Neo-Nazis who vandalized a synagogue are recruiting in plain sight

In this photo illustration, a thumbprint is displayed on a mobile phone as the logo for the Twitter social media network is projected onto a screen on August 09, 2017 in London, England. Image by Leon Neal/Getty Images
A group of neo-Nazis and domestic terrorists called The Base whose members vandalized a Wisconsin synagogue in 2019 are recruiting on social media platforms, on messaging apps and even in video games, according to new podcast episodes out Thursday from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“It’s all done quite openly,” said the co-host of the podcast “Sounds Like Hate,” Geraldine Moriba. “We do have secret recordings from their vetting rooms but their recruiting is done openly on every social media platform.”
The podcast explores The Base’s methods of recruitment, but also their vetting process, which has been revealed through recordings leaked to the Southern Poverty Law Center by a whistleblower.
The leadership of the group, including 47-year-old founder Rinaldo Nazzaro, looks for military and combat experience. Leaders brag about their land ownership, saying members can use it to train. They go to “great lengths,” to figure out who is white, said Moriba, by interrogating the background of prospective members and asking if they have ever done a DNA test.
They worry that some people are “white-appearing but might be Jewish,” she said.
Founded in 2018, The Base is made up of small terror cells around the United States. They hope for a societal collapse that would leave room for a white ethnostate.
The group made headlines in January of 2020 after the FBI charged three members with firearms and alien-related charges. The criminal complaint against them mentions discussions of acts of violence against Black Americans and Jews.
Analysts used artificial intelligence to find patterns in the recordings.
For example, there were 37 mentions of Nazarro’s land, used as proof that he was putting his “name and land on the line” for the cause, said Moriba. Nearly half the recordings mentioned targeting by the system, the police, the government or the media. And a third of the conversations contain the phrase “not doing anything illegal.”
One prospective member, known as the Ecologist, talks about how he wants to liberate white people “through economic sabotage such as bombings” and arson.
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.
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’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 3
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 4
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
In Case You Missed It
-
News Who would protect New York Jews better? Cuomo and Lander trade attacks on the campaign trail
-
News Rabbis revolt over LGBTQ+ club, exposing fight over queer acceptance at Yeshiva University
-
Opinion In Qatargate fiasco, Netanyahu’s ‘witch hunt’ narrative takes cues from Trump
-
Yiddish די הגדה ווי אַ לעבעדיקער דענקמאָל פֿון אַשכּנזישער פּאָעזיעThe Haggadah as a living monument to Ashkenazi poetry
אַמאָל זענען די פּייטנים, מיסטישע דיכטער־וויזיאָנערן, געווען אויבן־אָן בײַ די פֿראַנצויזישע און דײַטשישע ייִדן.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.