Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2025-12-13 at 06:04
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Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2025-12-13 at 06:04
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SPLC sues Nashville Goyim Defense League leaders
January intruder at Nashville JC pleads guilty
Online crackdown narrows Goyim Defense League reach
The time is now 1:00 AM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.
A federal civil rights lawsuit filed in Nashville accuses the Goyim Defense League and several of its leaders and affiliates of orchestrating a campaign of antisemitic intimidation, harassment and trespass aimed at terrorizing the city’s Jewish community. The lawsuit, filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of the Gordon Jewish Community Center, describes a 120-year-old institution that serves as a central hub for Jewish life in Nashville. The defendants include the Goyim Defense League, its founder and leader Jon Minadeo II, extremist streamer Paul Miller, known as GypsyCrusader, and several associates.
At the center of the case is a January 2025 incident in which Travis Garland, a Tennessee man affiliated with the Goyim Defense League, allegedly disguised himself as an Orthodox Jewish man and infiltrated the Jewish center’s secured campus. Garland livestreamed the intrusion, mocked Jewish customs and the Holocaust, and refused repeated requests to leave before security escorted him off the property. Garland later pled guilty in a state court to trespassing and received a sentence of nearly a year in jail, according to local reporting.
The complaint ties the January intrusion to a broader campaign during a 10-day visit to Nashville in the summer of 2024, when group members allegedly harassed Jewish and Black residents, assaulted a Jewish man and a biracial man, and intimidated Black children downtown while waving swastika flags. The SPLC previously filed a separate lawsuit on behalf of a biracial man assaulted during that tour.
According to the lawsuit, the Gordon Jewish Community Center has spent roughly seventy‑five thousand dollars on enhanced security and says staff and members have altered how they use the campus because of heightened fear. The filing invokes the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 and other federal civil rights statutes and seeks court protection, as well as financial compensation and punitive damages. “This lawsuit demonstrates the Nashville Jewish community’s resolve to stand firm in the face of antisemitic intimidation and to hold accountable those who perpetrate it,” said Ben Raybin, an attorney for the Jewish center.
The case comes as the Goyim Defense League has faced mounting pressure online and in court. Following a local investigation by a Nashville television station, websites operated by Minadeo were taken offline by their domain registrar, and several of his accounts were suspended from X. Other members have been convicted or indicted in connection with violent incidents during the group’s 2024 Nashville visit, according to local reporting. The suit notes that Nashville remains a focal point of the group’s activity even as its online reach has diminished.
Analysts say the case reflects a broader effort to counter antisemitic intimidation in the United States, particularly where it intersects with racial harassment. In a wider context, the persistence of antisemitic acts coincides with ongoing security concerns for Jewish communities worldwide, including those in the United States and Israel. Officials emphasize that protecting Jewish communities from hate and violence remains a priority, with civil rights laws and federal tools used to address such threats and hold perpetrators accountable. As developments unfold, observers will watch how this case influences security measures for community centers and the enforcement of hate crime protections across the country.
Thank you for tuning in to this Israel Today: Ongoing War Report update.
I'm Noa Levi. Stay safe and informed.
Keep in mind that this AI-generated report may contain occasional inaccuracies, so consult multiple sources for a comprehensive view. Find the code and more details in the podcast description.
SOURCES
https://www.timesofisrael.com/nashville-jewish-community-center-sues-goyim-defense-league-over-alleged-intimidation-campaign/
https://www.jpost.com/judaism/article-880204
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