On September 19, 2019, members of neo-Nazi accelerationist paramilitary group The Base vandalized Beth Israel Sinai Congregation in Racine, Wisconsin, and Temple Jacob in Hancock, Michigan in the US, in a campaign the group dubbed "Operation Kristallnacht". Three members of The Base were arrested and subsequently found guilty.
The Base is a neo-Nazi accelerationist paramilitary group that advocates attacking African-Americans and Jewish people to support the creation of a white ethnostate in the United States. [1]
Between September 15 and September 23, 2019, members of The Base plotted to vandalize synagogues in Racine, Wisconsin, and Hancock, Michigan, as part of a campaign the group called "Operation Kristallnacht" after the Kristallnacht pogrom perpetrated by the Nazis in November 1938. [2] [3] The operation was coordinated and directed by 19-year-old Richard Tobin of Brooklawn, New Jersey. [4]
Operation Kristallnacht was conducted on September 21. That evening, 22-year-old Yousef Omar Barasneh of Oak Creek, Wisconsin spray-painted swastikas, antisemitic words such as Jude, and The Base's symbol on the outside of the Beth Israel Sinai Congregation in Racine. [2] [1] [3] Barasneh also plotted additional acts of vandalism. However, these plans were compromised after one of the group's ringleaders became an FBI informant. [2] [5]
In Hancock, Michigan, 23-year-old Nathan Weeden of Houghton, Michigan, spraypainted swastikas and The Base's symbol on the exterior of Temple Jacob. [6]
On January 17, 2020, Barasneh was arrested by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and charged with conspiring to violate citizens’ rights to use property free from threats and intimidation by the Eastern District of Wisconsin. [1] On August 13, 2020, Barasneh pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights charge for vandalism at Beth Israel Sinai and for his involvement in Operation Kristallnacht. [3] [7]
On February 26, 2021, Tobin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy against rights in federal court. Tobin told FBI agents that he was "triggered by the state of the country". He remained on house arrest until his sentencing. [4] On November 16, 2021, Tobin was sentenced to 1 year and a day in federal prison and 3 years of supervised release for his involvement in Operation Kristallnacht. [8]
On June 30, 2023, Weeden was arrested by the FBI and charged with conspiracy against rights and damage to religious property by the Western District of Michigan. [6] On January 25, 2024, a jury convicted Weeden of two counts, conspiring against rights and damaging religious property, for his role in the vandalism at Temple Jacob and for his involvement in Operational Kristallnacht. [9] On June 5, 2024, Weeden was sentenced to 26 months in prison and 3 months of supervised release for the incident. [10]
Barasneh's arrest came amidst a nationwide campaign of U.S. law enforcement actions against The Base. On January 16, the day before Barasneh's arrest, federal authorities arrested three members of The Base in Delaware and Maryland on firearms and immigration-related offenses. The individuals were planned to attend the 2020 VCDL Lobby Day. [1] [11]
On January 17, three members of The Base were arrested in Georgia for allegedly planning to murder people in Antifa. [2]
The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise National Socialists (WUFENS), a name to denote opposition to state ownership of property, the same year—it was renamed the American Nazi Party in order to attract 'maximum media attention'. Since the late 1960s, a number of small groups have used the name "American Nazi Party" with most being independent of each other and disbanding before the 21st century. The party is based largely upon the ideals and policies of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in Germany during the Nazi era, and embraced its uniforms and iconography.
Volksfront, also known as Volksfront International, was an American white separatist organization founded on October 20, 1994, in Portland, Oregon. According to Volksfront's now defunct website, the group described itself as an "international fraternal organization for persons of European descent." The logo of Volksfront was the Algiz rune, a common rune used as a neo-Nazi symbol common among other organizations such as National Alliance. Volksfront had approximately 50 members in the United States split between four chapters designated as Pac-West, Central States, North East, and Gulf-Atlantic, and an additional 50 members dispersed in other countries including Germany, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Spain. The goal of the movement was to create an all-White homeland in the Pacific Northwest. The flag of Volksfront was based on the Nazi flag in the colors of black, white, and red with the Volksfront logo and the slogan was "Race Over All" implying that race mattered over everything else. In August 2012, the United States branch of Volksfront announced their dissolution via their website. Citing harassment and investigations by the authorities, the group said it was disbanding.
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The John Brown Anti-Klan Committee (JBAKC) was an anti-racist organization based in the United States. The group protested against the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other white supremacist organizations and published anti-racist literature. Members of the JBAKC were involved in a string of bombings of military, government, and corporate targets in the 1980s. The JBAKC viewed themselves as anti-imperialists and considered African Americans, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans to be oppressed colonial peoples.
In the United States, a common definition of terrorism is the systematic or threatened use of violence in order to create a general climate of fear to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political, religious, or ideological change. This article serves as a list and a compilation of acts of terrorism, attempts to commit acts of terrorism, and other such items which pertain to terrorist activities which are engaged in by non-state actors or spies who are acting in the interests of state actors or persons who are acting without the approval of foreign governments within the domestic borders of the United States.
The Nordic Resistance Movement is a pan-Nordic neo-Nazi movement in the Nordic countries and a political party in Sweden. Besides Sweden, it is established in Norway, Denmark and Iceland, and formerly in Finland before it was banned in 2019. Terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp has described the NRM as a terrorist organization due to their aim of abolishing democracy along with their paramilitary activities and weapons caches. In 2022, some members of the United States Congress began calling for the organization to be added to the United States Department of State list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. On 14 June 2024, the United States Department of State designated NRM and its leaders as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).
Temple Jacob, officially the Congregation of Israel, is an historic Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 301 Front Street, in Hancock, in the Upper Peninsula region of Michigan, in the United States.
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Joshua Ryne Goldberg is an American internet troll, convicted of attempting a bombing on the 14th anniversary of the September 11 attacks while posing as an Islamic terrorist affiliated with ISIS.
The Atomwaffen Division, also known as the National Socialist Resistance Front, is an international far-right extremist and neo-Nazi terrorist network. Formed in 2013 and based in the Southern United States, it has since expanded across the United States and it has also expanded into the United Kingdom, Argentina, Canada, Germany, the Baltic states, and other European countries. The group is described as a part of the alt-right by some journalists, but it rejects the label and it is considered extreme even within that movement. Atomwaffen has been described as "one of the most violent neo-Nazi movements in the 21st century". It is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and it is also designated as a terrorist group by multiple governments, including the United Kingdom and Canada.
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The Base is a white supremacist and neo-Nazi accelerationist paramilitary group and training network, formed in 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro. It is active in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Europe, and designated as a terrorist organization in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and the European Union.
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