EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was originally intended for publication in January of this year but fell to the way side due to other events.
A group with no ties to Whittier was able to troll residents and community leaders in the City of Whittier. They were even able to get the official local newspaper to give them free publicity.
The group, which is believed to have financial ties to the Russian government, distributed disturbing flyers in East Whittier last week. The flyers were designed to stir up a response and divide local residents against each other.
The situation was covered by the Whittier Daily News which named the organization. Whittier 360 has a policy of refusing to name these types of groups in order to starve them of oxygen. The stunt even elicited responses from Whittier's Mayor and others in Whittier. But it turns out the community has been played.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the group has done similar stunts in the past and has targeted LGBTQ Americans at many of their events as well as their actions against Jews. Apparently the group believes the only proper place for women is "barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen" and if women aren't doing that they "should be staying in the bedroom" according to the group's webpage. The statements are clearly designed to provoke a response.
In fact according to "Forward" the group in question has been falsely claiming that COVID 19 came from Israel or that it came from America's Jewish communities. The virus actually originated in Southern China. The publication reported that the group which receives Russian government funding has distributed flyers all over the country that are identical to the ones found in East Whittier.
Half the group's leadership are believed to be receiving money from Russian military and intelligence agencies in exchange for engaging in acts that divide Americans against each other to weaken America's hand in the pending conflict over Ukraine.
At least one member was arrested for the rape of a 14 year old girl in California according to Wikipedia. His response at his trial was that as a man he has the right to sex with any female he wants and that, according to him and the group, women have no right to refuse sex. He is currently in prison. Women are advised against approaching members of the group alone.
The group's name is a parody of the ADL. They are known for trolling Jews, women, and minorities.
The ADL reports on its own site that the group, that goes by the initials GDL, openly brags about spreading false conspiracy theories to rile people and get communities to turn against themselves.
According to reports, after the group's members were evicted from the California Republican Party convention, it's members began targeting Republicans, including Trump supporters. In North Carolina, a member was arrested after planning to attack the home of Republican office holder which involved group members dressing up and pretending to be members of the Anti-Fa terrorist movement.
GDL is most active in California, Colorado, Florida, and New York. The ADL says on its website about the group that it not only caters to White male conspiracy theorists but other non Jewish groups as well. "GDL activists often play to their various audiences, shouting “white power” when among white supremacists, criticizing Israel when speaking to Muslims or attempting to ingratiate themselves with Black people by repeating the antisemitic canard that Jews were responsible for the transatlantic slave trade." There are some Black conspiracy theorists who have been spreading the false historical claim that Jews invented slavery and that all the slave traders involved in the Atlantic slave trade were Jews.
The group has been able to recruit Blacks, Hispanics, and other non Whites to participate in anti-semetic stunts.
In addition to promoting false historical narratives, the group holds contests where people are paid to distribute flyers that elicit viceral responses from the recipients and get publicity for the GDL. The funding for the contests comes from different sources. While some of it comes from the group's members, an investigation found the majority of GDL funding comes from Russia's foreign intelligence agencies.
As the US and Russia head toward war over Ukraine, the group's activities in the US have actually begun to increase with the group now encouraging people to question whether the US should even involve itself in European affairs with a now deleted post saying that Ukraine was Russian territory.
In addition to funding groups like GDL, Russia has activated its army of cyber hackers who have been probing US infrastructure and other important facilities such as electrical power plants and gasoline distribution centers. A successful attack on these would set the US back 50 years at least and put Russia and China in charge of the whole planet. China has pledged to help Russia if the Russians got into a war with the US and Europe. Nearly all US electronics contain microchips produced by the government of the PRC, the People's Republic of China. US Intelligence sources believe that China may have developed a means of using the chips to take control of vital US infrastructure and consumer products from vehicles to smart phones. Such a move would cripple the US in the event of a world war and as with a potential Russian attack, would likely set the US back about 50 to 70 years according to sources. While the PRC has provided some of the GDL's funding, it makes up less than a tenth of a percent of the GDL's funding while Russia makes up 74%. Both countries are believed to have sleeper agents in the US that could be activated in the event of war.
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