A shadowy online network that began in the United States to spread anti-Jewish propaganda is behind the radicalisation of Britons who have gone on to commit terrorism and hate crimes, a new report reveals.
The alarm has been raised about the Goyim Defense League (GDL), a collective of right-wing extremists that originated in the US to promote antisemitism online and encourage real-world anti-Jewish activism.
A report by the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism and provides security to the Jewish community, reveals that GDL leaflets have been found at recent UK protests and a number of individuals have engaged in GDL-related activity in the UK.
The CST said the accessibility of GDL forums and propaganda underscored how online social networks, alternative tech platforms and the promotion of extremism intersected and can lead to individuals being drawn into terrorism.
“It also illustrates the transnational nature of right-wing extremism and how, in this case, a specific brand of US-based domestic extremism was imported into the UK,” its report said.
The CST said that the GDL, whose name and logo are mockingly modelled on the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish-American organisation that fights antisemitism, promoted neo-Nazi extremism and antisemitic conspiracy theories. The easy access to its online forums risks radicalising more Britons and others across the world, the CST warned.
