All posts tagged "antisemitism"

Trump is going to need a cellmate. I've got just the man

Israel has become a global pariah — “increasingly isolated,” the New York Times recently reported. Polls in the U.S. and around the world reveal growing opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza, particularly since Israel has no obvious plan to end its war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has himself, and his right-wing government partners, to blame. He doesn't give a damn about Palestinian lives or the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. He primarily cares about expanding his power and staying out of prison on corruption charges. He thinks that extending the war in Gaza will help him do that. Sound familiar?

I'm proud to be Jewish. I'm proud of the fact that Jews have disproportionately been involved in all the major American progressive movements since the 1800s. I believe in the core Jewish value of tikkun olam — repairing the world and ending human suffering.

I support Israel's right to exist. I've been to Israel three times — the first time in 1965 and most recently in 2015. I have family members there. But I am 100% opposed to Netanyahu's government, its war crimes in Gaza, its support for Jewish settlements on the West Bank, its racism, its attacks on the country’s progressive organizations (which I wrote about in 2016), and its efforts to undermine what’s left of Israeli democracy.

I support Palestinians' right to a sovereign homeland, but not one run by Hamas, a theocratic, fascist, anti-woman, anti-gay terrorist organization.

I'm pleased that most American Jews, and a small but growing number of American Jewish organizations — including, most recently, the Union of Reform Judaism, the largest and most liberal of all Jewish religious movements — oppose Israel's atrocities in Gaza, including thwarting food, water, medical, and other aid from reaching those who need it. (Yes, Hamas stole some of the aid that was sent there, but not much of it. That's Netanyahu's lame excuse for blocking all humanitarian aid. That's an outrage).

I believe, along with a majority of Democrats in the Senate, that the U.S. should end military aid to Israel until there is a ceasefire and ultimately a peace agreement.

I know there's been an upsurge of antisemitism and hate crimes against Jews in the United States. And yes, some of those incidents have occurred on a handful of college campuses. But the overall number is quite small — not close to the level that the Anti-Defamation League wants you to believe, which they falsely quantify by equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism.

A few anti-Israel protesters use rhetoric that can be described antisemitic and that understandably makes some Jews feel uncomfortable. But college campuses are not hotbeds of Jew hatred. That's a big lie that Trump and the ADL and groups like Mothers Against College Anti-Semitism use for their own overlapping purposes.

In fact, most people protesting Israel's actions are not antisemites. They just want the killing and suffering in Gaza to end. I've protested Israel's atrocities and I'm not an antisemite.

If colleges want to address antisemitism, limiting protest and free speech (and caving in to Trump's demands over curriculum, admissions, and DEI programs) is not the way to do it. Instead, colleges should do more to educate students, faculty and staff about the history and current reality of antisemitism — and how it is similar to and different from other kinds of bigotry, including racism, sexism, nativism, Islamophobia, and homophobia.

More courses, more speakers, more dialogue, and more opportunities for Jewish, Muslim, and Christian students to work together on regular academic, extracurricular, community-oriented, and social justice projects to build and foster connections and trust.

The biggest threat to American Jews are not on college campus. They are the right-wing hate groups who Trump has encouraged, emboldened, and pardoned.

These are the "Jews will not replace us" Nazis who marched in Charlottesville.
These are the insurrectionists who wore "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirts on January 6, as they invaded the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. to try to overturn the 2020 election.
These are the Trump supporters who shoot Jews in synagogues (in Pittsburgh and elsewhere), at public parades (like the one in Highland Park, Illinois), and at the Jewish museum in D.C.
These are the conspiracy theorists who spout antisemitic stereotypes about an alleged international Jewish cabal run by George Soros and others.

It is no accident that the upsurge of right-wing antisemitism began soon after Trump announced his first campaign for president in 2015. That Trump is himself a long time anti-semite is well-documented. He traffics in antisemitic stereotypes and he cultivates and encourages hate groups, including neo-Nazi groups. He has long admired Hitler.

Trump mainly cares about appealing to his base. Only 26% of Jews voted for Trump last year and few Jews support his policies or actions. A huge part of his base, however, are white evangelical Christians. About 80% of them voted for Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024, accounting for almost half of his total vote.

The extreme wing of the evangelical movement are the Christian nationalists (like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and several other high-level Trump appointees), who now account for almost 30% of all Americans.

They advocate authoritarianism. They are white supremacists and anti-semites. They believe that the United States is and should be a Christian nation, governed by Biblical doctrine and not by the Constitution. In that scenario, Jews are, at best, second-class citizens.

Trump doesn't give a damn about protecting Jews from antisemitism. His attacks, and those of the Republicans in Congress (led by Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York), on universities for allegedly fostering antisemitism are really about intimidating a major bastion of liberalism and free speech. Trump is on a crusade against institutions he considers his enemies — unions, artists and performers (and institutions like the Kennedy Center), the courts, the media, and universities and colleges. He wants to intimidate and silence them. He is weaponizing antisemitism to gain more power and stifle his opponents.

And so is Netanyahu. But it is backfiring on both of them.

Israel has become a global pariah. And Trump is a laughing stock among world leaders for his authoritarian policies, his ignorance, his megalomania, and his pathological lies.

Trump’s declining support in the U.S. is likely to help the Democrats win a major of House seats next year, which would allow them to neutralize many of Trump’s policies, hold investigations and hearings to expose his corruption, and even put pressure on Israel by limiting or ending U.S. arms sales.

In my fantasy world of the not-too-distance future, Trump and Netanyahu share a prison cell. That would be equal justice under the law.

Peter Dreier is the E.P. Clapp distinguished professor of politics at Occidental College. He is the author of "The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame" (2012), an editor (with Kate Aronoff and Michael Kazin) of "We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism, American Style", and co-author of "Baseball Rebels: The Players, People and Social Movements That Shook Up the Game and Changed America" (2022).

Donald Trump concedes 'automatic loss' in Harvard case before judge even rules

President Donald Trump conceded an "automatic loss" in the Harvard federal funding case before Judge Allison D. Burroughs even ruled on Monday.

Trump posted to social media, "The Harvard case was just tried in Massachusetts before an Obama appointed Judge. She is a TOTAL DISASTER, which I say even before hearing her Ruling. She has systematically taken over the various Harvard cases, and is an automatic 'loss' for the People of our Country!"

Harvard sued the Trump administration for withholding $2.6 billion in federal funds as punishment for allegedly allowing antisemitism to run rampant on campus.

NBC News reported Monday afternoon that the judge did, in fact, appear to "lean in favor of Harvard University" during oral arguments.

Trump's post continued, "Harvard has $52 Billion Dollars sitting in the Bank, and yet they are anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-America. Much of this money comes from the U.S.A., all to the detriment of other Schools, Colleges, and Institutions, and we are not going to allow this unfair situation to happen any longer.

"How did this Trump-hating Judge get these cases? When she rules against us, we will IMMEDIATELY appeal, and WIN. Also, the Government will stop the practice of giving many Billions of Dollars to Harvard, much of which had been given without explanation. It is a longtime commitment to Fairness in Funding Education, and the Trump Administration will not stop until there is VICTORY. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

‘Imaginations go wild’: MAGA Epstein fury fuels antisemitic rants

The MAGA base may be tearing itself apart over the Trump administration’s attempt to close the book on the Jeffrey Epstein case, but some of the president’s conspiracy-minded supporters are still pouring gasoline on an ugly antisemitic trope long associated with the deceased financier and sex offender.

Following Epstein’s death in a Manhattan jail in 2019, Trump and his allies fed supporters’ beliefs that the case would unlock secrets about a cabal of global elites who would finally be brought to justice. The power of the saga over the collective imagination is that there are unanswered questions about how Epstein made his money and who else might be implicated in his crimes.

“It’s provided a launchpad for people’s imaginations to go wild,” Jared Holt, an extremism researcher and co-host of the Posting Through It podcast, told Raw Story.

“I think a lot of the antisemitic stuff is based on pure speculation. Someone came up with this idea, and people have taken it to the extreme.”

The undercurrent of antisemitism in the case rests on the unfounded assertion that Epstein was connected to Israeli intelligence and running a blackmail operation against world leaders.

Those who make the claim cite the facts that Epstein met with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak dozens of times, and Robert Maxwell, the late media baron father of jailed Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, forged close ties with Israeli leaders.

“I think for a lot of people who are mad at Trump for abandoning the Epstein case, it plays into a larger conspiracy theory about Jews running the world,” Will Sommer, a reporter at The Bulwark, told Raw Story.

The evidence that Epstein was involved with intelligence in Israel or anywhere else is circumstantial at best.

Naftali Bennett, another former Israeli prime minister, refuted the claim on X on Monday, writing: “The accusation that Jeffrey Epstein somehow worked for Israel or the Mossad running a blackmail ring is categorically and totally false.”

Of course, for those who are inclined to believe antisemitic conspiracy theories, the word of a former Israeli prime minister is unlikely to move the needle.

Joe Biggs, a Proud Boys leader whose seditious conspiracy sentence for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was commuted by President Donald Trump, mocked Bennett, posting: “Hey everybody! This guy says they didn’t have anything to do with it. Guess we can just stop talking about it now and relax. It wasn’t the joos [sic] this time ok!!”

Holt told Raw Story the “subsection of the Trump base” that is hostile towards Israel “is a lot larger than people give credit for.”

The Epstein controversy dominated last weekend’s Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, where speakers included administration officials and Trump allies.

Tucker Carlson, the influential former Fox News host who helped mainstream the white supremacist Great Replacement theory and campaigned for Trump last year, was among those who took direct aim at Israel.

“It’s extremely obvious to anyone who watches that this guy had direct access to a foreign government,” Carlson said.

“Now, no one’s allowed to say that that foreign government’s Israel, because we have been somehow cowed into thinking that that’s naughty,” he added, to cheers from the MAGA crowd.

On social media, Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier who attended the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, and who dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2022, hailed the response to Carlson’s message as “directionally positive,” while asserting that Carlson was not a full ally.

“They are feeding something that they don’t yet understand,” Fuentes wrote on Telegram, a social media platform that serves as a haven for Nazis and other extremists.

“And it’s short sighted, which is why many are urging people like Tucker to pump the brakes. It’s like when those crime bosses hired the Joker to kill Batman.

“So, we can strategically accept that Tucker’s advocacy is good for us, but he isn’t us,” Fuentes added. “We have to take and take and keep coming back for more. Always audacity.”

'Palpable hostility'

The uproar among Trump’s supporters over Epstein comes at a particularly fragile time for American Jews, following the shooting deaths of two Israeli embassy workers outside a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C. in May, and the lethal firebombing attack on peaceful Jewish marchers calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Colorado in June.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has deployed an “antisemitism task force” against universities while moving to deport foreign students for speaking out against Israel and in support of Palestinian autonomy.

“There’s a palpable hostility towards Israel as the war against Hamas has dragged on and as civilian casualties continue to mount,” Holt said.

“It is the perfect window for influencers who hold not just criticism against Israel but genuinely antisemitic views such as questioning the loyalty of dual citizens and equating the state of Israel with the Jewish people — it’s an opportunity for them to drop in and wedge their own views into the discussion.”

On July 11, Stew Peters, an openly antisemitic podcaster, made an argument that echoed a white power talking point dating back to the 1980s: asserting that the U.S. government is controlled by an external Jewish foe.

“Whether you want to admit it or not, if you’re being bare-naked honest, you know why this is being covered up, and it’s because the pedophiles that are on the Epstein client list and the Epstein tapes and on the Epstein flight logs are active members of this fake occupied government, including active members of this White House,” Peters said.

White supremacists often talk of the “Zionist Occupied Government,” or “ZOG,” a body through which Jewish elites supposedly control U.S. life and use puppets to destroy the white race.

Peters also called members of the Trump administration “liars” while deploying an anti-Hindu slur against FBI Director Kash Patel, who appeared as on Peters’ podcast eight times to assail former President Joe Biden but has now found himself on difficult ground, seeking to quash Epstein conspiracy theories he previously eagerly promoted.

Holt said it was reasonable to ask questions about Epstein’s finances and associations. But he said that anyone who went to court and promised to prove that Epstein was linked to Israeli intelligence would likely find themselves sanctioned.

“Sure, there’s enough there to wonder, but that’s all we can do,” Holt said.

“These people making these bold assertions and digging their heels in, I think they’re in a different category because they’ve assumed the evidence and are using it to agitate in a completely different direction.”

'No idea who he is': Groups cited by Trump admin deny backing dubious nominee

Prominent Jewish groups are denying the Trump administration's claims they support an inexperienced government lawyer with "ties to a Holocaust denier" to lead the Office of Special Counsel, according to CNN.

The administration's pick to head the government's "top watchdog group," 30-year-old Paul Ingrassia, has just six months of government experience, and a "history of racist invective and conspiratorial rants." Ingrassia has also made claims "that straight White men were the most intelligent demographic group," the report said.

"His nomination has drawn scrutiny over his past promotion of conspiracy theories and tweets from his podcast that included calls for martial law following Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss and harsh anti-Israel rhetoric aimed at the GOP," wrote Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck with CNN's Kfile.

"Ingrassia has also been scrutinized for his ties to Nick Fuentes, a noted White nationalist and Holocaust denier, as well as his defense of Fuentes’ ability to post on social media."

When CNN asked the administration to defend their nominee, "an unnamed senior administration official" said in a statement:

"[Ingrassia] has the support of many Jewish groups and has been a steadfast advocate for Jewish causes and personnel during his time working for the Trump administration."

When asked to name the groups, "the administration initially named just two: the Zionist Organization of America, and a group they called 'The Holocaust Council' — of which no group by that name could be found."

A spokesperson for Morton Klein, "the president of the first group listed," told CNN "that he had never heard of Ingrassia and had not endorsed his nomination."

The administration added the Israel Heritage Foundation to its list of endorsements, but executive director Rabbi David Katz told CNN that wasn't true.

“It doesn’t make sense, I have no idea who he is," Katz told CNN.

Read the CNN article here.

Navy reunion hit by fury over antisemite who wanted Trump dead

The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) has banned Matt Wakulik, a podcaster and self-proclaimed militia leader with a history of violent and often antisemitic statements, from a memorial service commemorating the attack on the USS Liberty this weekend — though survivors appear to be quietly moving forward with plans to feature him as a guest speaker.

Earlier this week, Raw Story reported that Wakulik cited antisemitic conspiracy theories in calling for the execution of President Donald Trump and the torture of FBI director Kash Patel.

The Liberty, a U.S. Navy ship, became the subject of such theories when it was attacked in error by Israeli forces in June 1967, resulting in the death of 34 U.S. service members and the wounding of 173.

The Liberty Veterans Association 58th Anniversary Reunion is scheduled to begin on Friday in Norfolk, Va.

The event has attracted controversy already.

Stew Peters, a popular far-right podcaster, announced he no longer plans to attend after the hotel and VFW post hosting events indicated he was banned.

Peters regularly floats antisemitic conspiracy theories, and has called for a “final solution,” a euphemism for the mass murder of Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II.

Wakulik, a Pittsburgh-area resident, has advocated for a revolution against Jews, describing them in one X post as America’s “greatest enemy.” He has also called for “1776 style action” against “ZOG,” a white supremacist acronym for “Zionist Occupied Government.”

As reported by Raw Story, Wakulik views the Trump administration as beholden to Israel.

“Donald Trump, along with every other president since John F. Kennedy, is a traitor to their country,” Wakulik wrote on X last month, angered by Trump’s failure to declassify files on the Liberty.

“This is just another example of why 95% of all federal government employees should be tried for treason and given the maximum penalty.”

Wakulik also advocated for torturing Patel over his failure to declare Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and sex offender, an agent of Israeli intelligence.

Wakulik has made threatening remarks about other Trump aides. After the 2024 election, he suggested grading Trump appointees “on a scale of how many bullets I put in their heads” — and awarded “five bullets” to Susie Wiles, the White House Chief of Staff.

Wakulik had said he expected to speak at the USS Liberty reunion, on Saturday, alongside Peters at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel.

Though the local VFW post said in no uncertain terms Wakulik would not be welcome, the hotel and the host organization did not answer questions from Raw Story.

The Liberty Veterans Association has previously attempted to tamp down controversy surrounding its guest speakers. Referencing Peters, Executive Director Moe Shafer told local media last month: “If he has any agenda for antisemitism or Jew hating, that will not be allowed, and we have told him this.”

But in an email to Raw Story this week, Shafer declined to say whether or not Wakulik was still set to speak.

“Our reunion is a private event with crew members, family, supporters, and we have done this for years now,” he said. “We do not publish our guest list or speaker list to the public.”

Pressed on Wakulik’s history of antisemitic comments, Shafer said: “What is your agenda with all these questions?”

‘No place in the VFW’

The weekend-long USS Liberty event includes a reception at the Sheraton on Friday and meetings on Saturday. On Sunday, a memorial service will be held at VFW Post 4809, in Norfolk.

VFW Post 4809 has banned Wakulik and Peters from its premises, Post Commander Eric Mallett told Raw Story.

VFW Post 4809 and the Virginia VFW “support the victims and survivors of the attack on the USS Liberty, and all veterans, but white supremacy and antisemitism have no place in the VFW,” Mallett said in a written statement.

“To make this very clear, if Mr. Peters, Matt Wakulik or any other hate group member shows up on VFW property, they will be trespassing.”

In a phone interview, Mallett said he had a list of about eight other individuals banned from the memorial.

Mallett said participants would lay flowers at a monument to the victims of the Liberty attack, and some may make brief remarks. No speakers are scheduled for a luncheon following the service, he said, adding that post commanders will monitor any remarks made.

“If somebody decides to use that platform for any kind of hate or antisemitism, it’s not going to be tolerated at all,” Mallett said. “If they start that hate group stuff, we’re shutting it down.”

False and harmful claims

The Liberty, a spy ship, was attacked in the eastern Mediterranean on June 8, 1967, during the Six Day War.

The Israeli government quickly apologized, insisting the incident was a tragic mistake. U.S. investigations supported that conclusion.

Survivors have questioned the official narrative. Last month, Phil Tourney, the president of the Liberty Veterans Association board of directors, who has appeared on Wakulik’s podcast, claimed during a talk in Alabama the attack was part of a plot by Israel and the U.S. “to get us into World War III.”

Last week, Peters said: “The USS Liberty is a really easy way, a really soft and mild way to introduce people to the Jewish question and the Jewish problem.”

After Peters was banned from the Sheraton and VFW post, Lucas Gage, a neo-Nazi podcaster, announced that he would not attend the event.

The decision by the Liberty Veterans Association to ban Peters resulted in “a lot of drama,” name-calling and “hatred towards everybody,” Wakulik said on his podcast, adding that “there was a lot of bad blood” between Gage and the Liberty Veterans Association.

Wakulik said it was “sad” that Peters canceled his trip to Norfolk, adding that “he could have at least come and done some sort of propaganda piece outside and had his crew with him” to document the spectacle.

Peters said he decided not to come to Norfolk because of the cost of paying for armed security, while claiming that unspecified “people want to kill me,” using “their foot soldiers like these antifa people and these Blacks and these f-----s during Pride month that are all pumped full of Jewish propaganda.”

Since his last podcast, on May 31, Wakulik has been uncharacteristically quiet, making no mention on his X account of his plans for this weekend. He could not be reached for comment.

Contacted by Raw Story, a front office staff member at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel said Wakulik would not be staying at the hotel over the weekend. But the employee could not “confirm or deny” that Wakulik would speak at the USS Liberty event there.

Peters said on his podcast that some hotel employees, including kitchen staff, “were refusing to work because I was coming to town.”

Raw Story could not confirm that claim.

FBI silent as far-right podcaster demands Trump execution and Kash Patel torture

A far-right Pennsylvania activist and podcaster has suggested Donald Trump should be executed and FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino tortured, in both cases for failing to provide evidence in support of antisemitic conspiracy theories.

“Donald Trump, along with every other president since John F. Kennedy, is a traitor to their country,” Matthew Wakulik wrote on X last month. “This is just another example of why 95% of all federal government employees should be tried for treason and given the maximum penalty.”

Wakulik was angered by Trump’s failure to declassify government files on the Israeli military’s 1967 attack on a U.S. Navy ship, the USS Liberty, which was determined to have been a mistake.

In May, on The Berm Pit Podcast, which he co-hosts with Scott Siverts, a former U.S. Marine, Wakulik responded to a Fox Business interview in which Patel and Bongino discussed the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex trafficker who died by suicide in August 2019, in a New York jail.

Angered because Patel and Bongino failed to say Epstein was an agent of the Israeli intelligence services, Wakulik advocated “torture to get information, to extract information … whether it’s waterboarding or sleep deprivation.”

Wakulik has also advocated shooting Susie Wiles, Trump’s White House chief of staff.

The FBI and the Department of Justice declined to comment.

‘Show of force’

Since Trump entered politics in 2015, conspiracy theories wielded against political enemies have been a defining trait of his movement.

Wakulik, a Pittsburgh-area resident who regularly disgorges violent antisemitic rhetoric, recalled in the most recent episode of his podcast that in 2020, during Trump’s first term, he attended a rally in Richmond, Va. while armed with an AR-15 rifle that was meant as a “show of force,” to dissuade the then-Democratic controlled state legislature from passing gun control measures.

Days before the protest, Trump tweeted: “Your 2nd Amendment is under very serious attack in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia. That’s what happens when you vote for Democrats, they take your guns away.”

Wakulik recalled in a video posted to X on May 29 that he and his “militia” showed up at the rally “armed, full body armor, AR-15s and everything” at the rally. He attributed the legislators’ ultimate decision to vote down the gun-control measures to an “armed show of force.”

“There is nothing that works — and the government knows this — other than the threat of violence or violence itself,” Wakulik said.

While steeped in conspiracy theories familiar to the MAGA base, Wakulik appears to have become increasingly disdainful towards Trump.

Much of his ire appears to center on the Epstein case, which Trump aides have used to feed supporters’ appetite for conspiracy theories. For mainstream Trump followers, the case taps into suspicions about an ill-defined global elite, usually linked to Democrats. For hardliners inclined towards white nationalism and antisemitism, links to Israel or a mythical Jewish cabal are also common.

Before he became the FBI director, Patel promoted the idea that the U.S. government was engaged in a cover-up to protect powerful allies.

In December 2023, Patel told conservative media figure Glenn Beck that Epstein’s “black book” of contacts was “under the control of the director of the FBI.”

“And that’s the thing I think President Trump should run on,” Patel said. “On day one, roll out the black book.”

The same day, Patel told conservative influencer Benny Johnson the FBI was protecting Epstein “because of who’s on that list,” adding: “You don’t think [Microsoft founder] Bill Gates is lobbying Congress night and day to prevent the disclosure of that list?”

Patel added: “Put on your big-boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are. We have an election coming up, and we need to adjudicate this matter at the polls.”

After Trump’s victory, Patel was nominated as FBI director but did not stop pushing Epstein conspiracy theories. Speaking to Johnson in November 2024, Patel predicted Trump would “come in here and maybe give [the American people] the Epstein list.”

The political establishment was “terrified” at the prospect, Patel claimed.

In February, with Trump in power, Attorney General Pam Bondi attempted to placate supporters’ hunger for revelations by inviting conservative influencers to the Department of Justice to receive binders of Epstein case files. However, the stunt was widely ridiculed by Trump supporters who noted that it brought little new information to light.

This month, in a joint interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Patel and Bongino appeared to close the book on the Epstein case. As a lawyer with prosecutorial and defense experience who had visited detention facilities, Patel said, “you know a suicide when you see one, and that’s what that was.”

Bongino said: “He killed himself. I’ve seen the whole file. He killed himself.”

The next day, Wakulik and Siverts took stock.

Siverts said: “As a government, why can’t we just say, ‘Hey look, this guy, he was Mossad, and what he was doing here was this.’ Will we ever hear that from a government official here?”

Wakulik responded that the solution was for people to “demand by whatever means necessary that the truth comes out.”

“People are mad, but they don’t do anything about it,” he complained. “How would one pressure anyone into getting the truth out of them?”

“Through physical force,” Siverts said.

“Yes,” Wakulik said. “This is why they call [it] torture, right? Torture to get information, to extract information. This is why you apply physical violence or any type of, like, uncomfortability when it comes to torture techniques, whether it’s waterboarding or sleep deprivation.”

Raw Story reached out to the FBI National Press Operations unit in Washington, D.C. to request a comment from Patel. The FBI declined to comment on Patel’s behalf.

In fact, Wakulik soured on the Trump administration long before Patel and Bongino talked to Bartiromo.

Following the 2024 election, Wakulik suggested grading Trump’s appointees “on a scale of how many bullets I put in their heads,” according to video archived by a pseudonymous researcher tracking his statements and provided to Raw Story. Asked by his co-host to rate Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, Wakulik responded: “Five bullets.”

In posts to X, Wakulik has equated supposed Israeli influence over the U.S. government with British colonial rule in North America, while calling for “1776 style action” against “ZOG,” a white supremacist acronym that stands for “Zionist Occupied Government.”

Matt Wakulik (left) attended an armed pro-Second Amendment rally at the Virginia legislature in Richmond in January 2020.Anthony Crider

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has made antisemitism its central rationale for deporting international students who support Palestine and defunding universities deemed improperly liberal. Such efforts include a Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, which the administration pledges will “eradicate antisemitic harassment in schools and on college campuses.”

The Department of Justice did not respond to an inquiry from Raw Story about whether Wakulik’s statements deserved attention from the task force.

‘Go kinetic’

Wakulik has suggested he might be willing to act on his violent beliefs.

In a May 2 X post, Walkulik suggested “the militia” should go to Rochester, Minn. to hold a rally in support of a white woman widely condemned for calling a child the N-word in a public park. When another X user suggested the time wasn’t ripe for such a display, Wakulik replied: “I admit I am in a different position than most: I have no children and I really don’t have much to lose. In that aspect I’m more eager to go kinetic.”

In late April, the researcher tracking Wakulik’s statements submitted a report to police where Wakulik lives, in Washington County, southwest of Pittsburgh.

“We were previously unaware that Mr. Wakulik resided within our jurisdiction, and the information you have shared will be valuable in allowing us to maintain a vigilant watch,” Sgt. Gary Scherer of the North Strabane Township Police Department wrote in an email reviewed by Raw Story.

“As part of this, we will conduct a threat assessment, consult with our local FBI office, and likely speak to Mr. Wakulik.”

The following day, Wakulik posted a video reporting that his landlord told his wife a police officer visited their house to confirm that he lived there and that the officer “said it was for another agency.”

Wakulik said, “We are being surveilled currently, probably followed by either the FBI or [the Department of Homeland Security] or both.”

A spokesperson for the FBI’s Pittsburgh office told Raw Story the agency was unable to provide additional information.

Sgt. Scherer’s email said it appeared that Wakulik’s statements fell under First Amendment protections, but he would consult with the district attorney’s office to obtain a legal opinion. The Office of the Washington County District Attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Wakulik could not be reached for comment.

In recent weeks, Wakulik and Siverts have discussed their plans to attend a reunion of USS Liberty veterans, scheduled to take place in Norfolk, Va. this weekend. Siverts said Wakulik was scheduled to speak at the event, and that both men had been issued press passes.

Moe Shafer, executive director of the Liberty Veterans Association, told a local news outlet that “any agenda for antisemitism or Jew hating… will not be allowed.”

Emails to the Liberty Veterans Association from Raw Story seeking clarification on Wakulik’s participation went unreturned.

Stew Peters, a podcaster with a history of antisemitic statements, has also said he plans to speak at the event. But last week an event organizer told WTKR News 3 that Marriott Bonvoy, the owner of the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel, where the event will take place, banned Peters from the premises.

Siverts expressed concern on the podcast last week that he and Wakulik's statements might put them in legal jeopardy, especially in light of the fatal attack on two Israeli embassy aides in Washington, D.C. on May 21. Siverts said he worried that “the FBI can come back from an incident that’s a violent incident where somebody was harmed or somebody was killed, and they go, ‘Well, he watched this podcast, and we need to hold this podcast accountable, too.”

Wakulik was unrepentant.

“They come and try to get me, I’m going to defend myself from violent criminals trying to commit an act of violence — a violent crime against me,” Wakulik said.

“But they’re police, Matt,” Siverts replied.

“If they break the law and use violent force to break the law against me, I’m going to defend myself from violent criminals,” Wakulik insisted.

Florida teens tied to ‘2119’ neo-Nazi gang to plead guilty for antisemitic attacks

Three teenagers associated with the neo-Nazi gang 2119 have agreed to plead guilty to felony hate crime charges related to an antisemitic vandalism spree last summer that included attacks on two synagogues and a mosque in Pensacola, Fla.

Lawyers for the three defendants appeared in court this morning and indicated their clients would plead guilty to the charges, Assistant State Attorney Andrew McGraw told Raw Story.

“The offer that is in front of them is to go to trial, or plead guilty and go to sentencing,” McGraw said.

The Pensacola News Journal reported that lawyers for the three teenagers told Judge John Jay Gontarek that their clients are ready to plead guilty.

The lawyers could not be reached by Raw Story for comment prior to publication, but a hearing worksheet for one of the defendants — filed in court today — indicates that a judicial assistant will coordinate and submit a date for the guilty plea to be taken.

Waylon Fowler, 17, the reputed local ringleader of the group, is charged with 10 felonies, while Kessler Ferry, 19, and Nicholas Ferry, 17, are each respectively charged with two and five felonies.

Of the three, McGraw said, Waylon Fowler faces the longest sentence.

Wyatt Fowler, Waylon’s younger brother, was also charged, but his case was adjudicated through juvenile court.

Breeding hate

The vandalism spree allegedly carried out by the four teenagers last summer was at the center of a nationwide online radicalization and harassment campaign exposed in an investigative series published by Raw Story in February.

Led by Waylon Fowler, the Pensacola members of 2119 — also known as Blood and Soil Crew — participated in an online effort to instill hate in white boys and instigate them to carry out acts of vandalism, extremist propaganda and harassment against Jews, LGBTQ+ people, African Americans and other marginalized groups. Attacks carried out in the group’s name in New Hampshire and North Carolina remain unsolved.

According to court documents, Waylon Fowler hurled a brick through a window at Chabad Jewish Center in Pensacola as two rabbis were sitting down to eat dinner. The brick, which was inscribed in Sharpie with a swastika and the words “No Jews,” came to be embraced as a totem of power by 2119 members and their supporters in Nazi social media chats.

In addition to two synagogues, the teenagers are accused of vandalizing a mosque and a Masonic lodge in late July and early August of 2023. Spray-painted swastikas also appeared on a socialist community center in Pensacola during the same time period, although no one was charged in the incident.

Fowler was hailed as a martyr in the chats, where his image was accompanied by the hashtag #FreeWaylon, while other members gleefully described themselves as “brickstas.”

When Waylon Fowler was released on bond last September, one 2119 member celebrated the fact that the FBI didn’t bring federal charges against him.

The tactic of using bricks to carry out antisemitic attacks became a topic of debate about the degree of risk Nazi hooligans should assume in committing criminal acts.

Aiden Cuevas, posting under the screen name "Bozak bzk" valorizes an antisemitic attack by fellow 2119 member Waylon Fowler in an October 2023 Telegram message. Source: Telegram

“Sounds like you fear the brick,” a 2119 member named Aiden Cuevas chided David Fair, leader of the allied Southern Sons Active Club, in one of the chats.

“I’m angry at the brick bc it got good boys put behind bars,” Fair replied.

“It rooted out the weak,” Cuevas shot back. “The others are out and will get thru it ez.”

In Fowler’s case, a brick he allegedly used to sow hate was ultimately used against him and his 2119 associates: The brick bore the initials “R.W.B.” — short for “Revolutionary White Brotherhood,” which was the previous name used by 2119.

Arrested: ‘2119’ neo-Nazi gang collaborator

Police arrested Frankie Rizzello, an associate of the neo-Nazi "2119 Blood and Soil Crew," which was the subject of a recent Raw Story investigation, and charged him with two felony counts related to antisemitic vandalism.

Rizzello, a 20-year-old resident of Chesterfield, Mo., was arrested on Sunday for “property damage motivated by discrimination.” He made his first appearance in St. Louis County Circuit Court on Monday, according to Missouri court records.

As previously reported by KSDK 5 On Your Side and the Anti-Defamation League, Rizzello is accused of spray-painting the name of his Nazi crew on the exterior walls of a church and an Asian restaurant near Washington University in University City, Mo. The criminal complaint alleges that the attacks were motivated by discrimination grounded in the church’s religion and the restaurant owner’s race.

An affidavit supporting charges against Rizzello also alleges that “when police initially attempted to approach the defendant, he armed himself with a rifle and searched the internet for the penalty for killing a police officer.” Authorities also allege that Rizzello “posted electronic message threatening individuals living in his apartment complex based on race, religion and sexual preference.”

Rizzello told an officer investigating the vandalism that his group is part of the “white nationalism movement and stated that he does not like ‘blacks’ or ‘Jews',” according to the criminal complaint.

Rizzello could not be reached for comment by Raw Story, and no attorney is listed in his public case file. A GoFundMe set up in Rizzello’s name seeks to raise money so that he can hire a lawyer.

Rizzello’s bond is set at $250,000, and a bond review hearing is scheduled for March 18. The University City police officer who investigated the alleged crimes provided a sworn statement that his arrest was “necessary to ensure the safety of the community based on the nature of the offenses.”

‘Curb stomped’

According to the criminal complaint, the two incidents took place at some point between Jan. 1, 2023, and Oct. 11, 2023. The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism uncovered Rizzello’s identity as the administrator of the racist “NS Hooligans” Telegram channel in October, according to the anti-hate group.

“NS” stands for “national socialist,” or Nazi.

The ADL turned the information about Rizzello and his channel, which documented and celebrated acts of antisemitic vandalism in the St. Louis area, to law enforcement.

A meme posted in the channel described NS Hooligans’ commitment to extremism by showing a meter with the needle hovering between “shenanigans” and “terrorism.” In this regard, NS Hooligans made common cause with 2119, a national network whose members commit vandalism targeting Jews and other marginalized groups while espousing virulent hate and flirting with terrorism.

Aiden Cuevas, a member of 2119’s national leadership cadre, joined the NS Hooligans Telegram chat in September 2023, according to a review by Raw Story at the time. The review shows at least three additional exchanges between Cuevas and the administrator of the NS Hooligans channel the following month.

Raw Story’s three-part series unmasked 2119 as a teenage neo-Nazi network organized on the network that encouraged members across the United States to commit acts of vandalism targeting Jews, African Americans and LGBTQ+ people, document their crimes and use the footage to create propaganda videos for recruitment purposes.

The NS Hooligans channel frequently invoked threats of violence, including a boast in September 2023 that the administrator “almost killed a lady today” alongside a photo of a woman posting a flier on a lamppost. In other posts, the administrator threatened to carry out a knife attack on African-American homeless people. The administrator also threatened that if he discovered who was posting fliers calling attention to Jews taken hostage during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, “they’re getting f---ing curb stomped.”

In another post, the administrator mocked MAGA Trump supporters, while sharing photos of white supremacist mass shooters as an example of the kind of “extremist” they should be.

One post, shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, declared that it was “official attack a Jew day.”

White House condemns Elon Musk for spreading 'hideous' antisemitic lie

The White House on Friday accused Elon Musk of repeating a "hideous" antisemitic lie on his social media site X this week, calling it an "abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate" that "runs against our core values as Americans."

The White House statement follows decisions by at least two more major corporations to pull their advertising dollars from X after watchdog Media Matters found ads by IBM, Apple and others were placed alongside content promoting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

New Hampshire Democratic headquarters vandalized with antisemitic graffiti: report

The New Hampshire Democratic Party's office in Belknap County was hit with antisemitic vandalism and a swastika sometime this Thursday, NBC News reported.

According to reports, a flyer claiming the Jews were responsible for 9/11 was placed on an outside window along with a swastika. Also found was an image of a Star of David with a knife through it.

"Hate crimes and civil rights violations have no place in New Hampshire," said a spokesperson for Attorney General John Formella. "The attorney general’s office is committed to working with our local, state, and federal partners to identify these acts and their perpetrators and to pursuing action to the fullest extent possible."

In a post to X, Rep. Chris Pappas, (D-NH) wrote, "I’m thinking of all my friends in Laconia tonight. This antisemitic vandalism is part of a surge in hateful attacks on the Jewish community across the country. There is simply no place for bigotry and hate in our society, and we must speak with one voice to condemn it."

As NBC News points out, the incident comes as law enforcement agencies report a significant spike in antisemitic hate crimes around the country.