ExtremismThe Role of Anti-Semitism in American Violent Extremism
A new report examines the role of anti-Semitic ideas and narratives as foundational elements of two disparate American violent extremist movements: the extreme right wing and violent Islamist groups. Both movements have historically used anti-Semitism as a belief and world-structuring theory to recruit new followers, mobilize them to action, and justify violent attacks against the Jewish community in the United States.
On Thursday, the Program on Extremism at George Washington University released its newest report, Anti-Semitism as an Underlying Precursor to Violent Extremism in American Far-Right and Islamist Contexts.
The report examines the role of anti-Semitic ideas and narratives as foundational elements of two disparate American violent extremist movements: the extreme right wing and violent Islamist groups. Both movements have historically used anti-Semitism as a belief and world-structuring theory to recruit new followers, mobilize them to action, and justify violent attacks against the Jewish community in the United States.
Despite differences in ideology between far-right and Islamist extremists — and methodological disagreements between violent and non-violent iterations of the same movement — the various iterations of these movements have all included anti-Semitism as a core element of their worldviews.
Three recent case studies of American violent extremists from the far-right and Islamist currents structure the report’s findings. Anti-Semitism was a vital part of the radicalization process in each case study, despite apparent differences in ideological persuasion. In some individual case studies, anti-Semitic narratives were a gateway issue that structured the remainder of their radicalization and mobilization to others. For others, it shaped their transitions between one extremist movement and the other, or between a non-violent and violent iteration of the same extremist movement.
The report argues that counterterrorism and countering violent extremism practitioners and scholars may consider treating anti-Semitism as a diagnostic factor for radicalization to violent extremism. While distinguishing a profile for American violent extremists remains a difficult task, anti-Semitism’s ubiquity in various extremist movements over time in the United States makes it a common denominator among many types of American violent extremism.
Here is the report’s Executive Summary:
· Anti-Semitism is pervasive throughout several categories of American extremist movements, both violent and non-violent. American extremists incorporate antisemitic tropes and narratives in every level of their worldviews, using them to help construct “us/them” dichotomies and wide-sweeping conspiracies that are
essential to their movements.
· During the past several decades, the American extremist movements that have been among the most violent—specifically, far-right and jihadist groups—have used anti-Semitism to target Jewish people, Jewish houses of worship, Jewish community institutions, and Americans supporting the Jewish state of Israel.
· Anti-Semitism, as a belief and world-structuring theory, can at times serve as a gateway issue for individuals into further radicalization to violent extremism. Nonviolent and violent iterations of the same extremist milieus often share antisemitic views as central elements of their belief system, and thus anti-Semitism constitutes a linkage between activist and violent extremist segments of the same movement
· Several case studies of violent American extremists, representing far-right and jihadist movements respectively, demonstrate that anti-Semitism can be an integral part of American extremists’ progression through the radicalization process and in justifying terrorist attacks.
· Based on this report’s finding that anti-Semitism is foundational to multiple violent extremist movements in the United States, counter-extremism practitioners and scholars may consider incorporating anti-Semitism as a diagnostic factor for extremist radicalization.
o While there is no single profile of an American extremist, anti-Semitism has long been widespread among American extremist movements of multiple persuasions, acting as a least common denominator between extremist groups.
o Antisemitic beliefs often serve as a key entry point for individuals to radicalize, join extremist groups, and progress into violent mobilization.
O By using promotion of anti-Semitism as a factor in identifying key influencers and ideologues in extremist movements, Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programming can isolate key nodes in extremist groups and debunk the narratives they promote without engaging in theological debates.
o Studying the role of anti-Semitism in extremist groups can assist scholars in identifying common themes between different types of extremism, as well as between non-violent and violent strands of the same extremist movements. This can improve analysis on the broader relationships between and within extremist groups.
