Image by facebook

By Sam Kestenbaum December 19, 2017

Twitter accounts associated with the far-right Jewish Defense League were swept up in a larger purging of white nationalists accounts as the social media site implemented new rules targeted “violent extremist” groups.

The Twitter accounts @JDLCanada, @jdldotorg, @JewishDefenceNY were all booted offline sometime on Monday, December 19.

Twitter announced in mid-November that beginning Dec. 18, it would consider account user behavior “on and off the platform” when deciding whether to close down an account, as part of an effort to “reduce hateful and abusive content.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“You may not make specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people,” states Twitter’s rule for “violent extremist groups,” which went into effect Monday.

Twitter begins long-awaited crackdown on hate groups and extremist rhetoric https://t.co/UGSclGoulI

— Hatewatch (@Hatewatch) December 19, 2017

“Alt-right” or white nationalist users kicked off Twitter on Monday include Jared Taylor, editor of the “race realist” American Renaissance; Brad Griffin of the League of The South; and Vanguard America, the white nationalist group whose membership included James Alex Fields, who drove his car through counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Twitter has informed Jared Taylor (@jartaylor) and American Renaissance (@AmRenaissance) that their accounts WILL NOT be restored because of their affiliation with a “violent extremist group”. Jared is the Mr. Rogers of the Alt-Right! https://t.co/Ogk9u0dERH

— James Edwards (@JamesEdwardsTPC) December 18, 2017

The Jewish Defense League was founded by the ultra-nationalist politician and writer Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1971. According to the FBI, the JDL has been involved in plotting and executing acts of terrorism within the United States. Since Kahane’s assassination in 1990, the group has fractured and has been dormant for years. Over the last months, though — amidst culture wars convulsing the nation — some acolytes of Kahane have sought to bring his ideas back into the mainstream. Members of the JDL have started showing up a street rallies again, sometimes violently sparring with other protestors.

Read more about the Jewish Defense League here and here.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re in the middle of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount