Attackers interested in Black Hebrew Israelites
The deadly shooting rampage at a New Jersey kosher market has cast a spotlight on a fringe movement known for its anti- Semitic strain of street preaching and its role in a viral video confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial this year.
Investigators believe that the man and woman who killed three people at the Jersey City grocery Tuesday in addition to gunning down a police officer at a cemetery hated Jews and lawenforcement and had expressed interest in the Black Hebrew Israelites movement, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said Thursday.
“But we have not definitively established any formal links to that organization or to any other group,” he said. “Based on the available evidence, we believe that the two shooters were acting on their own.”
Not all sects of themovement spew hateful rhetoric, but many Black Hebrew Israelites subscribe to an extreme set of anti-Semitic beliefs. Those followers view themselves as the true “chosen people” and believe that blacks, Latinos and Native Americans are the true descendants of the 12Tribes of Israel, said Oren Segal, director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.
“They view white people as agents of Satan,” Segal said. They believe “Jews are liars and false worshippers of God. They view blacks as the true Israelites, and not the impostor Jews.”
Most who encounter the movement’s followers have seen them proselytizing and provoking arguments with passersby in places like Times Square in New York.
Last January, videos of a confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington probably introduced many people to themovement. A group of black street preachers that referred to itself as Black Hebrew Israelites shouted insult sat Native Americans and Catholic high school students from Kentucky who had participated in an anti- abortion rally in Washington. Videos of a face- to-face encounter between a Native American activist and a student wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat quickly spread on social media.
J. J. MacNab, a fellow at George Washington University’ s Program on Extremism, said the Black Hebrew Israelites have used Facebook and You Tube to spread their message and attract new followers. Prisons also have been fertile recruiting grounds for the sects, some of which have thousands of members, according to MacNab.
“Once you go online, you find a bigger world. They take pride in confronting Jewish people everywhere and explaining that they are evil, that they are heathens,” MacNab said.
MacNab said the Black Hebrew Israelites also include elements of the anti-government “sovereign citizen” movement, which has been linked to deadly attacks on law enforcement officers.