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REPORT: Murder + Extremism in the U.S.
For the second year in a row, murders in the United States connected to extremism have declined, according to new data from the ADL Center on Extremism. The 2023 total — 17 killings — continues a trend of decreasing extremist-related killings in each of the last few years after a five-year span (2015-2019) in which the number of extremist-related murders ranged from 47 to 79.
The report found that all extremist-related killings during 2023 were connected to right-wing extremism, including two shooting sprees: the Allen, Texas mall shooting and the store shooting in Jacksonville, Florida.
There are, unsurprisingly, connections to antisemitism among several of the shooters, including the Jacksonville attacker who wrote a manifesto that revealed that he was inspired by previous white supremacist killers and that he espoused hatred towards Jews, Blacks and the LGBTQ+ community, among others.
“While a decrease in extremist-related killings is a welcome trend, every single one of these murders is a tragedy,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “It is frankly too easy for an individual motivated by hate or extremism to purchase a weapon and enter a synagogue, an LGBTQ+ bar, a supermarket or any other public place and commit murder and mayhem.”
The report takes a timely deep dive into the role of women perpetrators of extremist-related killings. Although each of the extremist murders in the report were connected to the far right, last week’s sickening attempted mass shooting in Houston by a woman who had praised Islamist terrorist groups reminds us we cannot stand idly by as hateful extremists continue to threaten our security from across the ideological spectrum.
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Be in the room March 6-7 in New York City at Never Is Now 2024 to connect, engage and act against antisemitism. This week’s session spotlight is:
“Healing Trauma: How to Address Internalized Antisemitism and Lessons for the Next Generation”
For centuries, antisemitic oppression and negative societal messages have affected the Jewish identity in insidious ways. Join Vlad Khaykin, ADL National Director of Programs on Antisemitism, Ben M. Freeman, author of ‘Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People’ and ‘Reclaiming Our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride’, and Dr. Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath,
author of ‘#Antisemitism: Coming of Age During the Resurgence of Hate’, in a discussion on how generational trauma has manifested through internalized antisemitism, hear their personal stories of challenges and hope and find out how we can heal ourselves and the next generation.
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New ADL Alliances to Help College and High School Students Fight Hate:
This week, ADL announced partnerships with Jewish on Campus (JOC), a student-powered organization advocating for Jewish students, and NCSY, an organization that connects with Jewish teens through innovative, cutting-edge social and recreational programs to develop a positive Jewish identity. These alliances will leverage the strengths of each organization to better meet the needs of Jewish students as antisemitism rises. The Jewish on Campus partnership
will include a series of co-created educational sessions and resources for student leaders, focused on antisemitism and Jewish communal leadership. With NCSY, ADL will provide programs and training sessions about antisemitism and help foster an environment in which teens can safely develop a positive Jewish identity through NCSY’s Jewish Student Union high school clubs. Through the partnership, students and staff in NCSY programs are also encouraged to fight antisemitism by reporting incidents through ADL’s platform.
→ Read more about the JOC and NCSY alliances.
ADL’s Antisemitism Report Cards Coming Soon:
At the BBYO International Convention held last weekend, ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt talked with students about how their college search and decision process is changing because of the rise of antisemitism on campus. Jewish students want to know they will feel safe, welcome and included as they begin their college careers. To help inform this important decision, ADL will release a Report Card
in April assessing actions universities are taking to combat antisemitism on their campuses. With the goal of creating a ‘race to the top’, the report card will showcase tangible steps universities can take to improve the campus environment for their Jewish students.
→ Learn more about this and actions you can take at: notoleranceforantisemitism.adl.org.
Hateful Response to Super Bowl Ads:
The ADL Center on Extremism tracked the ways that many users on X (formerly Twitter) criticized a Super Bowl commercial urging people to #StandUpToJewishHate. The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism aired multiple advertisements during the Super Bowl, including a new ad featuring Dr. Clarence B. Jones, former advisor to and speech writer for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The negative responses mostly conflated the condemnation of antisemitism with support for “genocide,” accusing Israel of elaborate conspiracies and trivializing the reality of antisemitic hate today.
→ Read more about this high-profile online hate.
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Make your voice heard! Call for the U.S. House of Representatives to support the creation of a National Domestic Terrorism Director
to meet the threat of domestic violent extremism, such as violent white supremacy and anti-government extremism. As our Murder & Extremism Report linked in this email points out, extremism leads to deaths each year in the United States. The appointment of a senior level official to oversee these anti-terrorism efforts would send a message to the American people — and specifically those impacted by domestic violent extremism — that this remains an unwavering priority for the Administration.
Click here now to join ADL in urging your legislators to support this effort.
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The @ADL_tracker feed of news and developments in antisemitism activities.
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During this unprecedented moment with rising antisemitism, your voice is critical.
It is more important than ever to come together and send the message that hate cannot win. Be in the room March 6-7 in New York City. Registration to attend Never Is Now in New York ends on March 1; register now!
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