Videos posted on Twitter show members of an antisemitic hate group known as the Goyim Defense League (GDL) hurling slurs and harassing Jewish people at the entrance to the Chabad of South Orlando, Florida.
GDL has been described as "a loose network of individuals connected by their virulent antisemitism" by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
The organization notes that GDL regularly engages in "antisemitic stunts and schemes" and "espouses vitriolic antisemitism and white supremacist themes via the internet, through propaganda distributions and in street actions."
And GDL followed that exact playbook this week when they filmed themselves harassing Jewish people while carrying antisemitic signs and making "Heil Hitler" salutes.
You can watch what happened in the videos below.
At one point, the video showed the group's members approaching a car driven by an Orthodox Jewish man and demanding he "go back to Israel."
A GDL protester holding a megaphone who shouted most of the slurs heard in the video was later identified as GDL founder Jon Minadeo.
Minadeo at one point accused a Jewish man he was harassing of trying to run him over.
At another point, the group's members referred to a woman as "a Jewish horse." They also called them "filthy" and "piece[s] of s**t" who should be "burned in an oven" while declaring the police "work straight for the f**king Jews."
The video outraged many online who were quick to condemn the group and antisemitism nationwide.
@kirkacevedo/Twitter
The video of the GDL's harassment of Jewish citizens comes at a time of heightened concern about antisemitism weaving its way into public life.
Hate crimes against Jewish people have become more frequent, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which noted in its 2021 report "nearly one out of every four Jewish people in the U.S. reported experiencing being a target of antisemitism in the past year."
Earlier this week, the ADL said its analysts "are carefully monitoring online platforms, chat rooms and a whole bunch of other things" in response to a small antisemitic group based in eastern Iowa which attracted the support of other White supremacist groups after designating February 25 as a “day of hate."
