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Community,
Happy New Year to those who celebrate. This coming year we have plans for bold partnerships and initiatives that continue our fight against hate. The ADL team and I challenge you to read this newsletter and identify a new way that you can participate this year in our vision for a community without hate.
Together we will do great things for our region.
Best wishes,
Tali Cohen
ADL Washington, D.C. Regional Director | |
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Building Bridges: ADL Connects with Universities & Hillels
September 21, 2025...ADL expressed deep concern over several countries' premature recognition of a Palestinian state, warning that bypassing direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations while 48 hostages remain in Gaza effectively rewards Hamas terrorism and undermines prospects for peace. Read the full statement here. | |
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Evergreen Attacker Had Extremist Digital Footprint
September 12, 2025... The 16-year-old Colorado school shooter wounded two students before killing himself. For months, he was active on WatchPeopleDie, a gore website where he shared neo-Nazi views and studied past shooters while collecting tactical gear with white supremacist symbols. The ADL found at least four school shooters this year used this same site before their attacks. The platform appears to be radicalizing troubled teens through extreme violence and hate content.
What else has ADL found out about Desmond Holland? | | | |
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Building Bridges: ADL Connects with Universities & Hillels
September 10, 2025…ADL D.C. team members traveled to campuses across our region—including Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, GWU, Duke, NC State, UNC, and Wake Forest—to meet with university leaders and local Hillels. These visits reinforced ADL's role as a key resource for eliminating hate and antisemitism on campus, ensuring schools throughout our region know we're here to support their efforts to create safer, more inclusive environments for all students. | | | |
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Get Your Early Bird Tickets for Never is Now 2026!
Join us on March 16-17, 2026 in NYC for the World’s Largest Summit on Antisemitism and Hate. Never is Now is ADL's signature annual event that brings together global leaders, experts, academics, business leaders, journalists, and distinguished thought leaders to address contemporary antisemitism and explore innovative strategies to combat it. Get your Early Bird pricing TODAY! | | | |
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What Are Our Jewish University Professionals Going Through in a Post 10/7 World?
September 10, 2025…209 surveyed Jewish-identified faculty report facing targeted boycott, smear, and doxxing campaigns, mostly from other faculty and staff - often with troubling professional, emotional and mental health consequences. Check out this new report by ADL and Academic Engagement Network (AEN). | | | |
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Anti-Israel Activists Group Crosses the Line with Nazi Camp Uniforms
August 26, 2025...Anti-Israel activists from CodePink continue to promote divisive rhetoric in our region; the group recently engaging in a deeply offensive demonstration at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where protesters wore striped pajamas resembling Holocaust concentration camp uniforms. This appropriation of Holocaust imagery to advance their political agenda represents a profound disrespect to the memory of the six million Jews who perished during the Holocaust.
What did ADL have to say about this? | | | |
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Thank You for Taking Steps to Protect Jewish Students!
August 22, 2025…ADL D.C. commended George Washington University for their suspension of Jewish Voice for Peace through May for violating University policies, including creating a hostile environment that targeted Jewish students, staff and faculty. This is the kind of real action that helps maintain our campuses as environments free of hate and harassment.
Check out what ADL D.C. said! | | | |
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Fatal Shooting of Charlie Kirk Triggers Conspiracies
September 12, 2025...Following the murder of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk at a Utah Valley University event, antisemitic conspiracy theorists immediately flooded social media with over 10,000 posts baselessly claiming, "Israel killed Charlie Kirk." Extremist influencers with millions of followers spread unfounded theories that Kirk was assassinated for becoming critical of Israel.
Read more insights here from our Center on Extremism. | | | |
adl's Back to school must haves | |
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Is your child heading back to school? Equip your family with ADL’s Safe, Seen and Included Toolkit, which includes conversation guides, action steps and more to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. | |
Upcoming webinars & Events | |
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📅 October 9 | 🕑 4 PM EST | Bringing Intergenerational Holocaust Stories Into Your Classroom
Survivor testimony is an important way to connecting your students to the human story of the Holocaust, but today, there are limited opportunities to interact in person with survivors. In this webinar, you'll learn how to engage with Living Links, a program supported by USC Shoah Foundation, that brings third-generation Holocaust descendants into classrooms to share their families' stories of survival, loss, and resilience. Amy Haddad, Living Links Director of Operations, and Dave Reckess, 3GNY Executive Director, will discuss how Living Links speakers and intergenerational stories make the Holocaust relative and resonant with students and the world today, and
share some of their families’ histories about the Holocaust and its legacy. Register here today.
📅 October 13 | 🕑 4:00 PM EST | Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing
At its heart, genocide happens because individual humans choose to kill other individual humans in large numbers and over an extended period of time. Who are the killers and how do they come to do such extraordinary evil? Based on interviews with over 225 rank-and-file perpetrators, author and inaugural Christopher J. Dodd Chair in Human Rights Practice at the University of Connecticut, Dr. James Waller, will discuss the processes by which these individuals became capable of such atrocities.
Register here today.
📅 October 15 | 🕑 4:00 PM EST | Teaching the Holocaust and Jim Crow Together: Opportunities and Pitfalls
In the last few years, it has become common for writers and commentators to examine intersections between crimes against Jews in Nazi Germany and anti-Black racism in the U.S. Indeed, in conversations, popular books, and films like Origin (2022) one hears that the “Nazis got their ideas from the American South.” In his talk, professor and author Jonathan Wiesen will address this claim by exploring the benefits, misunderstandings, and pitfalls of studying the Holocaust and Jim Crow racism together.
Register here today.
📅 October 28 | 🕑 4:00 PM EST | Teaching the History and Legacy of Mauthausen: A Case Study in Brutality, Resistance, and Remembrance
Located in Austria next to a granite quarry, Mauthausen was one of the most brutal sites in the Nazi concentration camp system, including the infamous “Stairs of Death”. Join Echoes & Reflections Facilitator and Holocaust educator Todd Hennessy as he offers guidance and appropriate pedagogical approaches on how to teach about the concentration camp system through this important site. Utilizing visual history testimony, photographs, and information on how the site functions today, educators will gain valuable strategies to help students engage critically with the legacy of Nazi crimes and the importance of sites of memory today.
Register here today. | |
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🚩 The Disturbing Online Trail That Led to Tragedy: A Timeline of Missed Warnings | |
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ADL researchers discovered the Minneapolis school shooter plastered their weapons with vile antisemitic phrases like "6 million wasn't enough" and transformed a smoke bomb into a grotesque Holocaust reference before murdering two children at Annunciation Catholic School. The attack reveals how online communities glorifying mass violence have become hotbeds for mainstreaming anti-Jewish hatred among troubled individuals seeking infamy.
Learn more about what investigators found in the shooter's browser history and how it exposes an alarming pipeline from meme culture to murder. | |
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📢 ADL to Partners: "Seek Security Grants Now" | |
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📣 What Do You Know About The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL)? | |
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The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a U.S. socialist political party with extreme anti-Zionist views at its core, justified the October 7 attack on Israel as a "bold counter-offensive" and has since sponsored or co-sponsored over 1,700 anti-Israel rallies across America, many featuring antisemitic rhetoric and support for terrorist organizations. PSL has escalated its anti-Israel organizing to include targeting synagogues, harassing Jewish individuals, and promoting pro-terror imagery at protests nationwide.
This comprehensive backgrounder reveals how PSL's virulent anti-Zionism manifests in real-world activities that go far beyond political activism, documenting the party's support for terrorism, organizational structure, and dangerous impact on Jewish communities across the United States. | |
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🏠 Two Properties Axed for Refusing Israelis | |
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Booking.com removed two guesthouses from its platform after they refused to accept Israeli visitors. The online travel giant condemned the discriminatory practices, emphasizing that refusing guests based on nationality violates their policies and reminding partners they must welcome all travelers regardless of origin. | |
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📣 Staff Unite to Fight Campus Antisemitism Crisis! | |
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The ADL University Staff Action Network
is arming higher education professionals with powerful legal resources, confidential support systems, and a nationwide coalition to confront the alarming surge of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias infiltrating campuses. Jewish and Zionist university employees who've been silenced, marginalized, or threatened now have a lifeline—and the tools to reclaim their campuses. Don't wait until it's too late: Join the movement that's transforming how universities protect their Jewish community members. | |
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🛡️ Jewish Communities Just Got a Major Security Upgrade—Here's What It Means for You | |
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ADL and the Community Security Initiative of New York (CSI-NY) have launched the Joint Threat Intelligence Partnership (JTIP), a first-of-its-kind national initiative to detect and disrupt threats against Jewish communities across the United States. This groundbreaking partnership combines ADL's expertise in extremist research with CSI-NY's operational intelligence capabilities, creating a 24/7 threat monitoring system with analysts strategically placed in ADL regional offices and Jewish federations nationwide. The initiative focuses on real-time threat detection, intelligence sharing between organizations and law enforcement, and direct
community integration to eliminate intelligence gaps and strengthen collective security. Click to read what ADL's Senior Vice President of Counter-Extremism and Intelligence says about this transformational nature. | |
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👾 Your Kid's Gaming Platform Could Be Exposing Them to Hate Speech | |
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Two teenagers who later carried out school shootings—Natalie Rupnow and Solomon Henderson—began by engaging with the gore site “WatchPeopleDie,” where they were exposed to shocking violence and recruited into extremist networks. Within 19 months, both had interacted with white supremacist content, with their activity on the platform forming part of a normalized echo chamber of gore and hate that seemingly paved their path toward violence. This chilling chain—from voyeuristic horror to real-world atrocity—should make us rethink just how lethal an internet click can become.
Learn more here. | |
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🎯 Are White Supremacists Targeting Your Teen? | |
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White supremacist groups are increasingly targeting teenagers, recruiting them for real-world “ground action” through strategic outreach and messaging. This alarming shift moves beyond online radicalization, showing an organized effort to train and mobilize youth into extremist activities. The ADL’s findings underscore how these movements are grooming a new generation to act on hateful ideologies. Want to know how and why your teen could become a pawn in this dangerous play?
Click to read the full ADL report. | |
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On October 29, 2025, please join our community at the JCRC's 2025 Gala as they honor distinguished leaders from across the region.
The JCRC is delighted to present June and David Trone with the Breslau-Goldman Award; Behnam Dayanim with the Sara and Samuel Lessans Community Leadership Award; and Eva Davis with the Distinguished Service Award. Each honoree has given years of exemplary leadership and dedicated service to our growing and diverse Jewish community in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
Doors open at 5:30 PM | Business attire | Register here! | |
WANT ADL TO SPEAK AT YOUR CONGREGATION, WORKPLACE, SCHOOL OR COMMUNITY GATHERING? | |
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Whether you're looking to deepen your understanding, spark meaningful dialogue, or equip your audience with tools to combat hate, our team offers impactful presentations and interactive trainings tailored to your needs. We cover a range of topics including antisemitism, extremism, hate crimes, allyship, and strategies for building inclusive and respectful communities. Our speakers bring both expertise and passion, creating an engaging and thought-provoking experience for participants of all ages and backgrounds.
To request a speaker, please fill out our Speaker Request Form, and a member of our team will follow up with you promptly to discuss the details and next steps. We look forward to partnering with you to create a safer, more inclusive environment for all. | |
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Combating Antisemitism Online | |
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