the relationship between anti-Zionism and
antisemitism. There are some people who deny that there is such
a relationship, but there have been growing attempts to
institutionalize BDS on college campuses.
On September 28, the Jewish Journal reported that nine
student groups at the University of California Berkeley School
of Law amended their bylaws to ban pro-Israel or Zionist
speakers. Surveys indicate that the overwhelming majority of
the Jewish community identifies as pro-Israel.
So if a student association adopts a policy that has the
real-world effect of excluding most of the Jewish community, is
it fair to see that as an example of how anti-Zionism in policy
could morph into antisemitism in practice? I will direct that
to the rabbi.
Rabbi Reed. Can you hear me?
Mr. Torres. Yes.
Rabbi Reed. OK, just making sure.
There is no question, as Mr. Richman said earlier, that it
is possible to criticize Israel without being antisemitic, but
what we see time and time again is that criticism of Israel can
be antisemitic.
So when you make a blanket statement that someone who is a
Zionist is not permitted to be part of a group, which we see on
college campuses across the country, that is antisemitism.
Mr. Torres, as you just said, the majority of the Jewish
community identifies as Zionist, even though we are also proud
Americans. We believe that Israel has a right to exist as a
Jewish state within safe and secure borders. We can argue about
what those borders are, we can argue about the details, but we
believe that there is the right for Israel to exist as a Jewish
state. Therefore, by saying that Zionists are excluded, you are
excluding the majority of Jews in the United States when you
make those policies.
Mr. Torres. A question for ADL on the same topic: In May
and June 2021, I think we saw the amplification of anti-Zionism
on social media taken to a new extreme.
So what impact, if any, did the anti-Zionist words and
ideas circulating on social media have on antisemitic
incidents?
Mr. Richman. In May and June 2021, following the Israel-
Hamas conflict, ADL saw more than a 100 percent increase in
antisemitic incidents year over year, so obviously had a very
tangible real-world impact, including right here in New Jersey,
where we saw a 35 percent increase in anti-Jewish/antisemitic--
or anti-Israel/antisemitic incidents in this State.
Mr. Torres. So what happens on social media does not stay
on social media.
Mr. Richman. That is correct.
Mr. Torres. I see my time is expired, so I will now
recognize Mr. Green for 5 minutes.
Mr. Green. I thank Chairperson Thompson for having the
wisdom, the foresight, and being absolutely judicious in
providing us this forum. Mr. Chairman and colleagues, the great
poet Emily Dickinson reminds us that a word is dead when it is
said, some say. I say that it just begins to live that day.
Words have power. Words cause actions. Words must be
appropriate. When they are not and they are antisemitic, we
have to condemn those who would utter such words.
I have a special relationship with the Jewish community,
because I know my history. I know who Arthur and Joel Spingarn
are. I know their relationship with the NAACP. I was president
of the Houston branch for about a decade. I know why the NAACP
has a medal styled the Spingarn Medal.
So I have a special relationship. I believe people of color
have a special relationship because of the way we have had to
combat these invidious forms of discrimination through the
decades.
So today I just want to make one point. Hopefully, I will
make it perspicuously clear, and that point has to do with a
statement that has been recently made. A former President of
the United States of America has recently called or indicated
that the Majority leader in the Senate had a death wish when he
supported legislation sponsored by Democrats. That is incitive.
That can cause harm. The Majority leader shouldn't have a
former President say such a thing.
No one can be above our criticism. We cannot allow people,
simply because they have had a title or they hold a title, to
escape the truth associated with the harm words can cause.
This former President went on to say that his wife, he
referred to her as Coco Chow. She was born in Taiwan. That is a
racist statement. That is a racist statement from a former
President of the United States, the same President who said
there are some very fine people among the bigots/racists in
Charlottesville, the same President who said that there are S-
hole countries in Africa.
If we allow any one of us to become exempt from the
criticism that we will direct to many of us, most of us, then
we do our country a disservice.
I am 75 years old. I know what racism looks like. I know
what antisemitism looks like. As a child, I had to drink from
colored water fountains. I had to sit in the back of the bus,
balcony of the movie. I understand what we are up against,
friends, and I am pledging my support for any legislation that
we produce to fight antisemitism.
Finally this: Dr. King reminds us that at some point--or
there comes a time was more appropriately the way he said it,
when silence becomes betrayal. We all have a duty to speak up,
regardless as to who the perpetrator is, and especially if it
emanates from the highest office in the land.
So my question is simply this: Have we said enough about
the incitive comments that have emanated from the former
President? I would beg anyone who would desire to answer to do
so. Fear not, dear brothers and sisters, fear not.
Mr. Richman. ADL, as a 501(c)(3) organization, is not
permitted to comment on individuals in that way, but I would
say that using your bully pulpit, leaders using their bully
pulpit is a critical tool in combating antisemitism and
combating hate and combating extremism, and I certainly urge
the Members to do that.
ADL uses its voice very vigorously. Most certainly if you
look at our commentary on what the former President said
yesterday that you made, the reference you made with regard to
Ms. Chao, ADL spoke out very vigorously about that.
Mr. Green. Rabbi.
Rabbi Reed. I also work for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
organization, but I would say that we need to call out hatred
wherever we see it, whether that is on campus or off campus,
with our elected officials or anyone else in a position of
leadership, people in the entertainment industry. There are
people in lots of different areas who get a lot of attention,
and when they say something hateful it is our responsibility to
speak out.
Mr. Green. My time has expired. Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
for indulging me.
Mr. Torres. The Chair now recognizes for 5 minutes the
gentleman from Rhode Island, Mr. Langevin.
Mr. Langevin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can you hear me OK?
Mr. Torres. We can.
Mr. Langevin. Very good. I want to begin by thanking our
witnesses for their testimony today. I want to thank the
committee for holding this very important hearing. We all know
and clearly see the rise of antisemitism. Clearly, the best
disinfectant really to combat antisemitism is sunlight and
accountability, calling it out and speaking out against it
wherever and whenever we see it. So this hearing bringing it
more to light is very important.
Mr. Richman, if I could start with you, in your testimony
you laid out policy frameworks and recommendations for a whole-
of-Government approach to fight antisemitism, prevent/counter
domestic violent extremism, and push hate and extremism back to
the fringes of the digital world.
Looking across the range of recommendations present in
ADL's COMBAT, PROTECT, and REPAIR plans, are there measures
that, in your view, would be of greatest benefit or are
particularly urgent and should, therefore, be priorities for
Congress to act on?
Mr. Richman. Thank you for the question. I would reiterate
that points that were made because those, I think, are
particularly critical. Prioritizing and promoting efforts to
counter violent extremism, as well as oversight and
transparency for those efforts; establishing an interagency
task force to combat antisemitism; adapting the IHRA working
definition of antisemitism as a guideline--and I stress that,
as a guideline--for understanding antisemitism, and identifying
its modern-day manifestations; legislated and the complicity of
social media companies; creating an independent clearinghouse
to identify on-line extremist content; continue to fund and
grow programs to protect marginalized communities like the
Nonprofit Security Grant Program; and ensuring that the
measures announced at the White House United We Stand Summit
are implemented in full.
I would add a couple of other points to that that I think
are relevant since you are asking the question, and certainly
using one's bully pulpit is a critical tool. As was mentioned
before, also supporting the CP3 office, including authorizing
its work to ensure the Governments' prevention efforts. I know
that Congressman Malinowski has been active on that. Supporting
education efforts, including on-line literacy. ADL has been at
the forefront of anti-bias, anti-hate, anti-bullying education
across the country. More than 4 million students are touched
every year by those programs. Of course, with regard to social
media, holding them accountable for the proliferation of
content. Here I point to AB 587, that is the Assembly Bill in
California that was just passed to hold social media companies
accountable. That is, of course, at the State level. But that
type of legislation I think should be looked at and possibly
implemented Nation-wide. We have our COMBAT plan, our PROTECT
plan, and our REPAIR plan, copies of that available for all of
the members to look at in detail. There is much more to it. I
have only outlined some of the recommendations.
Mr. Langevin. Very good. Very helpful suggestions. Thank
you for that.
If I could turn now to Professor Stern. Antisemitism, with
respect to the rise of antisemitism on college campuses,
clearly, antisemitism has become more and more common,
unfortunately, on college campuses. Sir, can you help the
committee fully understand what has caused the surge of
antisemitism in academic settings, and how you endorse we
should respond?
Mr. Stern. Well, thank you for that question. To put things
into context, there are about 4,000 college campuses in the
United States. The ADL statistics show that there were 155
campus antisemitic incidents of which 24 were related to
Zionism in Israel. In my recent book, I noted there were 149
campuses with anti-Israel activity.
So in the context, it is a very small number. It is
disturbing as individual incidents are, as we heard from Rabbi
Reed. If we look at the data also, there are twice as many pro-
Israel activities on campus each year than anti-Israel.
With that said, there is a challenge. Some campuses,
antisemitisms, we have heard, comes into play, holding Jewish
students collectively responsible for Israel, using antisemitic
tropes, cutting and pasting Israel as a Jew.
Where it is difficult is this: I am a Zionist, and I find
anti-Zionism disheartening. But I think it is wrong to say that
all anti-Zionism is antisemitism. It is, in my view, harmful to
impose definitions of antisemitism on campus like the IHRA
definition, which was used for different purposes, and we can't
ignore that it has been used to trope pro-Palestinian speech.
Which is, I think, why the Association of Jewish Studies
president testified against the Antisemitism Awareness Act.
So with that context, let me do six quick suggestions of
what schools should do. First, tackling the antisemitism should
require understanding of the institution's principles. They
should always support ideas of academic freedom, not have to
explain them away.
Second, let's not forget that this battle is happening in
an environment where students will be encouraged to seek out
safe spaces, microaggressions, and trigger warnings. There is a
difference between being harassed and intimidated and shut
down, which should never happen having to engage, you know,
with difficult ideas. I think that is an important thing to
focus on too.
Third, there needs to be an increase in opportunities for
emotional empathy to tell students what they would feel like if
they were in a Jewish student's position or Palestinian
student's position and courses that do that forth. We need more
full semester courses on antisemitism----
Mr. Torres. The gentleman's time has expired.
Mr. Stern. OK. Thank you.
Mr. Torres. The Chair will now recognize Congressman
Gottheimer for 5 minutes.
Mr. Gottheimer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In 2021, the Southern Poverty Law Center documented 1,221
hate and anti-Government extremist groups across the United
States, including antisemitic and neo-Nazi groups in New
Jersey. During the January 6th Committee hearings this summer,
Jason Van Tatenhove, a former spokesman for the Oath Keepers,
testified that his breaking point with the group was learning
that the group were Holocaust deniers. Rioters wearing
antisemitic imagery were present on the day of the January 6th
attack.
I will start--actually, Mr. Richman, can you talk a little
further about the beliefs, ideology of the members of groups
like the Oath Keepers, and how they align with Mr. Van
Tatenhove's testimony, and these groups pose a threat to the
Jewish community? If I could start with you.
Mr. Richman. Certainly, groups like the Oath Keepers and
the Proud Boys--and, now, these are not white supremacist
groups. These are far-right groups, nationalist groups,
militarist groups. We could add to that white supremacist
groups like the American Identity Movement, the White Lives
Matter movement, New Jersey European Heritage Association, the
Goyim Defense League. All of those pose a threat to the Jewish
community. All have espoused antisemitic rhetoric, some of them
more than others, like the Goyim Defense League, which focuses
its venom specifically on the Jewish community.
But all of those groups are focused on extremism, use
extremist methods, are lashing out at many groups, not just the
Jewish community, with vigorous forms of hate.
Mr. Gottheimer. In your report that you put out in 2021,
Oath Keeper membership data revealed that politicians and
elected officials, including here in New Jersey, had signed up
for an Oath Keepers membership.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the findings in
this report and why you think public officials are aligning
with the Oath Keepers, what are their ties to antisemitism?
Director Doran, I will ask you to add to that. How have
groups like Proud Boys and Three Percenters and Oath Keepers
presented a threat to local law enforcement?
So if you can start first, Mr. Richman.
Mr. Richman. So in about a year ago, a journalist
collective had uncovered 38,000 names of people who had signed
up to be members of the Oath Keepers. ADL analyzed that list
painstakingly over the course of the year. We analyzed it for--
to find people in position of leadership or influence, like
those in the military, like those in police forces, teachers,
elected officials, with ties to the Oath Keepers. We discovered
that quite a number of people were connected to those different
positions of leadership, including 10 police chiefs, including
those who were in office, those who are running for office
around the country, which, of course, is very, very troubling
because of the extremist rhetoric that the Oath Keepers----
Mr. Gottheimer. What do you make of that tie? Why do you
think they are joining groups like the Oath Keepers?
Mr. Richman. Perhaps they believe in the stance of the Oath
Keepers, which is anti-Government. They are a group that
believes in militarism. They target specifically those in the
military and in law enforcement. That has been the pattern of
the Oath Keepers.
Mr. Gottheimer. Ms. Doran, do you want to comment a little
more in that, director, about groups like Proud Boys and Three
Percenters, Oath Keepers, the kind of threats they are
presenting that you see in the State for law enforcement?
Ms. Doran. Thanks for the question, Congressman. First, let
me just state right up front that OHSP does not classify groups
or organizations as extremists. We recognize the First
Amendment protective rights and activities. We also do not
monitor violent or potentially violent incidents and assesses
strategic and tactical trends among multiple different domestic
ideologies.
With that said, you know, we are aware of what is going on
in the news, but we basically are looking at analytical
purposes, but we don't look at groups specifically.
Mr. Gottheimer. Doctor, you have tracked extremists before?
Ms. Doran. We have tracked ideologies related to that and
look at public information to see what is going on there and
then use that as part of our analysis.
Mr. Gottheimer. Are you concerned about these growing
threats in our State?
Ms. Doran. Absolutely.
Mr. Gottheimer. OK. Thank you.
Last question. If I can turn to the rabbi. We talked about
Rutgers before and the significant spike in New Jersey of
antisemitic comments and vandalism and harassment. Can I ask
you a quick question? Do you believe it is appropriate for a
State university such as Rutgers to invite antisemitic groups
such as Democracy for the Arab World Now, DAWN, which has ties
to al-Qaeda and Hamas networks to campus and then apologize for
those groups?
Rabbi Reed. I guess I would need clarification when you say
Rutgers University invites. Every registered student
organization has freedom at Rutgers University to bring
speakers that they are interested in having speak. So if a
registered student organization brings a speaker, then that is
the right of that registered student organization. They all can
bring a speaker that other groups disagree with.
If it is a department, that might be more complicated,
although there is academic freedom as well. So it is a very
complicated issue. I certainly feel that it is incumbent on
university leadership to speak out whenever there is hatred on
campus, whether that is in the form of an invited guest or
member of the university community. The administration needs to
speak out when incidents happen, as they did not speak out when
AEPi was egged last year.
Mr. Gottheimer. They didn't make any comments, the
university.
Rabbi Reed. The university spokesperson made a statement.
There has not been any statement from the administration
themselves.
Mr. Gottheimer. Have you reached out to the administration?
Rabbi Reed. Yes.
Mr. Gottheimer. Thank you.
I guess I am over. I yield back my time. Thank you.
Mr. Torres. The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from New
Jersey, Congressman Malinowski.
Mr. Malinowski. Thank you. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Is this
on? It is hard to tell. Oh, yes. OK. Good.
I wanted to focus some of my questions on the role of
social media. But I think that the larger point I would make to
start this off is that none of what we are discussing today is
new. Antisemitism is not new, extremism is not new, conspiracy
theories are not new. QAnon, for example, is just a modern
version of the ancient antisemitic blood libel in very modern
on-line form.
What is new is the speed with which these hateful ideas
spread and, I think, the growing weakness of traditional
institutions encountering them. I do think one of the central
reasons for this is that we all get our information--all of us
get our information about the outside world today filtered
through social media platforms, whatever the original source of
that information is. If antisemitism and hatred is a virus,
Facebook is the wind. It is designed to be the wind. It is
literally consciously designed to amplify information and
content that triggers hateful, fearful, insecure emotions among
its users because those emotions are what drive engagement,
time spent on platform and, ultimately, advertising revenue.
Mr. Richman, you have referred to some of this in your
testimony. I wonder if maybe you could elaborate on ADL's views
on that problem and the solution. We will take it from there.
Mr. Richman. So certainly you are correct that the social
media platforms are designed to amplify these messages through
their algorithms. ADL's REPAIR plan tries to address this with
a multifaceted approach to focusing on hate on-line. I think I
would recommend a few points here. From the perspective of the
members, instituting public-facing community guidelines that
address hateful content and harassing behavior is critically
important. Regularly evaluating and publicly reporting on how
social media platforms fuel discrimination, bias, and hate, and
then making product or policy improvements based upon those
evaluations are important.
I mentioned AB 587. That is a California Assembly Bill that
was just signed by Governor Newsom, which requires social media
companies to report to the legislature how they are addressing
hate misinformation on-line. Very important. ADL worked closely
with legislators in the State of California on that issue. Work
with communities targeted by harassment to design product
features and policies that will reduce the influence and impact
of hate in ways most helpful to those directly targeted.
ADL has its Center for Technology and Society that is
focusing on this issue and is making these recommendations. The
Center for Technology and Society and ADL as a whole looks
forward to being your partner in helping to implement some of
these recommendations.
Mr. Malinowski. Understood. I think ADL has also
recommended that Congress move forward a bill that I co-
sponsored, the Protecting Americans from Dangerous Algorithms
Act, which would waive some of the protections of section 230
with respect to social media algorithms if they are responsible
for real-world violence, attacks like the attack on January
6th.
Ms. Huffnagle, maybe I could turn to you, because I know
that your organization has also been championing legislation
like this and maybe I ought to give you the chance to make a
few remarks about it.
Ms. Huffnagle. Thank you. We also supported the bill to--
against--Protecting Americans from Dangerous Algorithms Act.
That is very important, actually, in this time because it is no
longer a free public space for these ideas, that the best ideas
will rise forth. We know these algorithms are actually
promoting the worst ideas, the antisemitic ideas, and that is
why we are seeing these off-line reverberations.
I think one of the most important things that we are
realizing in our work at American Jewish Committee--and we do
work with Twitter, we work with TikTok, we work with Meta, we
work with YouTube--is there is a lack of realization of the
complexity of antisemitism. Only certain elements of
antisemitism are defined on the platforms and that speech comes
off. It is often the most violent. But the danger is the
conspiratorial antisemitism or when the word ``Zionist'' is
used as a proxy for Jews. That has a free pass. We can just
look at Ayatollah Khamenei's Twitter account, and to see
antisemitism just with the word ``Zionism'' or ``Zionist'' in
its place, and it has reached beyond, you know, any reach that
we will be able to have.
So this is what we are seeing, and if we don't tamp down on
the antisemitism and how it is defined and how employees within
the companies understand antisemitism, we are not going to be
successful in removing it from the platforms.
Mr. Malinowski. Well, I would just say in conclusion that
the tech companies have created literally the perfect machine
for spreading hatred. If I post--if I am on the left or the
right and I post something antisemitic on Facebook or YouTube
or Twitter, the algorithm automatically calculates, knowing
almost everything about everyone in the world, who in the world
is most susceptible to that message and connects me to that
person, connects my message to that person. Never before in
human history have we had such a machine.
If we don't do something about that, there is nothing that
can be done with section 230, because you cannot hold them
liable. You cannot sue them. Federal judges have correctly
thrown out lawsuits brought by victims of terrorism against
Facebook because section 230 prohibits them from hearing the
lawsuit. Then have begged us in their opinions to address this
problem in legislation. I hope that this Congress, and if not
this Congress, the next one, will take this up.
Thank you so much. I yield back.
Mr. Torres. Thank you.
We will proceed to a second round of questioning. I will
recognize myself for 5 minutes.
I have a question for Ms. Corke regarding hate crimes
reporting. I know at one point not every State and local
government reported hate crimes to the Federal Government, and
the majority of those that did reported no hate crimes, which
strikes me as implausible.
So has there been an improvement in the state of hate crime
reporting to the Federal Government? Ms. Corke.
Ms. Corke. Thank you for the question. No, I would say
after 30 years of incomplete data and underreporting, this
continues to be a serious problem. One thing SPLC has been
recommending is that we would like to see Congress and the
administration support mandatory hate crime reporting. Until
there is legislation to require reporting, which can, you know,
include incentives, more carrots and sticks, it needs to be a
condition that is preceded to receiving Federal funds.
As you know, it has been a consistent problem year over
year. It stretches plausibility that cities as big as, you
know, New York, for example, can be reporting few to no hate
crimes. As we know, good research and data is what makes for
good policy. So we would strongly support increased attention
from Congress to improving hate crime reporting.
Mr. Torres. Great. I have a question for the rabbi. An
organization entitled StopAntisemitism came out with an
assessment of 25 universities and colleges. The climate of
antisemitism in each of those colleges, only to receive the
perfect score, Tulane and Brandeis. Rutgers received a C-minus.
Does that comport with your experience?
Rabbi Reed. I will say that in my 21 years being at Rutgers
University, unfortunately, there has been a significant number
of antisemitic incidents. In the last 2 years alone, I have a
list here of 40 separate incidents in the last 2 years. That is
a lot for Jewish students on campus to have to deal with. That
does not include the unreported incidents, like when someone is
walking by a visibly Jewish student and says under their
breath, F-ing Jew. The student doesn't report that to the
authorities. That is not listed in the ADL statistics. It just
is part of the life of a Jewish student.
A Jewish freshman was harassed by their non-Jewish roommate
when they put Hanukkah decorations up on the door of their
joint dorm room. When the student reported it to Residence
Life, Residence Life considered it to be a roommate dispute and
had the Jewish student move to a different room, in a different
dorm where they had to make new friends. The student came to
see me in Hillel. He had never been to Hillel before. This is
an 18-year-old boy who came to me crying because of how he had
been mistreated by his antisemitic roommate.
So, yes, I think that there are issues that our students
face on campus all the time. In terms of how it affects our
students, many of them, especially if they come from not such a
strong Jewish education, not such a strong Jewish background,
they just want to hide their identity and make it all go away.
They would want to----
Mr. Torres. So in some sense, Jewish students have to be in
the closet?
Rabbi Reed. They--yes. There are Jewish students who are
closeted. They don't want to be targeted. They are exhausted
from constantly having to defend themselves or defend the
actions of a country mile and miles away, you know, defend the
actions of the State of Israel that they have no responsibility
for.
Mr. Torres. I have a question for Mr. Richman. In an
article that went viral in Tablet, they had a provocative
title, ``It's Open Season on Jews in New York.'' The author,
Armin Rosen, brought to light a shocking statistic: 118 adults
have been arrested for antisemitic hate crimes in New York City
since 2018, yet only one has been convicted and imprisoned.
Only one.
I know in your role you speak frequently to leaders in the
Jewish community, to victims of antisemitic hate crimes. Have
victims of antisemitic hate crimes lost confidence in the
ability of the criminal justice system to secure justice on
their behalf? If so, what is that crisis of confidence? What
impact does that have on the reporting of hate crimes?
Mr. Richman. The report that you mentioned, that report
came out this past July. ADL has reason to believe that there
are factual inaccuracies there. We have spoken with law
enforcement. We work very closely with law enforcement. We work
very closely with the DA's office who have indicated many
inaccuracies in that report. I do not believe that the people
have lost faith in the issue of hate crimes and the ability of
hate crimes laws to protect people.
I would also say that just because a person is not
ultimately convicted of a hate crime--and that is, of course,
not an issue for ADL, we are not law enforcement, we are not
prosecutors; a lot of nuance that goes into that. Just because
a person is not ultimately prosecuted for a hate crime does not
mean that the law does not take their case seriously and does
not mean that that person is not being held to account for
their crime. Hate crimes will simply elevate the level from a
class C to a class B felony, for example.
Mr. Torres. I just want to--before I move on, is the ADL
fundamentally satisfied with efforts to prevent, police, and
prosecute antisemitic hate crimes?
Mr. Richman. There is always more that can be done. But we
do believe that law enforcement and the district attorneys are
working vigorously to prosecute hate crimes.
Mr. Torres. My time has expired, so I will now recognize
Mr. Payne, if you are available, for 5 minutes.
I will now recognize Mr. Green for 5 minutes.
Mr. Green. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We have indicated today, in fact, that it is necessary for
us to stand up for others, speak out, have courage. Mr.
McConnell and I don't agree on very much, but I am going to
stand up for him. My failure to stand up for him would be a
failure to stand up for myself. I am going to stand up for his
wife, former Transportation Secretary Chao.
So to this extent, I have a question for Ms. Corke with the
Southern Poverty Law Center. The comments that I styled
incitive, how can those comments adversely impact a response to
Mr. McConnell or his wife?
Ms. Corke. I am sorry. Can you restate the question--
standing up for Mr. McConnell and his wife, how does that----
Mr. Green. Mr. McConnell and his wife, you probably--I
assume you are aware that the former President has said that
Mr. McConnell had a death wish for supporting certain
legislation, and called his wife Coco Chow, which is a racist
comment. The death wish comment is incitive, and I am asking
your opinion as to how this can adversely impact them or
others?
Ms. Corke. That is reprehensible. To be--for somebody like
the former President Trump to be using his platform to be
trying to intimidate a Member of Congress and his wife, who has
been a long-time public servant, using racial stereotypes and
threatening violence over social media. The danger and the
impact of that is incredibly alarming. It is a legacy from the
Trump administration and why we are seeing the normalization of
this kind of rhetoric. There is a greater acceptance of the use
of politically violent rhetoric like this from President Trump
on down to other political leaders, as well as what is
normalized on FOX News.
SPLC has tracked that there is a much higher degree of
political--acceptance of political violence amongst the
American public now. The mainstreaming of these racist violent
ideas is an increasing problem in our country. Therefore, I
condemn Trump's use of this language and to be threatening a
Member of Congress. It is just beyond the pale.
Mr. Green. Thank you.
Permit me to ask this, friends, to anyone who would care to
respond. When we fail to denounce persons who hold high office,
is that something that is more of a failure than to denounce a
person who is on the street and happens to say something? Does
it take on an even greater meaning when it is said by someone
who holds a high office?
Rabbi, what do you think?
Rabbi Reed. As a rabbi, I am in the spotlight and certainly
able to be criticized. I joke, when I am driving down College
Avenue in New Brunswick where the main Rutgers campus is, when
students are walking across the street looking at their phones
and not paying attention to the fact that I am driving, I am
always afraid that, God forbid, should I actually hit them, the
headline would say, Rabbi Hits College Student, as opposed to
me as an individual.
I do think that people who have leadership positions are
recognized because of their leadership positions, and that when
someone in a leadership position or even in a former leadership
position does something wrong, says something wrong, acts
inappropriately, that we do call them to task, not only because
what they did was reprehensible, but also because of the
stature that they currently held or once held.
Mr. Green. My time has expired. Thank you again, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Torres. The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from New
Jersey, Mr. Gottheimer, for 5 minutes.
Mr. Gottheimer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Since 9/11, Americans have been aware of the threat to the
homeland presented by terrorist organizations overseas in the
way that we hadn't. Foreign terrorism remains an on-going
concern to our safety. The January 6th attack on the Capitol
invited a stark reminder that dangerous, violent extremist
groups are present right here in own country. These groups, as
we talked about, are Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three
Percenters, Patriot Front, to name some of the well-known ones.
I mentioned earlier, the trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart
Rhodes and some other members present at the Capitol on January
6th starts today.
Ms. Corke, if I can ask you a question. As of 2021, there
were reportedly 3,800 hate incidents targeting the AAPI
community nationally. How are these extremist groups targeting
this community specifically, and what can we do to better
address these threats?
Ms. Corke. Thank you. I really appreciate that question.
You are correct, there has been an alarming rise in disturbing
discriminatory and violent incidents against people of Asian
American and Pacific Island backgrounds.
You know, we saw close to the SPLC offices, a little over a
year ago, the violent tragedy targeted against Asian-American
women at the spa. That is a particular intersection that we
see. The intersection between misogyny and male supremacy and
violence directed toward people of the AAPI community.
I deeply appreciate your question about what can we do,
because SPLC has been very much focused on the greater need for
prevention, that once it becomes a hate crime, it is already
too late. So we very much appreciate the administration's
summit and the commitment of additional resources; a billion
dollars going to Department of Education, Department of Health
and Human Services, Humanities, because preventing these
incidents in the longer term requires a much greater commitment
and investment to prevention of radicalization.
We at SPLC have been working on a series of resources for
parents, educators, caregivers to understand how radicalization
happens, to see the warning signs and have the tools to
intervene effectively. That is the type of resource that we
believe should be more widely available to parents and
caregivers. As well as digital literacy, SPLC has Learning for
Justice Program, which has a number of resources available on
digital literacy. You know, building up community resilience so
that the grants to local communities----
Mr. Gottheimer. This is--just to jump in there because I
think this is related as well. You know, we have seen recent
situations involving neo-Nazi, white nationalism group Patriot
Front targeting the LGBTQ community. I think it is related to,
obviously, your broader efforts to make sure we stand up to it.
Why do you think--what are we seeing here from the goals of
this group in particular as well?
Ms. Corke. Yes. The Proud Boys have shifted their strategy,
so they felt they had power during the Trump administration.
The current strategy, which is a dangerous one, is that they
are going after the grassroots. They are really trying to
activate and instill fear at the local levels. We have seen an
incredible uptick in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and efforts that are
not coming from the hard right. That is something that we are
raising alarms about because there has, you know, been
increasing violence. This is an explicit tactic of groups like
the Proud Boys to try to animate at the grassroots level to be
designating LGBTQ persons, particularly trans persons, as a
danger and to be mobilizing the population against it. It is an
incredibly dangerous trend.
Mr. Gottheimer. Thank you very much.
You know, I am shifting gears. I am introducing my
bipartisan bill, the FASTER Act, today, which will allow law
enforcement to notify financial institutions when a terrorism
suspect in Federal custody--is in Federal custody and merely
freeze their assets, as well as providing a National
clearinghouse to collect information.
Mr. Richman, how do you--and anyone can add to this--how
are these hate groups financing their activities? What are you
seeing? What authorities and tools do you think we should be
giving our Federal agencies to help cut off the financing of
domestic extremists? Any thoughts on that.
Mr. Richman. Well, first of all, you know, I want to thank
you for your leadership on the NDAA and using that to fight
antisemitism and extremism at the DOD. Really, I would urge
that they add that to the final bill.
In terms of considerations with regard to finance, I would
need to get back to you on that with additional details. But I
will be reaching out to the staff on that.
Mr. Gottheimer. Thank you. Anybody else, before I run out
of time, want to comment on that, on the financing side? I
don't know if anybody on the long line is prepared on that.
If not, I yield back. Thank you.
Mr. Torres. Of course. The Chair now recognizes for 5
minutes the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Malinowski.
Mr. Malinowski. Thank you so much.
In my last round, I asked a question that I knew the answer
to, shamelessly plugging my legislation to save the world. So
it is a good cause.
But I wanted to engage you, Rabbi, on a question I actually
don't know the answer to. I just want to explore with you, when
there is a pattern such as what you described at Rutgers--and
we have seen this at other universities--particularly when an
argument can be made that this goes beyond students harassing
other students, but that there may be some institutional
discrimination. Groups registered with the campus, as Mr.
Torres outlined, adopting rules that essentially discriminate
against Jewish students regardless of their views. What is the
proper role of the Justice Department in using its tools under
civil rights legislation to push university campuses to do more
and to do better?
I assume you would not say the answer is nothing. I assume
you would also probably agree that immediately cutting off
Federal funding for Rutgers University, which would deny
financial aid to the very students that you advocate for every
single day, is also not the answer. What is the appropriate
instrument?
Rabbi Reed. So I do feel that Jewish students have a right,
equal right to education in a safe environment, just like every
other kind of student has equal right to education in a safe
environment, and that it is incumbent upon our Government to
enforce that right and to protect Jewish students.
I mentioned before the Department of Education's Title VI,
the multiple cases that are very slow to be adjudicated. There
are dozens of cases that have been brought on behalf of Jewish
students against universities that are just sitting there,
including the one at Rutgers from 2011. I was there when the
incident took place. I witnessed it myself. I can't believe it
is 2022 and nothing has happened.
So I think that it is incumbent on the Government to take
responsibility and to act through the proper procedures and the
proper channels when these kind of incidents take place.
Mr. Malinowski. Well, that is something that I think we
should all be discussing a bit more, because I want to make
sure we do that in the right way.
I also want to maybe double down on some of the points that
Mr. Green was making about the importance of responsible
political leadership in our country. We are all Democrats up
here. I think that gives us a particular responsibility to
condemn things like the BDS movement, which are associated with
the political left. It is equally appropriate for us, as Mr.
Green did, to call out the silence and complicity of people on
the other side when leaders in their party engage in, well,
legitimizing racist ideologies, dangerous anti-Government
ideologies in our country.
Mr. Stern, maybe if I could bring you into this and ask
you, if a leading party candidate for the U.S. Senate in one of
the most hotly-contested races in the country runs an ad
showing himself with an AR-15 rifle marked with a Q, is that
helping or hurting the fight against antisemitism in the United
States?
Mr. Stern. Well, thank you for that question. I am also
working for a college which is a 501(c)(3). I am not going to
say something about one particular candidate, but just
generally, I think when leaders campaign on ideas that say
conspiracy theories are fine, that we ought to vilify some
others, that we ought to see the world as very simple, it is a
problem because that secret group behind there is doing
something to harm us. That inevitably harms our democracy, and
it actually poses a threat to Jews, in particular, because as I
put in my written testimony, one cannot go into the sewer of
conspiratorial ideas without being exposed to and sometimes
being animated by them to see Jews as that secret force behind.
So I think it is important to call that out whenever it
happens.
Mr. Malinowski. Well, let me--again, and just make this yes
or no. I will just throw out some more examples. When leading
politicians use rhetoric that basically sounds like the white
replacement theory, accusing immigrants of being invaders to
our country, calling immigration a plot to replace native-born
or white Americans on the voting rules, is that something that
helps or hurts the cause of fighting antisemitism?
Mr. Stern. It hurts tremendously. Our center gives an award
for a Republican State committee woman named Beth Rickey, who
showed personal courage to speak out against David Duke when he
was in the legislature in Louisiana. She actually helped push
back against him. I am seeing fewer voices of courage like hers
these days pushing back against these types of ideas.
I fully agree with you, it should not just be a partisan
issue. I think it is important when people that basically may
agree with us on policy do things like this, we have a special
obligation to speak out.
Mr. Malinowski. Thank you.
Just a final note. I am not sure if you guys are right that
being a 501(c)(3) organization prohibits you from calling out a
statement by a particular individual. Mr. Richman, your
executive director, Mr. Greenblatt regularly uses his platform,
I think, appropriately to respond to statements by leaders in
the public space that are wrong. I don't think a university
professor or a rabbi is somehow precluded from doing that by
any Federal statute, so long as it is done objectively in
keeping with the values and principles of your organization.
So I think we can all be a little bit more brave when we
see such things. Otherwise, they are just going to continue to
proliferate. Thank you. I yield back, unless somebody wants to
respond to that.
Mr. Richman. I will just say you are absolutely correct,
and that is why I mentioned to Congressman Green that we called
out the statement that was made by the former President. We
certainly call out statements. We certainly focus on issues. We
won't attack an individual directly just as an individual.
Mr. Torres. I now recognize myself for a third round of
questioning. We are going to do 10 rounds. I am kidding.
Mr. Malinowski. Until the problem is solved.
Mr. Torres. That is how we solve problems in Congress.
I want to echo, actually, what Congressman Malinowski said
that, obviously, there is nothing new about extremism. What is
new is the technology that enables it to spread to an extent
and at a pace we have never seen before. I will add one more
observation, that there is a mutually reenforcing relationship
between social media and mainstream media. We know replacement
theory is heavy on hate. It combines antisemitism with
nativism, as evidenced by the mass murder of 10 Black Americans
in Buffalo.
The most prominent proponent of replacement theory,
arguably, has been Tucker Carlson, who is a creature of
mainstream media, yet his ideas do spread virally on social
media. I am sure that Tucker Carlson would deny that he is
antisemitic. But a case could be made that by promoting
conspiracy theories, by promoting extremism, he is creating a
climate that is far more conducive to antisemitism. Is that a
fair assessment?
Mr. Richman. We need look no further than the Tree of Life
Massacre in 2018, which was fueled by the great replacement
theory. If we recall, that synagogue was attacked because the
week before they had held a HIAS Shabbat, a Hebrew Immigrant
Aid Society Shabbat. So this particular individual who targeted
the synagogue believed that that synagogue was promoting
immigration, was promoting bringing in Black and Brown people
to replace white people in this country. That is the great
replacement theory, and, certainly, we see the results of that.
Mr. Torres. Right. So to be clear, those who traffic in
conspiracy theories, who traffic in extremism in general, are
inciting antisemitism regardless of whether you intend to do
so. Is that----
Mr. Richman. They are inciting antisemitism. They are
inciting all forms of hate against marginalized groups.
Mr. Torres. Mr. Stern--and if I misheard you earlier,
please, I apologize--but I don't know if I heard correctly that
you had concerns about the IHRA defi--I know ADL supports the
IHRA definition. Did you express earlier that you had
objections to or concerns about the IHRA definition?
Mr. Stern. Yes. I think for some things it is perfectly
fine. I think it is the clearest set on, of rules or guidance
on, looking at hate crimes. Of course you would have to look at
somebody who really hates Jews, they selected them to be a
victim of a crime. But I am worried--and I testified in front
of the Judiciary Committee in 2017--that it is being used on
campus in a way that, to my view, harms academic freedom. It
actually is sort-of like a black hole, taking away from the
other things that universities should be doing, like surveying
increased classes and so forth. It serves as a simple thing
that is sort-of a de facto hate speech code, which is how it is
being seen by people that stops academic freedom, and I think
it harms Jewish students.
So I think it is--you know, to me, there is a caution about
that, specifically about we need things to push academic
freedom----
Mr. Torres. Can I ask, how does it undermine academic
freedom?
Mr. Stern. Because what it is doing is it is, telling
people that are pro-Palestinian that some of their comments are
off the board. So if you look at the history of the Title VI
litigations before the Antisemitism Awareness Act was proposed,
they included things like classes that talked about Palestinian
rights. They included things like a program that said the
creation of Israel was a tragedy for Palestinians. They talked
about what was being syllabized. They talked about, you know,
the speakers that were coming into campus. That, to me, harms
the academic enterprise.
What you want to do is things like the Narrow Bridge
Project at Brown, which is just pull together students who are
Zionist and anti-Zionist and give them the tools to have
credible discussion and figure out why we have such
differences, not to say we are going to take a certain set of
political ideas--political ideas, I disagree with, by the way,
by and large--and say that the university is putting its finger
on the scales saying those ideas are less acceptable than other
ideas.
Mr. Torres. Correct me if I am wrong, and I might be wrong
about this, but my--whenever you have a definition, there are
always going to be cases in the gray area, there is always
going to be misapplications of any definition. But it seems to
me that the purpose of the IHRA definition is to recognize that
there can be a relationship between anti-Zionism and
antisemitism.
So in the case of the University of California at Berkeley
School of Law, if you impose a blanket ban on all pro-Israel
and Zionist speakers, that is the kind of policy that has
antisemitic effects in the real world, and that is what is
meant to be captured by the IHRA definition. Is that your
understanding of the workings of the definition?
Mr. Stern. Let me give you a parallel. Say there is a
definition of racism that was going to be used on a campus, and
it included political examples, like opposition to affirmative
action, opposition to taking down confederate statues,
opposition to Black Lives Matter. You know, would you want that
as the sort-of guideline on campus because it is political
speech?
I agree that Zionist students feel hurt. I think that the
university should try to, as Aaron Temerinski did, talk about
the need for having an inclusive environment where everybody
feels part of the fabric. But I worry about Government saying
that a particular use of a tool like this is a problem.
The other thing is it is a church-state problem here. There
is debate inside the Jewish community about whether to be a
Zionist is required to be inside the tent. I don't know how
that is going to be decided, but I sure as heck don't want
Government to decide it.
Mr. Torres. My time has expired. So the Chair will now
recognize for 5 minutes the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Green.
Mr. Green. Thank you again, Mr. Chairman.
I am going to ask you, Ms. Corke, the impact of referring
to human beings of color who happen to be of Latino or Latin
ancestry, refer to them as illegals, the illegals, what is the
impact of doing this, in your opinion?
Rabbi, I am coming to you next.
Ms. Corke. Thank you for that question. The intent
certainly is to instill fear and to define those people who are
seeking immigration as the other, as the enemy. It is often
used an explicit strategy to stir up fear. That is the
intention and that is also the impact, to be defined as other
and to be dehumanized in such a way, that kind of language.
You know, hate crimes and discrimination, the harm goes
beyond the initial--the words or the initial incident. You
know, I was going to say, you may forget the words but you will
remember how it made you feel.
On the impact to the community that identifies with the
nationalities of people coming to this country, it impacts that
whole community beyond the individuals that are a target. It
makes the broader community feel less safe, that they are
considered lesser-than. So it is very dangerous and it is
divisive and it corrodes up the fabric of our democracy. We
are, you know, a Nation of immigrants. So that kind of fear-
mongering rhetoric is dangerous.
Mr. Green. Thank you.
Mr. Malinowski, I want to thank you for broaching this
issue because it is exceedingly important that we take a
position, take a stand. It is about human beings. Their
humanity is being assaulted and they are being put in harm's
way by virtue of how they look. So we have to take a stand.
Rabbi, where do you stand?
Rabbi Reed. Well, the Jewish tradition teaches that every
human being is made in the image of God. In that sense, each
one of us has intrinsic holiness. We all have a responsibility
to take care of one another, recognize the holiness in the
other person, and to appreciate and respect their humanity.
So calling a group of people illegals, calling them names,
hate-mongering, causing fear, that is going to cause--
ultimately, verbal attacks lead to physical attacks. So we need
to prevent that by recognizing that we are all made in the
image of God.
Mr. Green. Mr. Richman.
Mr. Richman. We are also a Nation of laws, and these people
are here legally. They have come to us seeking asylum. They
have come to us seeking to be protected. That is enshrined in
our law. We are obliged to adjudicate their cases and decide
what is next. So calling them illegals is not only
inappropriate and hate-mongering, but it is incorrect.
Mr. Green. Is there anyone else who would like to respond?
I don't want to appear to be overly selective.
Ms. Huffnagle. I would like to respond, if that is OK,
Representative. Holly Huffnagle with American Jewish Committee.
Just coming back to what you said earlier----
Mr. Green. With AJC.
Ms. Huffnagle. Yes, with AJC--about speaking up and
speaking out. I think where we are now, 2.5 years after the
pandemic, this really deepening, polarized society is speaking
up in general might not be enough. We actually--like, again,
that behavioral science is showing that people are going to
listen to people they trust, to people they know. So Democratic
leaders condemning antisemitism on the right, like from the
Proud Boys, from the Oath Keepers, that is incredibly
important, but it might not be as effective or go as far if not
for Republican leaders; people they know, people they trust,
people who are like them condemning it.
ASo I think something that we are encouraging, especially
as studies have shown, like a Pew study came out last month
that showed people don't trust people in the other party
anymore. Like, I think it was like 25, 30 percent of Americans
won't even trust people if they are the opposite political
party.
So that is why we really need, you know, to call out our
own side of the aisle first. I think, you know, getting leaders
and working together in that bipartisan way will actually be
the start of, not just for helping Jews, but for Latinos, for
the LGBTQ community, for other communities as well.
Mr. Green. Mr. Chairman, because I won't be here for round
10, I just need to make a final statement.
Dear friends, especially to my conservative friends, and I
have many, this is an admonition. Your failure to speak up and
speak out is putting your brand at risk, because conservatism
is being conflated with racism, sexism, antisemitism, and all
of the invidious phobias. I would encourage you to have the
courage to speak out and protect the conservative brand, which
is a legitimate brand. We may differ, but I respect the
conservatives.
I would hope that you would remember what Emily Dickinson
called to our attention: ``A word is dead when it is said, some
say. I say it just begins to live that day.'' Let not these
words live.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Torres. I just want to set the record straight, we will
have 20 rounds, not just----
[Inaudible.]
Mr. Gottheimer. We are better now? OK.
Dr. Doran, if I can just ask you a question to clarify
something. As I was reading through your 2022 threat assessment
report, and you start: At the beginning of 2020, we reported
home-grown violent extremism and domestic extremists as New
Jersey's greatest threats.
You go on to say: As we look toward the end of the
pandemic, our analysts find that home-grown violent extremists
and white racially-motivated extremists remain high-level
threats.
You obviously have a chart where you list the threat
levels.
You note that, on page 11, ``charges have been filed
against 26 individuals from New Jersey, including 22 males and
4 females,'' under the multiple domestic extremist section
here. Then you say: Over the last 2 years, domestic extremists
leveraged multiple national events to mobilize and justify
violence throughout the United States.
On page 13, you talk about ``militia extremists will likely
plot independent attacks against government institutions,
facilitate recruitment efforts, and encourage communication
among followers and State chapters to exchange ideologies and
spread disinformation.'' I guess this is from your website. The
title at the top is Militia Extremists, where you feature the
Oath Keepers on the bottom left. You say: ``Militia extremists
will likely target Government officials and law enforcement
with threats of violence surrounding issues of perceived
Government outreach.''
You also note that the top eight groups listed in New
Jersey Office of Homeland Security Protection 2022 State Threat
Assessments are all extremist groups.
So I just want to make sure I give you a chance to clarify
that you, using your own report, and of these groups, you do
see domestic violent extremists as a threat to the State of New
Jersey still, and many of these groups, including Oath Keepers
and others that you directly mention and have in your report
are of concern.
Ms. Doran. Thank you for the question, Mr. Congressman.
Mr. Gottheimer. Thank you.
Ms. Doran. Yes, those extremists still are a high threat.
When our analysts are looking at all of this information, we
consider--you know, regardless of, you know, our high threats
or, you know--we look at all the information from around the
country.
While we have not seen as many instances of white racially-
motivated extremists doing specific acts here in New Jersey, we
notice that in Nation-wide. We are looking collectively at our
information throughout the United States and then, looking at
our own data and our own analysis, that we have to consider
that a very high threat, along with the cybersecurity and
also----
Mr. Gottheimer. But you do mention that charges have been
filed against 26 individuals from New Jersey, including 22
males and 4 females.
Ms. Doran. Yes.
Mr. Gottheimer. As of February 1, five of the individuals
pleaded guilty. That is on your multiple domestic extremist
page, page 11.
Ms. Doran. Yes, with regard to January 6th.
Mr. Gottheimer. Right. So I mean we would consider them
domestic violent extremists under--you have it under actually--
you have it under domestic extremism attack time line.
Ms. Doran. Yes.
Mr. Gottheimer. So those are domestic extremists, right,
under your own admission?
Ms. Doran. I would say we are an apolitical organization
and so I am speaking--yes.
Mr. Gottheimer. Of course, you are. No, I know. But this is
your report. I just wanted you to confirm, because I just want
to clarify what you said before. It sounded like we should not
be concerned about these threats, domestic violent extremist
threats, including the Oath Keepers, you know, on your page
here. I just want to make sure----
Ms. Doran. Oh, no, we are very concerned.
Mr. Gottheimer. OK.
Ms. Doran. As I mentioned in my earlier comments is that we
look at ideologies, not necessarily always the individuals, but
we are very much concerned of those individuals that were here
in New Jersey who participated in the events of January 6th.
Mr. Gottheimer. Although you have been for years tracking
many of these groups----
Ms. Doran. Yes, we have.
Mr. Gottheimer [continuing]. In your reports.
Ms. Doran. Yes. Like I said, we----
Mr. Gottheimer. Proud Boys, Three Percenters, Oath Keepers,
and others. I know you for years have been tracking them.
Ms. Doran. Yes, we have. Now, generally what we do is, like
I said, is we look more at the ideologies, though we are,
obviously, looking at public information when we compile our
data. Some of how we determine our statistics and numbers may
vary slightly differently than perhaps the ADL and other
places.
But yes, that is very much considered to be one of the top
threats here for New Jersey, and we stand by that.
Mr. Gottheimer. Thank you so much.
I yield back.
Ms. Doran. Thank you.
Mr. Gottheimer. Thank you.
Mr. Torres. The Chair recognizes for 5 minutes Mr.
Malinowski.
Mr. Malinowski. Thank you so much. Well, I am glad you guys
had that exchange. Let me just put this bluntly. The Oath
Keepers are an organization that recruits members of law
enforcement and the United States military to make war against
the U.S. Government and our political system.
I cannot think of anything more dangerous. That is their
purpose. They talk about the U.S. Constitution. They recruit
people from within our uniformed services to undermine the U.S.
Constitution. They were a central part of an attempt to
violently overthrow the U.S. Government on January 6, 2021. We
should be crystal clear about the threat that that organization
poses to our way of life in the United States. It says
everybody has a right to free speech in this country. Everyone
has a right to express the craziest, most dangerous ideas; but
when people conspire to take those kinds of actions, we can
label them for what they are.
With that, let me build upon Mr. Torres' questions earlier
on about movements that promote conspiracy theories. I think
there are sort-of two sides to that coin.
When you look at groups like QAnon are on the one hand
promoting wild conspiracy theories. On the other hand, they are
also promoting mistrust for all the institutions in our society
that have been set up to help people distinguish between
falsehood and objective reality, right?
I mean, we have these institutions. Nonpartisan press, for
example, has played that role. People are confused about what
is true, but we used to trust Walter Cronkite. When he said
Richard Nixon violated the law, Republicans all across this
country accepted that as the truth.
There are Government institutions, scientific institutions,
the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control. People used to trust
those institutions. Law enforcement institutions, the FBI. If
the FBI labeled you a terrorist group, that pretty much ended
the argument in the United States for most people.
We are now in a situation where there is an active movement
to undermine the credibility of any of these institutions that
helps us distinguish between what is true and what is false.
Would you agree with that, Mr. Richman?
Mr. Richman. I think there is an active misinformation
campaign for sure. You are, of course, correct that for many
years traditional media played a role, a role in pushing hate
to the margins of society.
Social media is not able to do that. Section 230 of the
Communications Decency Act enshrined the fact that that was not
going to be somehow curtailed in any way, legislated against in
any way. There is freedom for that.
It is not just about proliferation of misinformation. It is
also about recruitment. It is also about finding others who
share your hateful ideas. There is a lot to social media that
go way beyond just the information that is out there.
Again, of course, thank you very much for your support of
the--or your introduction of the algorithmic amplification act,
a very, very important way to control hate on-line.
Mr. Malinowski. Thank you so much. When people
systematically try to define the media as fake news, when they
systematically denigrate the objectivity of science, when they
call for defunding the FBI or nonpartisan institutions in our
Government the deep state and say, all these deep state people
need to be replaced by our people, that also, in a way it is
the flip side of promoting the conspiracy theories. You are
destroying the institutions in our society that can push back
against those theories. It is just as dangerous and just as
conducive to antisemitism as putting out the blood libel, it
seems to me.
But for anybody on the panel, would you agree with that?
Mr. Stern. I would. I mean, the idea of conspiracy theories
and so forth are, as I said, much more mainstream now than they
were, you know, 20, 30 years ago. That creates the dynamic
where, you know, more people can see this as noble to attack
others.
I think one of the things that we haven't mentioned today
about this is that even though we are driving media and social
media people into their buckets and we are talking about
regulation, we haven't talked enough about how we can use this
tool as a better way to combat hatred.
I think there are some good models out there. We have some
in our new guide for community groups, but there are some that
use--turn free speech on its head. When people say something
that is hateful, you can organize against it and have people
donate money to things that haters would actually be repulsed
at. So there are other models out there to be used more
effectively, and I think we need to have more discussion about
that too.
Mr. Malinowski. Thank you. I yield back.
Mr. Torres. I thank you for your testimony and the Members
for their questions.
Rabbi Reed. Can I make one more statement? I am sorry to
breach protocol, but it just came to my attention that
President Jonathan Holloway of Rutgers University has released
a statement during this hearing that condemns hatred and
bigotry and talks about the actions the university is taking in
light of the egging of AEPi last week and the three other times
that AEPi at Rutgers was targeted in the last 2 years. I wanted
to make sure the public----
Mr. Torres. [Inaudible] on the subject?
Rabbi Reed. In the last week, yes.
Mr. Torres. How long ago was the incident?
Rabbi Reed. A week ago last Monday. It took a week.
Mr. Torres. [Inaudible] I thank the witnesses for their
testimony and the Members for their questions. The Members of
the committee may have additional questions for the witnesses.
I ask you to respond expeditiously in writing to those
questions. I want to thank Mr. Gottheimer for hosting us, I
want to thank the township of Teaneck for hosting us. Under
committee rules the record shall be kept open for ten business
days.
Without objection, the committee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:12 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
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