Most Read on the Web
Each month, the JN will let
you know the stories that were
read most often online. If you
missed any, you can go to
thejewishnews.com and
search for them by title. Here’
s
what was most popular in
October.
TOP 10 ON THE WEB
1. Michigan State Hillel
Sukkah Destroyed
2. Swastikas Found in
West Bloomfield Linear
Park
3. Three Cats Restaurant
Premieres in Clawson
4. Siggy Flicker of Real
Housewives Speaks Out
5. Val’
s Delicatessen
Coming Soon
6. Diverse Group of Rabbis
Call Huntington Woods
Home
7. Those On the Front Lines
of Cancer to Air on PBS
8. Remembering Stephanie
Kroot Steinberg
9. The Blum Legacy
10. Best Break Fast Recipes
TOPS ON FACEBOOK
1. Michigan State Hillel
Sukkah Vandalized
2. Bubbie’
s Kitchen Episode
2: Making Mandelbread
with DeDe
3. Two Anti-Semitic Flyers
at Temple Jacob
4. Val’
s Delicatessen
Coming Soon
5. Meet the Experts at
Star Laser
TOP INSTAGRAM POSTS
1. Grace and Frankie
Giveaway
2. Grodman Brothers
3. Val’
s Delicatessen
4. Louie Kemp’
s “Dylan
& Me”
5. Jewish Federation’
s
Scott Kaufman
T
he year since the syn-
agogue shooting in
Pittsburgh has been
a time of reflection, grief
and increased anxiety within
the American
Jewish commu-
nity.
It has also
been an incred-
ibly demanding
time at the Anti-
Defamation
League, and
the Center on Extremism in
particular, where our team
of researchers investigates
and responds to extremism,
anti-Semitism and all forms of
hate in real time — sometimes
thwarting violence before it
happens.
While the shooting in
Pittsburgh — the deadli-
est anti-Semitic attack in
American history — was
shocking, it did not surprise
those of us who spend most of
our waking hours tracking hate
because we know hate, online
and off, can move extremists to
violence.
In the years prior to the
shooting in Pittsburgh, the
team of researchers I lead
witnessed and documented a
resurgence of white suprem-
acy. This was evident in the
record number of propaganda
distributions nationwide and
in countless online spaces,
where violence is glorified and
hate is half-masked in “ironic”
memes. Even as we saw the
evidence building, we hoped
the worst was behind us.
Americans are no strangers
to white supremacist carnage
— the vicious attacks in Oak
Creek and Charleston speak to
its long history in this country.
But the shooting in Pittsburgh
spoke to a different type of
violence: one that was cele-
brated in plain sight on online
platforms and forums, but was,
paradoxically, more difficult to
detect and root out.
In the year since then, a
pattern has emerged, garnering
increased attention to certain
hateful online repositories:
white men, radicalized by rac-
ism, anti-Semitism and xeno-
phobia, act violently on their
beliefs, which they amplify via
a final post to their toxic online
communities, often including
urgent calls to action and blue-
prints for deadly violence.
There is some solace in
knowing that we are not help-
less in the face of such overt,
pervasive hatred and violence.
For every Pittsburgh or Poway,
several murderous plots have
been foiled by law enforce-
ment.
Our ultimate goal, of course,
is to stop violence before it
happens. This isn’
t always pos-
sible, but sometimes it is: Three
times in the last year, our anal-
ysis and actionable intelligence
has led directly to arrests and
criminal charges.
In March 2019, ADL
’
s
Center on Extremism iden-
tified a white supremacist
espousing anti-Semitism and
racial violence on the social
media platform Minds.com.
His screen name was “King
Shekels.
” We shared the infor-
mation with federal and local
law enforcement, highlighting
his radical ideology, calls for
violence, weapon possession,
criminal activity and evidence
of his location. He has since
been charged by federal prose-
cutors with posting online hate
messages and threats, includ-
ing interstate transmission of
threats to injure the person of
another, based in part on a dig-
ital image that appears to show
himself pointing an AR-15 rifle
at a congregation of Jewish
men.
On Aug. 8, the FBI arrested
Conor Climo, a Las Vegas-
based security guard, on
weapons charges for possession
of an unregistered firearm.
He was allegedly plotting to
attack LGBTQ and Jewish
community targets, including a
synagogue and a regional ADL
office. Months earlier, in June
2019, my colleagues provided
law enforcement officials with
warnings about Climo’
s threats
against synagogues and online
links to white supremacists and
threats against synagogues.
These were just two of at
least 12 white supremacists
who have been arrested for
their alleged roles in terrorist
plots, attacks or threats against
American Jews since the
Oren Segal
JTA
6 | NOVEMBER 14 • 2019
Views
Violent White Supremacy Is on the Rise.
Here’s How We Stop It.
commentary
continued on page 10