ADL Report: White Supremacist Incidents Declined 5%, Propaganda Efforts Increased 27% in 2021

The Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Center on Extremism (COE) released a report on March 3 finding that while antisemitic incidents involving white supremacy declined 5% in 2021, their messaging increased 27% the same year.

The report found that there were 352 white supremacist propaganda incidents in 2021. Some examples included a “Hitler was right” flyer taped on a menorah that belonged to a synagogue in the Sacramento area and stickers of a swastika and the words “we are everywhere” found on a Jewish museum in Anchorage, AK. White supremacists also engaged in 183 banner drops in 2021, a 40% increase from the year before, and held 108 events, an increase of more than 50% from 2020. Some banner drops included banners that stated “Death to Israel” and “Black Lives Murder White Children!” and nearly half of the white supremacist events were flash mobs.

The states with the highest numbers of white supremacist propaganda incidents were Pennsylvania (473), Virginia (375), Texas (327), Massachusetts (272), Washington (228), Maryland (217) and New York (212). Thirty-eight white supremacist groups were behind the propaganda efforts, but three groups were behind 91% of the incidents: Patriot Front, New Jersey European Heritage Association and Goyim Defense League (GDL).

The GDL is what received the most attention during an ADL COE webinar discussing the report; ADL COE Vice President Oren Segal explained that the GDL organizes coordinated monthly propaganda campaigns and offers a reward for those who can get on the news. Some of the GDL campaign include live streams of their engaging in antisemitic harassment, such as shouting “Dirty Jew, f— you!” on a platform called Entropy where they can make money during the stream. The GDL also conducts “Nose Tours” to pull off antisemitic stunts throughout the country. The white supremacist group also sells their own merchandise.

Carla Hill, Associate Director of ADL COE, said during the webinar that the “more aggressive they become during these events, these tours, the more these funds roll in.” “It’s really disturbing,” she added, calling it “the monetization of hate and harassment.” Segal also expressed concern that in “selfie culture,” people eventually get bored over what’s in front of their screens, meaning that extremists will likely attempt to “ratchet up their rhetoric.” “I predict we’re going to be dealing with that in multiple ways for some time to come,” he said.

Segal also stressed the importance of contacting websites that host extremist groups and ask if doing so violates their terms of service. “These company platforms may not even be aware,” he said.

Yael Hershfield, Division Director of Incident Response and Law Enforcement Initiatives at the ADL’s Southern Division, encouraged community members during the webinar to report any antisemitic incidents or knowledge of a planned incident to both the ADL and law enforcement. When the ADL learns of a Jewish institution that’s about to be targeted by extremists, they inform the institution ahead of time so “Jewish institutions can be prepared,” Hershfield said.

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement via press release. “White supremacists more frequently are resorting to hate propaganda as a tactic to spread their noxious ideas and recruit new membership. It’s particularly disturbing that at a time of when violent antisemitic assaults are on the rise, these groups are dialing-up their hateful rhetoric against Jews and canvassing entire communities with hate literature. This is an alarming trend that needs to be checked, now.”

ADL Los Angeles Regional Director Jeffrey I. Abrams also said in a statement in the same press release, “This conspiratorial and offensive antisemitic propaganda plays into old tropes and hate. But words like these can and do spark bigotry and violence targeting Jews, which we recently saw manifest during the synagogue hostage crisis Colleyville, Texas in January of this year. At a moment when our city needs even greater civility and unity, we urge Angelenos to reject these dangerous, extremist and antisemitic theories and we encourage everyone to report incidents such as these to the ADL.”