Ideology & Advocacy

The Internet is unquestionably one of the most powerful tools for the dissemination and perpetuation of both good and evil. Clearly, an important part of the battle against Jew-hatred in the digital age is being waged online. However, JDL thinks it is important to define how it perceives the battle for cyberspace decency.

The Jewish Defense League is primarily an organization concerned with accomplishments in the physical world. JDL is not and can never afford to be a group of web surfers. The concept held by some that Jew-hatred can be opposed in a purely virtual manner is, in our view, a quite mistaken and even dangerous notion. Those who only work on opposing Jew-hatred online can make a difference and should be recognized for their efforts if that is the maxium they can do on behalf of Jews, but that cannot be the sole activity of any JDL chapter.

It's also crucial to remember that JDL cannot possibly serve as an Internet police force against Jew-hatred for the simple reason that there is generally very little policing done of the Internet by anyone, aside from the policing of criminal or terrorist activities being conducted online. Most Jew-hatred found online - and a lot of it definitely exists - falls under the category of free speech. While JDL does not believe in granting evil doers inherent free speech rights to incite hatred against the Jewish people or Judaism, one must also be mindful of the fact that broad free speech rights online protect the speech on both sides of the ideological divide.

With that said, JDL does devote resources to combating Jew-hatred online. This new section of our site will contain articles informing our members and supporters on the major categories of hate encountered online, general online Jew-hatred trends, and information on possible remedies against online Jew-hatred. This section will also contain links to other areas of our site, such as Countering Jew-hatred and High Profile Haters, where we will publish articles on JDL's efforts to expose and combat particular manifestations of Jew-hatred online.