UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2004

 

The number of antisemitic incidents in the United States rose by 17 percent over 2003. Notably, there was a major increase of 27 percent in the harassment category. The Internet continued to serve as a vehicle for anti-Jewish hostility, since both domestic and international extremists as well as terrorist groups utilized US-based servers. Events such as the 2004 presidential elections led to the establishment of websites touting conspiracy theories claiming that the Jews and Israel were controlling political events in the United States and instigating the war in Iraq.

 

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

The Jewish community in the United States – the largest concentration of Jews in the world – numbers 5.2 million, comprising 2.2 percent of the total population of 282.1 million. The bulk of American Jewry live in major metropolitan areas and their environs, including New York (1.45 million), Los Angeles (519,000), Southeast Florida (498,000), Chicago (261,000), Boston (227,000), San Francisco Bay (210,000), Philadelphia (206,000) and Cleveland (82,000). The intermarriage rate is high, accounting for more than 50 percent of all unions involving a Jewish partner.

Leading national Jewish organizations include the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), Anti-Defamation League (ADL), B’nai Brith, Hadassah, Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), Jewish War Veterans (JWV) and many other religious, fraternal and Zionist groups. The Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations acts as the domestic and foreign policy umbrella group for 52 member organizations. A merger between the Council of Jewish Federations, United Israel Appeal and United Jewish Appeal in 1998 created the United Jewish Communities (UJC), which represents Jewish community federations and independent Jewish communities throughout North America.

There is an active Jewish press and almost every community with a large Jewish population supports its own English-language weekly newspaper.

 

EXTREMIST ORGANIZATIONS AND GROUPS

Extremists on the far right continued to be active in 2004 despite a dearth in leadership resulting from the deaths, aging and imprisonment of prominent leaders over the past few years (see ASW 2003/4). In addition, various groups including the National Alliance, Aryan Nations and White Revolution either have leadership problems, or have not managed to attract a substantial following. One concern resulting from the lack of cohesive leadership is that more ‘lone wolves’ in the extremist community may be willing to take action on their own. White power music continues to be used as a recruiting tool by white power bigots. A neo-Nazi record company, Panzerfaust, launched a major, well-publicized campaign to distribute CDs of antisemitic and racist lyrics to school children across the United States, and other extremist groups volunteered to participate in this project. Racist skinhead groups continued to hold concerts around the country, which attracted substantial audiences. Four members of a local hate group, the Connecticut White Wolves, harassed patrons with Nazi salutes at a local mall and restaurants in Fairfield/Trumbull, Connecticut.

The virulently antisemitic, white supremacist Creativity Movement, formerly the World Church of the Creator (WCOTC), promotes the creation of an all-white nation and ultimately an all-white world, rejecting Christianity outright in favor of its whites-only pseudo-religion, Creativity. It was led from 1996 by Matt Hale, who called himself Pontifex Maximus, or supreme leader, and was one of the best-known leaders on the far right. Under his leadership, the group gained publicity with its resurgence and for the violent incidents with which it was associated.

In April 2004 Hale was convicted of contempt of court and other charges (see below and ASW 2003/4). Hale dismissed his attorney in August 2004 and began representing himself in court (he has a law degree, but has been refused admission to practice). He continues to appeal his convictions from his jail cell, although his sentencing has been postponed indefinitely, pending resolution of a major case with similar legal issues before the US Supreme Court. Stripped of the right to use its original name, his group now refers to itself as the Creativity Movement. Since Hale’s arrest, the movement has declined, with few followers and no clear leadership.

The neo-Nazi, Hillsboro, West Virginia-based National Alliance (NA) was led from 1974 by veteran antisemite and white supremacist William Pierce, until his death in July 2002, after which Erich Gliebe, former head of NA’s Ohio chapter and manager of the group’s white power music company Resistance Records, assumed control. In 2003 the National Alliance became increasingly unstable, with infighting among its leadership and attacks on Gliebe.

Although accusations about the leadership’s mishandling of finances and contributions continued in 2004, Gliebe and chief operations officer Shaun Walker, as well as Kevin Strom, media director, remained firmly in power, and local units remained strong with a significant core membership. Overall, membership is almost 1,000, with a 33 percent decline since the death of Pierce. In 2004 the group concentrated on recruiting and attracting publicity, mostly through leafleting campaigns and erecting National Alliance billboards in numerous locations around the country. The organization also embarked on a campaign to recruit lawyers by purchasing state bar association member lists, which it used to send out mass mailings in Florida and Tennessee. The group has been active in the area of Holocaust denial, hosting a number of lectures around the country by British Holocaust denier David Irving, and assisting in putting together a conference dedicated to Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel. In the fall of 2004, National Alliance members also confronted elected officials in Salt Lake City and St. Louis, in organized protests and at community meetings. The National Alliance continues to run Resistance Records, which is still one of the group’s leading sources of income, and its primary means of attracting young people. It remains the largest neo-Nazi group in the United States, with a dedicated core membership which has survived the internal warfare among its national leadership of the last two years.

In 2003, Billy Roper of White Revolution (a splinter group from the National Alliance), emerged as the leader most able to unify various groups around a common cause, followed by the NSM (National Socialist Movement; see below). In 2004, however, Roper’s efforts to bring together disparate white supremacist groups were not particularly successful, partly due to the clash of personalities and ideologies in the movement. In one incident, in May 2004, he asked those planning to attend a protest against a school desegregation case to wear conservative clothes and avoid Nazi and other regalia, thus alienating NSM members (who wear Nazi uniforms), who pulled out of the protest. To date, Roper has attracted only a small number of followers to White Revolution, and his ambition to turn it into an umbrella organization of the white supremacist movement has been stalled.

The Christian ‘Identity’ movement promotes its racist, antisemitic agenda by manipulating religious themes. It holds that people of white European ancestry are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel, making them the ‘chosen people’ of the Bible. Identity’s ‘two seed-line’ theory asserts that only whites are descended from Adam and Eve and that Jews originate from a sexual union between Eve and Satan. Among notable ‘Identity’ groups in the US today are America’s Promise Ministries of Sandpoint, Idaho; Dan Gayman’s Schell City, Missouri, Church of Israel; Pete Peters’ Laporte, Colorado-based Scriptures for America Worldwide; and Kingdom Identity Ministries in Harrison, Arkansas.

Aryan Nations, a paramilitary neo-Nazi group formed in the mid-1970s, also subscribes to ‘Identity’ ideology. Aryan Nations was based in Hayden Lake, Idaho, and led by founder Richard Butler, from an armed compound for three decades until forced to declare bankruptcy in late 2000 (see ASW 2000/1). The loss of the Aryan Nations compound and Butler’s ailing health caused group membership and influence to dwindle significantly. Following the group’s split into four factions, there were additional breakups and reformations (see ASW 2001/2). Richard Butler, a neo-Nazi icon, died in September 2004. Butler had reached out to and inspired a wide range of racists over the years. In the last years of his life, he remained a revered figure in the extremist world and was a featured speaker at numerous white supremacist gatherings nationwide. Despite serious health problems, he ran for mayor in Hayden, Idaho, in 2003.

Morris Gulett leads the splinter group Church of the Sons of Yahweh in Louisiana, having disassociated himself from Aryan Nations in March 2004. Two Aryan Nation factions continued to exist in 2004, each vying for authority after Butler’s death: Charles Juba’s group was based in Pennsylvania, while a collection of Butler loyalists moved its headquarters from Idaho to Alabama, with a four-person leadership supposed to assume control.

A three-day Aryan World Congress gathering hosted by Aryan Nations in the Northern Idaho town of Coeur d’Alene took place on 16–18 July 2004, with Richard Butler leading a racist parade through Coeur d’Alene, accompanied by 40 white supremacists. In 2004 individual Aryan Nation members continued to be involved in a number of serious crimes. Sean Gillespie was indicted on charges that he firebombed a synagogue in Oklahoma City. Steve Holten pleaded guilty to making death threats to state officials in Reno and San Francisco. Zachary Beck, who shared a ticket with Butler in Hayden, Idaho, city elections, was arrested after he allegedly fired at police during a stand-off in Longview, Washington. Karl Gharst, former ‘staff leader’ of Aryan Nations, was arrested in Idaho after he allegedly made death threats against a social worker he claimed had kidnapped his daughter. The future of Butler’s group remains uncertain after his death.

Formed in Dallas in the late 1980s, the neo-Nazi skinhead Hammerskin Nation is composed almost exclusively of young white males, among whom the group actively recruits. With local chapters scattered worldwide, the Hammerskins maintain they represent the working class of the white racialist movement and often advocate using violence to achieve their goals. The Hammerskins have an estimated 18 chapters in the US. In 2004 three Hammerskin members were sentenced to prison for the racially motivated stabbing of a black man in Springfield, Missouri.

Although the Hammerskin Nation was in decline during 2004, it continued to sponsor hate rock concerts, and many popular racist rock music bands are affiliated to it. At the same time, the Hammerskin splinter group known as the Outlaw Hammerskins has expanded.

The National Socialist Movement (NSM), the second-largest neo-Nazi group in the United States, is also the country’s most overtly Nazi organization, its members dressing and acting like the Nazis of the Third Reich. The NSM has profited recently from the decline of the National Alliance, its main rival. It was relatively quiet in 2004, although it participated in significant neo-Nazi gatherings in Pennsylvania, Nebraska, and North Carolina, as well as in other racist events.

Liberty Lobby, founded in 1955 by Willis Carto, was for years the most influential antisemitic propaganda organization in the United States, with considerable impact on right-wing extremism. The antisemitic and anti-Israel American Free Press, which favors conspiracy theories, succeeded Liberty Lobby’s original publication Spotlight. In 2004 American Free Press frequently accused Israel and influential Jews in America, acting on Israel’s behalf, of responsibility for the war in Iraq. A major theme in 2004 continued to be the growing influence of ‘international Zionism’. It regularly advertises Holocaust denial literature.

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke lived in Russia and Ukraine for almost three years, from 2000 to 2002, where he lectured and wrote articles promoting his antisemitic theories (see ASW 2001/2). In mid-December 2002, Duke returned to the US and pleaded guilty to multiple charges resulting from his years of white supremacist outreach: mail fraud, bilking his supporters of money, and filing a false tax return. On 15 April 2003, he began serving a 15-month prison sentence.

After his release, Duke continued to send letters to right-wing publications and websites expressing his contempt for the US federal government, Israel, Jews and other minorities, and promoting his book Jewish Supremacism. His organization EURO (European American Unity and Rights Organization) held a major rally in New Orleans, 29–30 May 2004, with the goal of promoting unity among white supremacist groups. High-ranking racist figures attended the conference and signed the so-called New Orleans Protocol, a three-point document for white ‘nationalists’ advocating nonviolence, collegiality and a “high tone in our arguments.” While this agreement seems unlikely to maintain harmony between the myriad organizations and personalities, Duke appeared to be at the center of the white supremacist movement once again. Since the conference, Duke has been actively recruiting new EURO members, and his third book, For Love of My People, is expected to be published in 2005. Duke has a weekly live Internet question and answer program on Don Black’s Stormfront forum, featuring prominent extremist guests.

Although the Ku Klux Klan, collectively, is much smaller than it was several decades ago, it remains the most prevalent type of hate group in the US. There are about fifty Klan organizations in the United States, ranging from small single-chapter groups to larger ones with chapters in many states. Most are located in the South and Midwest. Their racist and antisemitic ideology is designed to appeal especially to white people on the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum. The Klan remains associated with criminal activity. In October 2004, a North Carolina Klan leader was charged with murder for allegedly helping to kill a fellow Klansman.

In 2004, US militia groups continued to conduct paramilitary training in relative secrecy. Several issues have agitated this extreme anti-government movement in the past year or so, including the Patriot Act and other counter-terrorism measures, which militia members feel are or will be directed against American citizens, as well as immigration matters. A few militia groups or individuals made headlines as their deeds progressed beyond mere preparation. In June 2004, two Michigan militia members were charged with possessing illegal machine guns in an investigation into an alleged plot to kill police officers in retaliation for the 2003 death of a militia member. Also in June, the Kentucky State Militia took part in border patrolling in Arizona with Ranch Rescue, an extreme anti-immigration group that conducts vigilante border patrols. In Pennsylvania, two militia leaders were charged with various illegal weapons violations. Rick Stanley of Colorado, former leader of the Mutual Defense Pact Second American Revolution Militia, was found guilty in June on two felony counts of attempting to influence a public official. Antisemitic, racist elements remain an influence in an undetermined number of militia groups throughout the country.

Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of Nation of Islam (NOI), has long expressed antisemitic and anti-white rhetoric marking him as a notable figure on the extremist scene. Farrakhan has in the last few years multiplied his antisemitic statements, and in 2004 nearly every major speech focused on antisemitic conspiracies relating to Jewish and Israeli control over US foreign policy, and repeated the false and antisemitic theories the NOI has published regarding black-Jewish relations in the US.

Farrakhan’s annual NOI Saviours’ Day speech, given on 29 February 2004, was largely devoted to promoting antisemitic theories. He began by touting the notion that Jews deserved the Spanish Inquisition and were primary players in the Atlantic slave trade: “So when the Jews were punished and beaten and murdered, they left Spain. Where did you go? Went into the Caribbean. Went into South America and you became plantation owners.” Farrakhan also compared the racist Jews who controlled Hollywood as well as the media that attacked Mel Gibson for his movie The Passion to their creation of stereotypes of black characters in television and movies. Farrakhan used his only address to a national audience at the National Press Club in May to hold Israel responsible for the war in Iraq and to claim that American soldiers were dying for Israel. Farrakhan blamed the war on the Jews in the Bush Administration, a “synagogue of Satan... given a mission of evil.” He made similar statements throughout the year, including in his final speech delivered in December 2004 in Newark, New Jersey, where he reiterated, “The war in Iraq is not your war; that’s Israel’s war.”

The NOI newspaper, The Final Call, attempted to gloss over the crisis in Darfur (Sudan) by attributing mainstream media concerns over the humanitarian crisis and possible genocide to “Zionist propaganda” and the need for the Zionists to “control the black agenda.” In addition to carrying Farrakhan’s speeches and articles by various writers, NOI also provides links to the antisemitic Nation of Aztlan website (see below), via the NOI’s student association page, and the NOI continues to sell The Secret Relationship between Blacks and Jews on its website (see ASW 2003/4).

Farrakhan’s increased use of antisemitism is of great concern today because of a growing perception in the black and Arab-Muslim communities that he no longer makes antisemitic remarks or that he has repudiated his past antisemitic statements. This is largely due to the absence of controversy about Farrakhan, as well as a general belief among black activists that antisemitism should not disqualify him from helping the black community. He has given numerous speeches at NAACP events and participated in a radio conversation with Rev. Jesse Jackson in November 2004. Russell Simmons continues to invite Farrakhan to speak at his Hip Hop Summits, and honored him at the Source Magazine Awards in November 2004.

While 2004 was in some ways a quiet year for Malik Shabazz, national chairman of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP), a racist and antisemitic Black Nationalist group, he continued to make anti-Jewish and racist statements at public events. After the NBPP drew well under 1,000 participants to what was supposed to be its national event, the Million Youth March, in September 2003, it organized smaller protests across the country in 2004. Shabazz also traveled to England in an attempt to gain more attention for the group.

In the US Shabazz gained some mainstream acceptance and appeared on MSNBC and FOX programs no less than five times. In four appearances he was introduced as a member of Black Lawyers for Justice; only FOX’s Sean Hannity noted Shabazz’s affiliation with the New Black Panthers. Although he did not make overtly antisemitic comments on the air, away from the camera during that time Shabazz maintained his hostility toward Jews. For example, in July 2004, Shabazz and other Panther members held a protest against an interfaith vigil in Washington, DC, organized by the local Jewish community council, religious leaders and elected officials.

The Nation of Aztlan, a small California-based Latino group continues to distribute virulently antisemitic material via its website and e-mails – apparently its principal activity. Throughout 2004, Hector Carreon and Ernesto Cienfuegos, editors of the group’s publication, La Voz de Aztlan, continued to blame Jews and Israel for nearly every negative event that affected the Mexican community in the United States. Their website, www.aztlan.net, posted The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and referred to this antisemitic work in articles. Examples of articles run in 2004 included allegations that Israel poisoned Yasir Arafat, that Mexico was in danger of being taken over by “an International Jewish Cabal” led by Jorge Castañeda (referred to by a ‘Jewish’ alias, George Gutman), and explained suicide bombings as planned maneuvers by Mossad agents aimed at garnering sympathy for Israel. These articles are occasionally carried by Iranian and other Middle East news agencies.

 

ANTISEMITIC ACTIVITIES

While most antisemitic activity in the US has been limited to hate propaganda, members of extremist organizations and their associates sometimes engage in threats, violence and vandalism. The overall total of 1,823 antisemitic incidents in 2004 was up 17 percent over 2003 (1,557); this is the highest total in the nine-year period from 1995 to 2004. The average annual figure, 1997–2003, was 1,555.

Notable in the 2004 numbers is a major increase of 27 percent in the harassment category, with a total of 1,178 compared to 929 in 2003, as well as a small increase of 3 percent in vandalism, with 645 incidents compared to 628 in 2003. It could be said that ongoing security measures to protect synagogues and other Jewish property, along with effective law enforcement involvement, have kept antisemitic vandalism from rising significantly. However, it should be noted that vandalism in 2003 and 2004 was higher than the 2001–2002 levels (500–550) range, and this two-year trend remains disturbing.

In 2004, vandalism accounted for 35 percent of the overall total, while harassment – though less violent but more direct and personal – constituted 65 percent. The comparable percentages in 2003 were 40 percent and 60 percent respectively. (Harassment has predominated annually since 1991; during the 1980s more vandalistic incidents were reported.)

The phenomenon of a major increase in harassment is reflected in several of the states with the largest Jewish populations, and appears to be a major long-term trend. New York, as always the state with the largest number of incidents, showed a 45 percent increase in acts of harassment. Florida showed an 80 percent rise; California 62 percent; New Jersey 30 percent and Massachusetts 38 percent. Several smaller states also reflected this tendency: in Maryland harassment increased by 22 percent; in Colorado by 43 percent; in Arizona by 39 percent; and in Connecticut by 10 percent. (Bucking the trend was Pennsylvania, which recorded a 50 percent decline in harassment.) Florida and New Jersey reported a significant increase in vandalism as well: Florida by 32 percent and New Jersey by 48 percent. In contrast, other states with large Jewish populations reported marked declines in vandalism: in New York, down 37 percent; in California, by 18 percent; and Massachusetts by 17 percent.

Among the most serious incidents reported in 2004 were two arson attacks and five incidents involving defacing of synagogues. In Eureka, California, there was a rash of vandalism at a synagogue, including antisemitic and sexually-oriented graffiti, furniture broken, and objects thrown against a door during religious services for young children. Swastikas, slogans such as “Death to the Jews” and other graffiti were written on a synagogue entrance in Houston, Texas. Swastikas and other graffiti were also daubed on a synagogue’s outdoor playground equipment and several synagogue windows were broken in Commack, Long Island, while swastikas were scrawled on the doors of a synagogue and nearby apartment house in Brooklyn, New York. Chabad House, a Hasidic synagogue in San Francisco, California, was damaged by an arson attack, as was the entrance door to a local Jewish cemetery in West Roxbury, Massachusetts.

 

Campus Incidents

Campus incidents increased marginally, to 74, from the 2003 total of 68, still substantially less than the 106 reported in 2002. (In the three-year period 2000–2002, campus incidents increased by over 50 percent.) By 2003, more effective counteraction and educational efforts by pro-Israel students had helped reduce the number of virulently anti-Israel activities that had crossed the line to harassment of Jewish students and other antisemitic phenomena.

Notably, incidents in the Pacific Northwest area showed a significant increase in 2004 (37 incidents) over 2003 (a total of 6 reported). Montana went from 0 to 9, Oregon from 0 to 10, and Washington State from 5 to 13. This area is home to several far-right and neo-Nazi groups. A rise in numbers of incidents around the country generally in 2004 was the result of stepped up activity (distribution of flyers and other public actions) by such hate groups.

 

Propaganda

White supremacist groups, particularly neo-Nazi organizations such as the National Alliance, White Revolution and the National Socialist Movement, distributed flyers and other hate literature across the United States on people’s lawns or cars, or by stuffing the material inside newspapers delivered to homes. Much of the supremacist propaganda in 2004 reiterated the canard of Jews having control over the US government and media. The National Alliance also leased billboards in Florida, Utah, and Nevada and placed ads in local commuter trains in St. Louis, Missouri, to draw attention to its organization and website.

 

Internet

Extremists continued to develop and expand their Internet presence throughout 2004. There are hundreds of antisemitic websites, of varying technical expertise, which continually spread racism, antisemitism, and anti-Israel views, as well as Holocaust denial. Numerous antisemitic sites incorporate up-to-date technology such as streaming audio, video and ecommerce sections, and also include sophisticated flash videos and background music, along with original artwork and cartoons.

Virtually every major extremist group based in the United States has some form of Internet presence, and many groups based overseas utilize servers located within the United States to circumvent local laws prohibiting racist, extremist, bigoted and antisemitic content.

The online material of Holocaust denial group promotes not only their theories but merchandise and magazines, too. Some militia groups and conspiracy theorists with antisemitic beliefs also have a strong presence online, with active websites and e-mail lists seeking to link world events to Jews and Israel. The murder of American Nicholas Berg in Iraq and the US presidential elections led, for example, to the establishment of websites that accused Jews and/or Israel of being involved in controlling or instigating the war in Iraq.

Increasingly, international terrorist groups with an antisemitic agenda – including Hamas, Hizballah, and al-Qa`ida-affiliated groups – which target the United States generally, and Jews specifically − have found Internet providers in the United States less willing to host their antisemitic and violence-promoting materials. However, terrorist groups continued to find the Internet a valuable resource for posting and distributing anti-US and antisemitic propaganda, and for urging the targeting of Jews in the US and around the world.

 

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE HOLOCAUST AND THE NAZI ERA

Holocaust Denial

The year 2004 saw some of the more prominent Holocaust deniers in the United States forge ever closer ties with avowed neo-Nazis and white supremacists. This was evident at the white supremacist conference convened by former Klansman David Duke – who himself denies the Holocaust in his books, My Awakening and Jewish Supremacism – in New Orleans in late May. The conference was attended by Willis Carto, publisher of the Holocaust-denying Barnes Review magazine, and Germar Rudolf, a fugitive from German justice who has been establishing himself as the premiere publisher of Holocaust-denying books in the United States. Rudolf’s involvement in the conference, which included a speaking role, is particularly noteworthy since it belies his longtime contention that he does not subscribe to racist ideology. Since the conference he has also joined the editorial board of The Barnes Review, which regularly publishes pieces praising Hitler and the Third Reich.

Collusion between Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis was also evident in the April 2004 “International Revisionist Conference” held in Sacramento, California. This conference was initially organized by Walter Mueller, a local Holocaust denier who also publishes the white supremacist Sacramento newspaper Community News. Due to last-minute complications Mueller called for cancellation of the conference, but it took place anyway due to the combined efforts of the Holocaust-denying Institute for Historical Review (IHR) and the neo-Nazi National Alliance (NA). Institute for Historical Review president Mark Weber’s frank acknowledgement of his collaboration with a neo-Nazi group – which is still posted on the IHR Web site – represents a break from his previous, purposeful attempts to portray himself and his organization as dedicated to disinterested historical research. In 2004 Weber also consented to several interviews on avowedly white supremacist and neo-Nazi radio programs, including the Hal Turner show and the broadcasts of National Alliance member Kevin Alfred Strom.

Another speaker at the Sacramento IHR-NA conference was veteran Holocaust denial propagandist Bradley Smith. Smith’s 2004 activities centered on his campaign to “Decriminalize Holocaust History” – an effort to refresh his aging program of disseminating Holocaust denial in the guise of free speech rhetoric. To this end he set up a new website and electronic mailing list, and was able to obtain invitations to speak at several college campuses in California. Ironically, during his presentation at the Sacramento IHR-NA conference, Smith – who for years has promoted himself as seeking to encourage ‘debate’ on the Holocaust – admitted that his rhetoric on campus is constructed carefully “to set [the issues] up in a way that could not really be debated.”

Other 2004 activities by Holocaust deniers in the US included speaking tours by British Holocaust denier David Irving, who resides part of the year in Key West, Florida. Since 1999 Irving has also conducted annual ‘Real History’ conferences in Cincinnati. Ingrid Rimland, who runs the online Holocaust denial repository known as the Zundelsite, continued her efforts to draw attention to the plight of her husband, German Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel, who was held in Canadian custody during 2004 while courts sought to resolve his legal status under Canadian law. In May 2004 Rimland also published Setting the Record Straight, a book composed of letters by her husband, which articulates a plan to construct a ‘cultural center’ in order to promote a renaissance of the ‘Aryan race’, in Tennessee.

 

RESPONSES TO RACISM AND ANTISEMITISM

Legislation/Law Enforcement

As of December 2004, forty-six states and the District of Columbia had penalty-enhanced hate crime laws. The Federal Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA) continues to require the Justice Department to gather data on crimes which manifest prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or ethnicity from law enforcement agencies across the country and to publish an annual summary of its findings.

According to FBI statistics for 2004, there were 7,649 bias-motivated criminal incidents, slightly higher than the 7,489 recorded in 2003. Of these, 4,042 were motivated by racial bias; 1,374 by religious bias; 1,197 by sexual orientation bias; 972 by ethnicity/national origin bias; and 57 reportedly occurred against disabled individuals. Of the incidents motivated by religious bias, 954 (69.4 percent) were directed against Jews and Jewish institutions, accounting for 12.5 percent of the total number of reported hate crimes in 2004. This compares with 927 incidents (69 percent) motivated by religious bias in 2003, accounting for 12.37 percent of the total number of hate crimes in that year.

No progress was made in 2004 on passing a comprehensive federal hate crimes law, but a federally-funded youth hate crime prevention initiative, Partners Against Hate, continues to create promising training and education initiatives.

 

Legal Action

Former National Guardsman Duane Braden was arrested in October 2004 for allegedly planning to blow up a synagogue and a National Guard armory in Tennessee. Braden was arrested at a mental health facility where he had told a counselor about his plans. Federal agents found notes at Braden’s residence in which he threatened to kill a rabbi and children, along with bombs, weapons, and neo-Nazi paraphernalia. Authorities charged him with two federal counts of attempting to destroy an armory and possession of an unregistered firearm.

In April 2004, white supremacist leader Matt Hale was convicted in Chicago of soliciting the murder of a federal judge. Hale, leader of the former World Church of the Creator, was found guilty of one count of solicitation of murder and three counts of obstruction of justice. Hale faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000; the obstruction of justice count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Three American members of the Virginia Jihad Network were sentenced to long prison terms in a US district court in June 2004 for conspiring to fight alongside a Pakistani-based terrorist group and engaging in paramilitary training in the Virginia woods. Masoud Khan, a Maryland native who had traveled to Pakistan to train with Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, designated as a foreign terrorist group by the US, was sentenced to life in prison on charges of conspiracy to levy war against the US and providing material support to the Taliban and to al-Qa`ida. Seifullah Chapman and Hammad Abadur-Raheem were sentenced to 85 and 8 years in prison respectively. Khan and Chapman received their lengthy prison terms as a result of mandatory minimum sentences for weapons convictions related to the conspiracy.

Right-wing extremist Stephen John Jordi was sentenced in Florida in July to five years in federal prison after being convicted of plotting to blow up gay bars, abortion clinics and churches. The US district judge rejected the prosecutors’ request that Jordi be sentenced under a federal terrorism law and instead gave Jordi the minimum penalty.