 | |
| Formation | May 2018; 6 years ago (2018-05) |
|---|---|
| Founder | Jon Minadeo II |
| Type | Antisemiticconspiracy theory Neo-Nazi |
| Headquarters | Sonoma County,California, U.S. |
Key people | Patrick Little Jon Minadeo II |
TheGoyim Defense League (GDL) is an Americanneo-Nazi andantisemitichate group andconspiracy theory network of individuals who are active on social media websites and operate anonline video platform called GoyimTV. The GDL also performsbanner drops, papering neighborhoods withflyers, and other stunts to harass Jews. The GDL emerged in 2018 and is led by the antisemitic provocateurJon Minadeo II.[1] The GDL is currently tracked by theSouthern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.[2]
The GDL opposes Israel and celebrated theOctober 7 massacre in 2023.[3] It also attended several pro-Palestinian rallies to promote their propaganda.[4]
"Goyim" is a sometimes disparaging Yiddish and Hebrew word fornon-Jews.[5] The name "Goyim Defense League" is a play on two Jewish organizations — the violent extremistJewish Defense League, and the anti-hate organizationAnti-Defamation League (ADL). Similarly, GDL's logo is a parody of ADL's.[1][6]
BuzzFeed News described the GDL as awhite supremacist group.[7] The Goyim Defense League was listed by theMiddle East Media Research Institute in a March 2019 Special Report of groups engaged in "Online Incitement against Jews."[8]
GDL operates an online video website called GoyimTV. Minadeo had launched the platform with the help of Dominic Di Giorgio ofPort St. Lucie, Florida. It is used to share videos, live stream, and attract supporters to GDL.[9]
In 2020, GoyimTV was removed by its online provider after a flood of complaints.[10] In late October 2022, the site was again taken down after a hold was placed on it by its domain provider. Minadeo claimed that this was due to pressure from Jews.[11] As of late January 2023, the site was back online.[citation needed]
The GDL is most active in California, Colorado, Florida, and New York.[1] GDL activities have also taken place in Texas (seebelow).
In December 2017, after getting suspended from Twitter, Patrick Little stood outside of Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, holding a sign that read "It's not okay to be white @Twitter".[12][13]
Patrick Little, a member of the GDL,[14] ran on aRepublican Party ticket in the2018 United States Senate election in California forDianne Feinstein's seat. A native of Albany, California, Little is an IT engineer who had previously served in theUnited States Marine Corps in Afghanistan.[15] Little's campaign gained attention in May 2018 when he polled second only to Feinstein in aSurveyUSA poll with 18% of the general electorate and 46% with Republicans.[16][17] However, theCalifornia Republican Party denounced Little and he was removed from their convention in San Diego, while stomping on anIsraeli flag, claiming "They just had me expelled from the building because I won't serve Israel", calling the California Republican Party "Zionist stooges."[16]
Just after the election, Little toured the United States in July and August 2018, with placards bearing antisemitic phrases such as "Jews Rape Kids", "Jews Killed 30 Million", "The Holocaust is a Lie"[18] and pronouncing a number ofantisemitic conspiracy theories, such as claiming that theHolocaust is a hoax, that Israel played a major role in 9/11, that Jews controlled the African slave trade before the Civil War, and that "Jews kill Christians — they do it a lot historically."[19]
On one occasion in 2018, Little launched a blimp in San Francisco Bay with a text "Jews Rape Kids" and attempted to fly it near San Francisco'sOracle Park stadium during the Jewish Heritage Night with the San Francisco Giants event but failed due to poor weather conditions.[20][21] These so-called "J-Walks" were recorded and the videos were put on the internet on platforms such asYouTube andBitChute by Little and the GDL. Little's "Name the Jew" Tour ran fromPortland, Oregon toPortland, Maine, stopping off at Olympia, Washington; Seattle; Missoula, Montana;Helena; Alberton, Montana; Fargo, North Dakota; Minneapolis; Skokie, Illinois; Providence, Rhode Island; Princeton, New Jersey; Boston, and New York City.[18][22]
Eventually, Little received 62,830 votes, with 1.4% of the total vote share.[23][24][25] Little claimed that he was the victim of voter fraud by "the Jewish supremacists and the Zionists" and stated that he would run in the 2020 United States presidential election.[23] He moved to Idaho and ran for one of two vacant seats in the 2019Garden City, Idaho City Council election, coming in last with 126 votes, 3.7%.[26][27]
In November 2018, a number of celebrities active in theCameo app that provides personalized "shoutouts" to people who pay a certain amount of money, up to $500, were successfullytrolled by the GDL and gained the group media attention by getting these celebrities to give coded antisemitic shoutouts.[28][7] Among those implicated were NFL quarterbackBrett Favre, rapperSoulja Boy, and comedianAndy Dick.[29][30][31][14]
Favre's coded message read "shoutout to the Handsome Truth and the GDL boys," and "Keep fighting, too, and don't ever forget theUSS Liberty and the men and women who died on that day," referencing the American shipattacked by the Israeli Air Force in 1967, during theSix-Day War.[28] Soulja Boy's asked viewers to check out the GDL anthem "Name the Juice" (i.e. "Name the Jew") onSoundCloud, saying "GDL for life, bitch."[32] The rap song referenced by Soulja Boy featuresHolocaust denial lyrics such as "I heard your quotes from yourTalmud book, you're a fake Jew bitch and you never got cooked, never got gassed" and "they wanna tax and take whats ours, lie about ovens,lampshades and showers, wanna play the victim, but you're really a coward, thats why I name the Jew every second of hours."[33]
In December 2021,antisemitic banners were displayed over aBrevard County, Florida highway overpass. The ADL stated that Minadeo had offered $100 in "GoyimTV money" to anyone who could get the network in the news.[9] In October 2022, GDL members including Minadeo hung a banner over a Los Angeles highway saying "Kanye is right about the Jews", in reference to antisemitic comments recently made by the rapper.[34]
Antisemitic flyers were distributed in residential areas. The flyers featured lists of officials with Jewish-sounding names (many of whom are not Jews), insinuating that such people atCenters for Disease Control and Prevention were responsible for the spread of theCOVID-19 pandemic,[35] were responsible for theRusso-Ukrainian War,[36] "Every single aspect of the Media is Jewish",[36][37] and "Every single aspect of Disney child grooming is Jewish".[37] The flyers were hurled onto parked cars and private driveways, neatly folded in baggies weighed down by pebbles, rice, corn kernels, and/or beans.[35][38]
These flyers initially appeared in Austin, Texas and Beverly Hills, California during November 2021.[35]
During one weekend in January 2022, flyers appeared in California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Texas, and Wisconsin.[36] Flyers were also distributed in Berkeley, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Marin County, California during February; Atlanta, Cartersville, and Savannah, Georgia in April;[36] Los Angeles in June;[37] and Ann Arbor overnight beforeRosh Hashanah on September 25–26, 2022.[38] The ADL said the GDL has continued propaganda drives across 17 states in 2022.[38]
Minadeo and GDL moved to Florida in December 2022.[39] On January 21, 2023, Nicholas A. Bysheim was arrested in Atlantis, Florida for obstructing law enforcement after being ticketed for littering antisemitic hate speech flyers onto residents' lawns.[40] GDL littering incidents also occurred in West Palm Beach and Boca Raton.[40] On January 28, 2023, Jon E. Minadeo II, David Y. Kim, Jonathan K. Baldwin and Nicholas A. Bysheim were cited for litteringPalm Beach private residences with their flyers.[40]
In February 2023, flyers were distributed in neighborhoods of Daytona Beach, Florida and at theDaytona 500. Mike Chitwood, the sheriff ofVolusia County, Florida, was the target of harassment by the organization due to his stance onhate speech.[41][42] OnMarch 6, 2023, in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, a 38-year-old male was arrested after allegedly threatening to kill Chitwood on4chan.[43]
In June 2023, flyers linked to GDL were distributed via mailboxes in the vicinity of a synagogue inPlainview, New York.[44] These flyers blame Jewish lawmakers for gun control.[44][45]
In August 2023, GDL flyers were distributed in neighborhoods acrossFairfax County, Virginia.[46] The juvenile perpetrator was arrested and charged with petit larceny for allegedly shoplifting from the Target store where police located him.[citation needed]
A Goyim Defense League member, Robert Wilson, was arrested in Poland and extradited to the Netherlands for allegedly using a projector to display an antisemitic message on the side of theAnne Frank House.[47] GDL members have also used laser projectors to perform similar stunts in the United States.[48] From October 2022 to January 2023, members of the group performed dozens of projections in Florida, including a highly visible incident at theFlorida-Georgia football game inJacksonville, led by Minadeo.[49]
On September 2, 2023, members of the group joined members of theneo-NaziBlood Tribe for a public demonstration inAltamonte Springs, Florida, nearOrlando. A few dozen demonstrators participated in what they called the "March of theRed Shirts," waving swastika flags, performing Nazi salutes and shouting "Heil Hitler."[50][51]
During the 2023 attack on Israeli civilians by the Palestinian militant groupHamas, Minadeo publicly cheered the assault on his livestream, saying “Come on guys, it’s time to dance! Get those Jews!” and “Let’s go Lebanon, Iran! Wipe Israel off the map! Let’s go! This is awesome.” He also announced that the GDL would begin distributing anti-Israel flyers in response, and that he hoped American antisemites would soon lead a similar violent campaign against American Jews.[52]
In July 2024, GDL,Patriot Front, and other white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations handed out flyers, asked passersby if they were Jewish, and disrupted a City Council meeting inNashville, Tennessee. In response, theJewish Federation of Greater Nashville organized a peace rally, drawing about 400 participants.[53] One GDL affiliate, Ryan Scott McCann ofOntario, Canada, was arrested in Nashville for allegedly assaulting a local bartender with a flagpole.[54] He is charged with felony aggravated assault.[55]
...Goyim Defense League (GDL) leaderJon Minadeo effused as he played clip after clip ofviolent kidnappings, assaults and murders perpetrated by Hamas terrorists in Israel...Minadeo laughed, danced, snacked and cheered, "Wow, this is awesome. This is awesome man! I'm so stoked!" and "Come on guys, it's time to dance!Get those Jews!" As a video showed terrorists stomping the face of a dead Israeli Defense Force soldier, Minadeo responded, "Oh nice. Oh wow. Yeah, this is what you get, youterroristic Jewpiece of s**t." Minadeo also yelled, "Let's go Lebanon, Iran!Wipe Israel off the map! Let's go! This is awesome."
As the ADL reports, the leader of the neo-NaziGoyim Defense League, Jon Minadeo, was ecstatic about Hamas's rampage in his online broadcast. The leader of the neo-Nazi groupBlood Tribe similarly wrote on Telegram, "Thoroughly enjoying the show in Israel over the past day."Natsoc Florida, another neo-Nazi group, posted a photo of a printed t-shirt that says "F**k Israel." The text accompanying the photo reads, "I've been cranking these out all day. The Israeli people deserve zero sympathy. F**k Israel. They deserve everything that is happening to them right now. I sincerely hope that Hezbollah and the Taliban are able to make it to the fight."
As the violence in Israel and Palestine continues, the rates of antisemitism will likely remain high.Antisemitic hate groups will likely continue to attend anti-Israel demonstrations andincorporate anti-Zionist rhetoric into their broader propaganda and recruitment efforts...The number ofNation of Islam chapters will also likely remain consistent, while the organization's lawsuit against theAnti-Defamation League may embolden increased antisemitic rhetoric and activity in the coming year.
The flyers, distributed Saturday evening in the area around Young Israel of Plainview, blame Jewish lawmakers for gun control...
