Hate in the Keystone State: Extremism & Antisemitism in Pennsylvania

Introduction

Over the past two years, Pennsylvania has faced a broad range of extremist incidents, driven by a diverse mix of ideological motivations and groups.

These have included a rise in disruptive actions by extreme anti-Israel activists, notable white supremacist activity—particularly by the local White Lives Matter chapter—and political violence that sent shockwaves across the country.

Pennsylvania has also seen a significant increase in antisemitic incidents over the last two years, becoming the state with the country’s fourth-highest number of antisemitic incidents at a time when ADL tracked the highest-ever number of antisemitic incidents nationwide.

This report will explore the range of extremist groups and movements operating in Pennsylvania and highlight the key extremist and antisemitic trends and incidents in the state tracked by the ADL Center on Extremism (COE) between January 2023 and June 2025.

Key Statistics

• Antisemitic Incidents: According to ADL’s annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, Pennsylvania has seen a dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents in recent years. In 2024, the number of incidents across the state rose to 465 from 394 in 2023, marking an increase of 18 percent. In a year that saw a record-high number of antisemitic incidents across the U.S., Pennsylvania's total was the fourth highest in the country. Preliminary numbers through June 2025 indicate at least 76 additional antisemitic incidents in the state.
• Extremist Plots and Murders: In 2023 and 2024, ADL documented one extremist murder in Pennsylvania. In January 2024, Justin Mohn shot and killed his father, then decapitated him. In a video uploaded online, Mohn was then seen hoisting the severed head while delivering a political rant on a variety of right-wing topics, and issuing a call for "patriots and militia" members to rise to violence. Mohn was convicted in July 2025 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
• White Supremacist Propaganda: Since the start of 2023, hundreds of propaganda distributions have been recorded in Pennsylvania. Of these, ADL tracked 52 instances of white supremacist propaganda with antisemitic themes in 2023 and 28 in 2024. An additional 11 incidents were recorded through June 2025.
• White Supremacist Events: Since 2023, ADL has documented 22 white supremacist extremist events in Pennsylvania, including demonstrations, meet-ups and banner drops.
• Hate Crimes Statistics: According to the latest FBI hate crimes statistics available, there were 282 reported hate crimes in Pennsylvania in 2024, a decrease of three percent from the 291 incidents recorded in 2023.

Antisemitism

ADL’s 2024 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents documented the highest number of antisemitic incidents nationwide since reporting began in 1979, with at least 9,354 recorded acts of assault, vandalism and harassment nationwide, a five percent increase from 2023 and a 344 percent increase from 2019. In Pennsylvania, ADL tracked 465 antisemitic incidents in 2024, the fourth highest in the nation. Across the state, instances of assault increased by 140 percent (12 incidents in 2024, compared to 5 in 2023), incidents of vandalism were up 35 percent (116 incidents in 2024, compared to 86 in 2023) and incidents of harassment grew by 12 percent (337 incidents in 2024, compared to 302 in 2023).

Examples of antisemitic incidents in Pennsylvania between January 2023 and June 2025:

• In March 2025, in Philadelphia, an individual threw a hot cup of coffee at two visibly Jewish men and said, “I have a problem with you. I hate Jews, you should die.”
• In October 2024, graffiti was found in multiple cases on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania featuring messages such as "Kill Zios," "Kill Your Local Zio Nazi," "Sinwar Lives” and "Sinwar Strikes Back," the last two slogans referring to Yahya Sinwar, the now-deceased leader of Hamas and architect of the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack.
• In August 2024, a man beat two Jewish University of Pittsburgh students with a glass bottle as they walked through campus, causing cuts and other wounds to the victims’ faces and necks.
• In July 2024, a Pittsburgh synagogue received a shooting threat that read: "I'm gonna kill you kikes like Bowers did." Robert Bowers was the assailant in the 2018 shooting attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where he walked in on a Saturday morning, yelled “All Jews must die,” and opened fire, killing 11 and injuring six.
• In January 2024, a Black and Jewish student was harassed in Philadelphia by classmates who questioned the student's celebration of Jewish holidays, called the student "Jew boy" and the n-word, and physically assaulted the student.
• At an October 2023 anti-Israel rally in Philadelphia following the Hamas attacks, a speaker stated, "Do you guys remember the photo of the kids laughing and smiling as they sat on top of the Israeli military jeep captured by our freedom fighters? And the several other joyful and powerful images which came from the glorious October 7th? Long live October 7th!" Another speaker stated, "Benjamin Netanyahu and the rest of those Western Zionists, European, bloodthirsty warmongers: go back to Europe!"
• In January 2023, members of the Pittsburgh Jewish community in Greenfield were harassed outside of a Chabad center by individuals who cursed at them and called them "fake Jews."

In this period, the antisemitic and white supremacist Goyim Defense League (GDL) was also particularly active in Pennsylvania, largely through the distribution of the network’s distinctively hateful propaganda. From the start of 2023 through June 2025, the network distributed antisemitic propaganda on at least 33 occasions in the state—the second highest of any such group, behind only Patriot Front.

In one notable incident, on May 18, 2025, individuals associated with GDL and the white supremacist spinoff group Hate Club distributed GDL propaganda in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, known for its Jewish community and for being the home of the Tree of Life synagogue. A group traveling in an SUV allegedly hurled antisemitic insults and slurs from the vehicle as they tossed GDL fliers around the area. Following an investigation from the FBI and local police, Jeremy Brokaw of Zanesville, Ohio, was cited and later convicted on more than 160 separate litter-related charges and now faces up to $48,000 in fines. To cover his legal fees, Brokaw started a crowdfunding campaign on GiveSendGo, which has received donations from other white supremacist groups and GDL affiliates. GDL leader Jon Minadeo contributed, writing, "Drop the charges you filthy heebs."

Notable Extremist Activity

Extreme Anti-Israel Activity Surges in Pennsylvania Following October 7 Attacks

Though Pennsylvania has a longstanding history of vocal anti-Israel and anti-Zionist activism, the intensity and nature of this rhetoric escalated significantly following the Hamas-led terror attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023. Anti-Israel activists in the state increasingly crossed the line from legitimate political critique into the realm of violence, acts of sabotage and vandalism, expressions of support for terror, antisemitic tropes and extreme calls for the exclusion of “Zionists.”

The local affiliates of prominent national anti-Israel organizations—such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), ANSWER Coalition, Healthcare Workers for Palestine (HCW4P), Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and others—are key organizers of anti-Israel activities in the state and regularly sponsor protests at which antisemitic incidents take place.

Localized groups, such as the Philly Palestine Coalition and the Philadelphia Anarchist Black Cross in Philadelphia; the Pittsburgh Palestine Coalition and Steel City Anti-Fascist League in Pittsburgh; Montco for Palestine (FKA Montco for Liberation) in Montgomery County; the Lancaster Palestine Coalition in Lancaster County; and the Harrisburg Palestine Coalition in Central Pennsylvania also serve a notable role in organizing activity and promoting antisemitic, pro-terror content and messaging.

From October 2023 to June 2025, there were more than 300 confirmed anti-Israel protests in Pennsylvania, with the majority featuring antisemitic rhetoric, including open support for Hamas’s October 7 attacks and other forms of extreme support for terror, such as glorifying Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and their leaders.

On October 8, 2023—just one day after the October 7 attacks—a speaker at an anti-Israel protest in Philadelphia claimed, “What happened yesterday was freedom fighters fighting for freedom. They want to label the Palestinians as barbaric terrorists…But I want to make one point: every person who died yesterday wasn’t innocent. Every Israeli settler by default is a terrorist.”

At a January 2025 protest in Philadelphia organized by Students for Justice in Palestine, Penn Against the Occupation, and Healthcare Workers for Palestine, some attendees wore Hamas headbands and displayed a flag reading, “Long Live October 7th,” branded with the logo of Samidoun—a group that in 2024 was sanctioned by the U.S. government for serving as a “sham charity” fundraising for the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). A Samidoun representative spoke to the crowd and celebrated the attack, stating, “All of us should be thanking Hamas, should be thanking [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad, should be thanking the PFLP.”
 

(Instagram/Screenshot)

Anti-Israel protesters in Pennsylvania frequently display the flags of U.S.-designated terror groups, such as Hamas (left; Philadelphia, PA; May 27, 2024) and the PFLP (right; Philadelphia, PA; May 18, 2025). 

Terror group flags, headbands and other paraphernalia, as well as imagery and slogans glorifying notorious terrorist leaders, have become common sights at local protests. During a protest organized by the group Educators for Palestine outside of the National Education Association’s (NEA) annual Representative Assembly in Philadelphia in July 2024, for example, protesters displayed a PFLP flag and chanted, “NEA, can’t you hear, we don’t want no Zionists here.” Protesters in cities such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Haverford have displayed imagery honoring Leila Khaled, a longtime PFLP leader known for hijacking two civilian airliners in 1969 and 1970.

On October 7, 2024, the first anniversary of Hamas’s attack, anti-Israel protesters in Lansdale affiliated with Montco for Palestine (AKA Montco for Liberation) distributed Hamas-created propaganda pamphlets celebrating the attack and also displayed a PFLP flag. In Philadelphia, protesters at a rally organized by Students for Justice in Palestine and the Philly Palestine Coalition also gathered to celebrate the anniversary of Hamas’s attack. They chanted “Al Qassam, make us proud, take another soldier now” and “Abu Obaida, love: Strike, strike, Tel Aviv” (in Arabic). Abu Obaida is the spokesperson for the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.

(Instagram/Screenshot)

Protesters on the campus of Drexel University in Philadelphia celebrate Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel one year later by carrying a banner that reads, "Victory to the Palestinian Resistance" alongside paraglider and weapons imagery. 

Anti-Israel and Antisemitic Vandalism and Harassment

Since October 7, 2023, there have been numerous instances of anti-Israel vandalism, including on college campuses, that have featured an inverted red triangle—a symbol first used by Hamas in propaganda videos after October 7, 2023, to mark Israeli targets, and which has since been popularized and used by some anti-Israel activists to glorify the use of violence.

In one incident, a light pole was vandalized to read, “Kill your local zio nazi” at the University of Pennsylvania.” In May 2025, at Swarthmore College in the town of Swarthmore, protesters vandalized the iconic “Big Chair” at the center of campus with messages that included the words “Hamas,” “Houthis” and “Hezbollah” drawn in hearts, alongside the slogan “Bomb Tel Aviv.”

Since October 2023, anti-Israel activists in Pennsylvania have also repeatedly targeted Jewish individuals, Jewish institutions and Jewish-owned businesses. Activists have vandalized Jewish institutions on college campuses, organized protests, and even launched campaigns to pressure colleges into banning these Jewish organizations entirely from the universities.

In the spring 2024 semester, anti-Israel students across more than 160 college campuses nationwide—including seven in Pennsylvania—established encampments to protest Israel’s actions in Gaza and their institutions’ alleged complicity. At a June 2024 encampment at the University of Pittsburgh, protesters demanded that the university terminate its Hillel chapter and reject ties with the “Zionist regime.”

At a May 2024 encampment at Drexel University, protesters called for the termination of partnerships with Hillel and Chabad, as well as the dismissal of a Jewish professor. Later in the year, in December 2024, the Drexel Chabad was targeted again, this time with vandalism that read, “Free Palestine—Stop Arming Zionist Genocide,” written on construction permit signs displayed outside of the school’s Chabad House. 

Jewish businesses and institutions have also been targets of vandalism. In July 2024, the Chabad of Squirrel Hill and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh were vandalized, including with inverted red triangle imagery. One of the suspects facing federal charges for those acts of vandalism had a documented history of apparent pro-terror beliefs and referred to himself as a “Hamas operative.” In March 2024, a Jewish-owned bakery was vandalized with the message “Free Gaza” in Narberth, and a Jewish after-school childcare center in Philadelphia was vandalized with the message “Free Palestine” in December 2023.

Jewish businesses have also faced targeted harassment as the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement has gained traction across the state. In October 2023, the Philly Palestine Coalition began circulating a list of “‘Israeli’ Food & Zionist Businesses in Philly” to boycott and protest, charging that the restaurants are “appropriating” Palestinian culture and, more importantly, are owned by so-called Zionists.

Anti-Israel activists protested outside the Philadelphia restaurant Laser Wolf, owned by Jewish and Israeli restaurateur Michael Solomonov, in November 2023. A month later, protesters organized by the Philly Palestine Coalition gathered outside Goldie, a popular Philadelphia falafel restaurant also owned by Solomonov, shouting, “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”

Public Figures Targeted by Political Violence

Since 2023, Pennsylvania has seen two major acts of political violence and several residents have been arrested for threatening political figures. These incidents endanger public servants and intimidate potential candidates, undermining democracy at a time when political norms in the U.S. are also eroding.

The latest incident was the shocking attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence in the dead of night on April 13, 2025, just hours after Shapiro hosted a Passover Seder with family and members of the Jewish community. The suspect, 38-year-old Cody Allen Balmer, broke into the residence by smashing a window with a hammer and set multiple fires using Molotov cocktails, causing extensive damage. The family escaped unharmed. After fleeing, the suspect—a Penbrook, Pennsylvania resident—called the police and said his motive was to stop Shapiro's "plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people."

Balmer also reportedly told law enforcement that had he encountered Shapiro inside the home, he would have “beaten him with his hammer.” Balmer has since been charged with attempted murder, aggravated arson, burglary, terrorism, reckless endangerment, aggravated assault and related offenses.
 

(Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)

The aftermath of an arson attack at the Pennsylvania Governor's Mansion and Gov. Josh Shapiro's residence on April 13, 2025, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

Less than a year earlier, in July 2024, 20-year-old Bethel Park resident Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to assassinate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler. Crooks fired eight rounds from an AR-style rifle, injuring Trump and two others and killing one audience member before Secret Service agents shot and killed him. As of this writing, no motive has been identified.

Meanwhile, at least four Pennsylvania residents have been arrested for making threats against public officials over the past two years:

• In June 2025, a 37-year-old Shippensburg resident was arrested and indicted for allegedly threatening to kill former Vice President Kamala Harris in July 2024, repeatedly claiming online that he would “assassinate” her.
• In April 2025, a 32-year-old Butler resident was arrested after allegedly threatening in comments on YouTube to assassinate President Trump, Elon Musk and other government officials. According to court documents, the man responded to a livestream of Trump’s March 2025 address to Congress with, “im [sic] going to assassinate him myself.”
• In February 2025, a 38-year-old Nanticoke resident pleaded guilty to making interstate threats for threatening to kill and behead former President Joe Biden and threatening to kill members of his cabinet in April 2024.
• In October 2024, a 74-year-old Spring Township resident was arrested after allegedly expressing a desire “to shoot that guy [then former President Trump]” while making a motion as if racking a gun to a state employee. The suspect later allegedly told the Secret Service, “I hope somebody would get him.” In January 2025, the individual was placed under supervision for one year in a pretrial intervention program and ordered to continue counseling treatment.

Between January 2023 and June 2025, at least three other men were sentenced for threats made in 2022 against public officials and law enforcement.

In addition to threats, in August 2024, a Montgomery County Republican official said that he was swatted after appearing on CNN and publishing an opinion piece in which he expressed support for Vice President Harris in the 2024 presidential race. The official shared a video from his home security camera that shows him on his home’s porch being patted down by police officers. The Upper Merion Police Chief confirmed that they had received information “about a possible hostage situation” and that officers responded to the residence to find “no issue at the location.”

White Lives Matter Makes Its Presence Known in Pennsylvania

White Lives Matter (WLM), a loose network of white supremacists who engage in “pro-white activism” on designated “days of action” each month, has been particularly active in Pennsylvania. This comes at a time when other areas of the county have seen a decline in WLM activity and even a dissolution of some regional chapters.

Between January 2023 and June 2025, the Pennsylvania chapter of WLM organized at least 10 events, the most of any white supremacist group in the state during that time, and distributed propaganda on at least 28 occasions. These events have included national “days of action” set by WLM, as well as independent, local flash demonstrations and propaganda distribution activities by the Pennsylvania chapter.

Notably, the chapter adopted a propaganda strategy that has allowed WLM to expand across the state. While historically members funded their own materials, since August 2024, the Pennsylvania chapter has provided “free sticker packs” at regional events and encouraged supporters to take localized action outside of organized group activities. This new tactic encourages supporters to spread propaganda across the state, even if they don't have the time or resources to print their own materials.

For events, WLM’s Pennsylvania chapter has been at the center of a collaborative network of white supremacists in eastern Pennsylvania that includes the Active Club Network and smaller white supremacist groups like Storm Division (S14) and the New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA). Pennsylvania’s central location on the East Coast has also drawn WLM chapters from neighboring states for local events.

Collaboration with outside groups is integral to WLM. Since the network’s formation in the spring of 2021, WLM chapters nationwide have frequently collaborated with a range of white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups in a strategy that has enabled small regional chapters to boost their turnout at events like WLM’s monthly “days of action.” Such gatherings allow white supremacists and neo-Nazis to unite under a shared common cause—to “raise white consciousness”—despite any ideological or other differences.

Since January 2023, more than 70 percent of WLM-affiliated events and demonstrations in the state have been in collaboration with another white supremacist group, most often NJEHA and S14. These groups have distributed hateful propaganda and held public demonstrations across eastern Pennsylvania. In April 2023, for example, approximately 14 individuals associated with NJEHA, S14 and a New Jersey-based WLM chapter gathered in Easton to protest the arrest of white supremacist Robert Rundo, the leader of the Rise Above Movement, whose apprehension on federal rioting charges became a rallying cry across the international white supremacist landscape. A few months later, in February 2024, WLM chapters from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware joined NJEHA, S14 and a Pennsylvania-based Active Club for an anti-immigration protest in Sunbury.
 

(Telegram)

Approximately a dozen individuals associated with New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware WLM chapters, along with NJEHA, S14, and a Pennsylvania-based Active Club held an anti-immigrant protest in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Members held signs that read: “White Lives Matter” and “One Race, One Nation, End Immigration.”

Since June 2024, the network’s activity in the state has seen a slump as WLM Pennsylvania’s primary partners faced significant challenges. Both of Pennsylvania’s former Active Clubs—Embrace Struggle and Storm Division—have rebranded or gone defunct. In June 2024, S14’s leader Mark Kauffman was arrested in Honey Brook for a six-year-old warrant from Massachusetts issued after police seized a shotgun, a rocket launcher and methamphetamine he allegedly intended to traffic.

Despite the blow to its collaborative local efforts, WLM continues to be active in Pennsylvania, largely focused on drawing attention to alleged Black-on-white crimes to spread racist and anti-Black tropes and rhetoric. In April 2025, WLM Pennsylvania joined white supremacists across the country in exploiting the stabbing of Austin Metcalf, a Texas teenager, distributing propaganda at an undisclosed location in Pennsylvania to draw attention to the murder of Metcalf and posting printable images of the propaganda for others online, asking others to “help draw public attention to this violent anti-White crime.”

Additional Extremist Activity

White Supremacist Extremism

In addition to White Lives Matter, other white supremacist groups have also been active in Pennsylvania:

• Since 2023, white supremacist accelerationist group Injekt Division has maintained an active presence in the state, distributing propaganda and holding in-person events. In March 2024, for example, approximately seven masked individuals affiliated with Injekt Division demonstrated outside of a pride event in Indiana, Pennsylvania, holding signs with anti-LGBTQ+ slogans. The demonstration escalated into a physical confrontation with employees of a nearby establishment, but no arrests were made. The group's other actions in the state included sending flyers with the slogan "UNIFORMED THUGS SERVE THE JEWS" to police departments and distributing Halloween candy bags that also contained white supremacist and antisemitic propaganda.
• For several years, Pennsylvania has had two active Norse pagan groups: Asatru Folk Assembly, which is primarily active in southeastern Pennsylvania, and Irminfolk, mostly active in northeastern Pennsylvania. Irminfolk, in particular, has grown in Pennsylvania over the last few years, which has led to the group launching a fundraising campaign to buy property and establish a more permanent footprint in the state. In September 2024, the group’s leadership announced the purchase of a Victorian-era home in Susquehanna County that would be refurbished and made into the group’s hof (an Old Norse term), or meeting house. Irminfolk continue to work on the hof, which they have named "Irminhof."
• Over the last few years, the neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe has garnered attention for the hatred and vitriol expressed during demonstrations carried out in major cities across the U.S. In August 2024, 20 members of the group marched through Harrisburg carrying swastika flags and delivering racist, anti-immigrant speeches on the Capitol steps. The men wore matching red sweatshirts with Norse symbols, black pants and black masks. During the march, several pedestrians were assaulted and threatened by Blood Tribe members, though no charges were filed.
• In early 2024, white supremacist publishing company Antelope Hill Publishing, based in eastern Pennsylvania, expanded its business operations and purchased another white supremacist company based in the state. Antelope Hill Publishing—which sells translations of historical works by Nazis, fascists and ultranationalists, and new works by far-right writers—acquired Above Time Coffee Roasters LLC., founded in 2022, because its founders “saw a need for the creation of more pro-White businesses serving our people.”  

Anti-Government Extremism

Over the past two years, the militia movement in Pennsylvania has largely focused on recruitment and paramilitary training. While several militias claim to be active in the state, there have been limited examples of their public activity.

The Hamburg-based 1^st Pennsylvania Mountain Regiment (1^st PMR), founded in 2022, is one of the most active militia groups in the state. One of its leaders, known as “Badger,” claims to be a U.S. Army veteran and former firefighter. He has stated that the group is working to embed itself in its local community by building inroads with local government and law enforcement. Militia groups like 1^st PMR will often seek to gain legitimacy and support from local government by claiming to serve the public and presenting their interests as benign. In reality, the militia movement’s ideology is deeply conspiratorial and linked to a long history of criminal activity and violence.

(Instagram/Screenshot)

1^st PMR winter field training exercise group picture. 
 

Since 2023, 1^st PMR has conducted joint paramilitary training exercises with at least four militia groups from outside the state. The militia group has expressed a desire to use social media, especially Instagram, to recruit and inspire others to start their own groups, and referenced another militia group—the New England-based 1^st New England Minutemen (1^st NEMM)—as a partner in its effort. 1^st PMR has notably participated in multiple field training exercises with the 1^st NEMM, whose origins are linked to the boogaloo movement.

This strategy allows 1^st PMR to foster ties with other militia groups in the region to expand its reach and influence.

Meanwhile, the anti-government extremist group Tactical Civics claimed in January 2025 to have over 500 members in Pennsylvania, though such claims should be treated with caution.

Founded by retired engineer David Zuniga, the group advocates for the formation of citizen grand juries and militias in every U.S. county to “investigate” ostensible public corruption and “restore” a limited, constitutional federal government.

Since 2023, Clearfield County has been the group’s unofficial headquarters under the leadership of its promotional coordinator, William “Bill” Ogden. Tactical Civics has also hosted events in Lycoming, Allegheny and Carbon counties. 

While Tactical Civics talks about forming and working with militias, there is no current evidence to suggest that the group engages in paramilitary training. However, in October 2024, Tactical Civics created a profile in a web forum for militia groups to promote itself.

Since 2023, several arrests or confrontations with law enforcement connected to anti-government extremism have been recorded in Pennsylvania:

• In July 2025, Justin Mohn, a 33-year-old Middletown Township resident who held extreme anti-government extremist views, was convicted for the January 2024 shooting death and beheading of his father. Mohn targeted his father because he was a retired federal employee, calling him a traitor. After the murder, Mohn posted a video to YouTube with his father’s head and introduced himself as the “commander” of “Mohn’s Militia,” issuing an immediate order to kill, capture, or torture all federal employees. He declared himself the acting president of the United States and claimed that the country was under martial law. After the killing, an armed Mohn was detained at the National Guard Training Center in Fort Indiantown Gap while attempting to forcibly enter the installation. Mohn believed he could mobilize the National Guard against the federal government.
• In May 2025, 62-year-old Ronald Hertzog, the former head of the now-defunct Pennsylvania Citizens Militia, was sentenced to two years in prison on a federal weapons charge. Hertzog was prohibited from possessing firearms due to a 2002 conviction for having unregistered firearms, for which he had previously served prison time. In 2002, Hertzog was part of a federal investigation into the militia group’s alleged plans to blow up the FBI office in State College, Pennsylvania.
• In August 2023, law enforcement responded to the Pittsburgh home of 63-year-old William Hardison Jr. after he ignored an eviction notice and barricaded himself inside the home. Hardison was shot and killed by law enforcement after opening fire on the police officers trying to enforce the notice. In 2019, Hardison shared a video in which he described himself as a Moorish sovereign citizen.

Other Right-Wing Extremism

Proud Boys

In the years since the January 6, 2021, Capitol storming, Proud Boys activity in Pennsylvania has significantly diminished, with a lack of notable public activity from its chapters. In a September 2024 Telegram post, the Philadelphia Proud Boys chapter complained that they could not mobilize against left-wing protesters in the city because they were “destroyed by the federal government.” Though former Philadelphia Proud Boys chapter president Zachary Rehl had his 15-year prison sentence for seditious conspiracy commuted in January 2025, this has not altered the group’s activity levels in the state.

Pennsylvania is Home to Gab

For nearly a decade, the social media platform Gab has been a haven for right-wing extremists and antisemites alike. Gab’s CEO, the outspoken antisemite Andrew Torba, runs the site from northeastern Pennsylvania.

Originally founded as a “free speech” alternative to Twitter and other popular social media websites, the platform’s deliberately lax content moderation policies have allowed white supremacist, bigoted and conspiratorial content to fester on the platform. Robert Bowers, who murdered 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, had shared antisemitic and anti-immigrant rants on the platform before the attack. 

Gab appears to have received a boost in users more recently. In December 2024, Elon Musk publicly announced his support for H-1B visas, angering far-right extremists who believe such programs lead to non-white immigrants flooding into the United States and taking jobs from white Americans. In response to the alleged censorship of detractors on Musk’s X, Torba posted to his X account: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled racists yearning to breathe free. Our border is open to all the super duper waycist [sic] X refugees.”

By January 2025, Torba claimed the number of new or returning visitors to his Gab platform had jumped to 3.2 million users.

Far-Right Podcast Broadcasts from Pittsburgh

The Berm Pit is a far-right, antisemitic podcast that often features far-right influencers and promotes antisemitic conspiracy theories like The Great Replacement theory, Holocaust denial, tropes about Jewish control and praise for Nazi Germany. The podcast, launched in 2022 by Pittsburgh residents Matthew “Matt” Wakulik and Scott Siverts, gained popularity in far-right spaces and expanded from its first home on YouTube to other mainstream and alternative social media sites.

At its peak in 2025, the podcast had over 60,000 total followers across its social media platforms before suffering widespread deplatforming in the spring of that year. During this period, the podcast faced backlash for the hateful content it produced and distributed, leading the team to be kicked out of the podcast studio they were filming in, according to Wakulik. The podcast’s operations have significantly diminished since these developments.

Over the course of the podcast’s history, Wakulik and Siverts collaborated with several far-right conspiracy theorists and antisemitic influencers, including Stew Peters, Lucas Gage and Ken O’Keefe. The Berm Pit also recently re-established a merchandising operation on Instagram that was previously taken down, selling T-shirts with antisemitic imagery, promotion for white supremacist films, and anti-Israel slogans.

When he is not podcasting, Wakulik also leads the Iron City Citizens Response Unit militia group that he founded in the Pittsburgh area in 2019 and uses the call sign “Hammer.” Wakulik has promoted his militia involvement on the podcast and has repeatedly made calls for violence against the federal government and elected officials.

Islamist Extremism

In August 2023, 17-year-old Philadelphia resident Muhyyee-Ud-Din Abdul-Rahman was arrested and charged with buying and testing bomb-making materials in support of a foreign terrorist group after he allegedly bought materials associated with improvised explosive devices and conducted generalized research on potential targets. Abdul-Rahman allegedly planned to travel to Syria to become a bombmaker overseas, and he first came to the attention of the FBI through contacts he had made on social media with members of Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad (KTJ), a Syrian group that has claimed to be affiliated with ISIS.

Left-Wing Extremism

Since the start of 2023, there have been at least 26 instances where anarchists or other left-wing extremists claimed responsibility for sabotage or severe vandalism in Pennsylvania.

• Of these 26, at least eight occurred in opposition to construction and development projects in and around South Philadelphia. These actions occurred throughout 2023 and 2024, with common targets including construction equipment and security cameras present at the development site.
• Nine of these instances were motivated by pro-Palestinian and/or anti-Israel sentiment. Targets for these actions included law enforcement vehicles, parking meters, a University of Pittsburgh building and construction equipment. The most common targets, however, were buildings affiliated with Ghost Robotics, a Philadelphia-based tech company that allegedly supplies defense technology to the Israel Defense Forces. Locations linked to the company were targeted for vandalism on at least four occasions.
• In October 2024, two Massachusetts residents were arrested and charged in connection with the release of nearly 700 minks from their cages at a Northumberland County farm. The suspects are allegedly connected with two anarchist communes in Massachusetts, and law enforcement reportedly found anarchist propaganda.

Other
 

Nation of Islam (NOI)

The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a notoriously antisemitic Black nationalist organization led at the national level by Louis Farrakhan. Based in Chicago, the group operates more than 100 affiliated chapters nationwide; larger chapters are recognized as numbered Muhammad Mosques, while smaller chapters constitute study groups. Notable locations throughout Pennsylvania include Muhammad Mosque No. 12 (Philadelphia), Muhammad Mosque No. 22 (Wilkinsburg) and Lehigh Valley Study Group.

Local NOI activities include hosting weekly sermons at their mosque and study group locations, distributing NOI propaganda in the community and sharing Farrakhan and NOI content online.

Extremist Factions of the Black Hebrew Israelite (BHI) Movement

The Black Hebrew Israelite (BHI) movement is a fringe religious movement that rejects widely accepted definitions of Judaism and asserts that people of color are the true children of Israel; the movement includes both extremist and non-extremist sects. Extremist BHI sects typically express a range of bigoted beliefs, including alleging that Jewish people are impostors and not “real Jews,” promoting bigoted beliefs about LGBTQ+ and Muslim people and claiming that Jewish people and white people are Satanic. These beliefs are disseminated on social media, through organized street teaching activities, and via propaganda distribution.

The Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge (ISUPK), a prominent extremist BHI group that has numerous chapters nationwide, is based in Pennsylvania, operating as a registered nonprofit organization out of Upper Darby.

Additional extremist BHI groups that have an active presence in Pennsylvania include the New York-based groups Israel United in Christ (IUIC) and House of Israel (HOI). These groups regularly engage in activities in Pennsylvania that include street preaching and large-scale “blitz” demonstrations, seeking to increase their visibility in local communities, spread their ideology and recruit new members.

Recommendations for Policymakers

ADL advocates for a range of policies and activities that address antisemitism, hate, and extremism while preserving civil liberties. As highlighted in our first-of-its-kind Jewish Policy Index (JPI) and the Best Practices Toolkit for Combating Antisemitism for State Lawmakers, we provide tools for states to adopt policies and practices that promote both safety and inclusivity while combating antisemitism. In Pennsylvania, ADL recommends that Pennsylvania policymakers take on the following initiatives.

1. Support current legislation to address masked harassment and intimidation (SB543).
2. Establish a state task force dedicated to addressing antisemitism and extremism, including representatives from law enforcement, education, and community organizations. This task force should focus on identifying and countering antisemitic and extremist activities and fostering community resilience.
3. Adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, including the 11 contemporary examples, as a framework for understanding classic and modern manifestations of this hate. Use this definition to guide educational and policy initiatives.
4. Build on the foundational work of the original advisory committee that helped develop Pennsylvania’s Holocaust education guidelines. Establish a permanent Holocaust commission or task force to ensure curricula remain current and educators receive ongoing support in teaching this critical subject.