[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


   COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM, TERRORISM, AND ANTISEMITIC THREATS IN 
                                NEW JERSEY

=======================================================================


                             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

                              ----------                              
                                                                   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

                              ----------                              


                        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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Audit of Antisemitic Incidents: Year in Review 2021, ADL, 
https://nynj.adl.org/news/2021-audit-nj/ (accessed Sep. 20, 2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Propaganda incidents are counted as a single incident even if 
thousands of pamphlets are distributed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.
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    \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/.
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    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\
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    \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.
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    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.
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    \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/.
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    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.
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    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.
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    \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\
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    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \21\ http://kennethsstern.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/
BigotryOnCampus.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \12\ Oath Keepers, S. Poverty L. Ctr., https://www.splcenter.org/
fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/oath-keepers (last visited Sept. 
30, 2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \22\ Michael Lieberman, Hate Crimes, Explained, S. Poverty L. Ctr. 
(Oct. 27, 2021), https://www.splcenter.org/hate-crimes-explained.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
          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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \34\ United We Stand, https://unitedwestand.gov/ (last visited 
Sept. 30, 2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
   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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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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