Antisemitism in the Black Hebrew Israelite and Christian Identity Movements

In light of the October 7th attack on Israel, the topic of antisemitism once again permeates social, political, and religious discourse in the United States and abroad, raising questions about Zionism and “true” Jewish identity. These issues are central to two lesser-known movements–Christian Identity and the Black Hebrew Israelites–that place the essence of their perceived Jewish identity at the forefront of their ideology. Both Christian Identity and the Black Hebrew Israelite movements date back more than a century and lay claim to the title of the “true” Jews, castigating white Jews as “imposters.” 

To discuss these issues, the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University organized an online event featuring: 

• Dr. Vince Bantu, President of the Meachum School of Haymanot and Assistant Professor of Church History and Black Church Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary
• Stuart Wexler, a historian, author, and one of America’s top investigative researchers on domestic terrorism and radical religious activities.

This event was moderated by Program on Extremism Research Fellows Jon Lewis and Luke Baumgartner.

On August 1st, the Program on Extremism (PoE) at The George Washington University hosted an online discussion addressing the topic of antisemitism, raising questions about Zionism, and analyzing the “true” Jewish identity in light of the October 7th, 2023 attack. This event was conducted by PoE Research Fellow, Luke Baumgartner, who moderated a discussion among Stuart Wexler and Dr. Vince Bantu. Stuart Wexler is a historian, author, and one of America’s top investigative researchers on domestic terrorism and radical religious activities. Dr. Vince Bantu is the President of the Meachum School of Haymanot and an Assistant Professor of Church History and Black Church Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. In addition to discussing social, political, and religious discourse caused by the events of October 7th, panelists spoke on how these issues are central to two lesser-known movements–Christian Identity (CI) and the Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI)–that place the essence of their perceived Jewish identity at the forefront of their ideology. The following is a summary of their remarks:

Luke Baumgartner

Prior to the October 7th attacks, there was an abundance of content on social media referring to White Jews as ‘imposters' or ‘descendants of Satan’. After October 7th, more than half of social media accounts stopped posting or did not post that type of content as often. Platforms like Facebook take down content explicitly calling for violence or what is widely known as antisemitism. However, the increasing attention that the BHI movement and CI ideologies are gaining makes it more difficult to classify what is antisemitic and what is considered ‘freedom of expression’.

As the author of the recently published “From Camps to Computers: Inside the Black Hebrew Israelite Extremist Ecosystem on Facebook,” Baumgartner explained BHI camp pages garnering an influx of attention and followers since the events of October 7th. Camp pages of Black Hebrew Israelism, like Israel United in Christ (IUIC), attempt to draw connections between the history of Hitler and the Rothschild family. Drawing these connections in addition to covering the events of October 7th, increased camp pages’ following by 32.4%. Although these extremist movements do not necessarily reveal power levels and true intentions, they continue to impose a true identity narrative that White Jews are ‘imposters’.

Stuart Wexler

CI followers and BHI seem like they are on completely other sides of the spectrum. Yet, they both place themselves as the center of the biblical narrative. CI is a supremacist, chauvinist version of a religious ideology that becomes a justification for violence of populations that do not follow its beliefs. It is based on “Anglo-Israelism,” which centers White Christians as the focus of biblical times, imposing a grand but idiosyncratic view of what religion should look like. CI argues that Jews are satanic offspring with a mission of manipulating people of color to be against the “true, chosen people”, otherwise known as White Europeans. Followers possess the belief that the ‘end times’ are a holy race war. Promoting a full blown race war translates one of the movement's goals as desiring mass violence.

In 1965, the CI movement wanted to enable a civil war between opposing groups in the United States; such as, Black versus White, and non-violent civil rights groups versus violent civil rights groups. During this time, groups following CI, like the National States Rights Party (NSRP), were unable to appeal to a wider audience. Leaders began relying on tactics like entryism and cooptive extremism to manipulate members into larger acts of violence. Similar to one another, entryism involves infiltrating different groups, and cooptive extremism allows small groups of people to manipulate large groups who do not embrace the small one’s preferred theology. Furthermore, both of these tactics pose a threat to extremist groups beyond CI.

Contemporarily, the growing climate of antisemitism is evolving CI followers' justification of violence. With the modern era of technology, extremists do not have to manipulate an individual in-person anymore. Thus, breaking down the barrier between extremists and a broader audience. The same opportunity likely presents itself to other extremists, such as jihadists, who want to infiltrate online spaces without being explicit. Although CI cemented itself in the US after World War II, it continues to evolve nationwide and abroad.

Dr. Vince Bantu

The BHI community has a long history rooted in antisemitic conspiracy. In 1892, William Saunders Crowdy, a pastor from St. Mary’s County, Maryland, had a prophetic vision where he was told that Black people are the true descendants of biblical Israel. The first Hebrew Israelite group to officially claim descent from the ancient Hebrew people was the Church of God and Saints of Christ, which was founded in 1896. Since then, there have been many denominations, factions, and branches that formed within the Hebrew Israelite movement.

Specifically, each branch maintains certain core tenants of the BHI belief system. The first includes the belief that Black people are the true descendants of Israel, a rejection of ‘mainstream’ white Jews. Resulting in Hebrew Israelites believing that white Jews are ‘imposters’. A second tenant of the BHI movement is the belief that Deutoronomy 28:68 is a prophecy of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Hebrew Israelites believe that Black people dispersed out of Israel after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The third tenant is that Hebrew Israelites usually view the King James Version of the bible as the only authoritative version of the bible. Finally, the last tenant involves Hebrew Israelites believing in subordinationism christology, meaning that the Son is subordinate to the Father in deity.

Today, there are many denominations of the BHI movement. Many groups reject the title of Black, and identify solely as Hebrew Israelites, or Israelites, while other groups embrace the term Black and self-identify as BHI. Some groups embrace other non-white groups in addition to Black people, while other groups remain exclusive to Black people. The movement has been pushed into the mainstream by celebrities like Kendrick Lamar, who has included BHI rhetoric in his songs. The BHI movement today has a lot of overlap with the Christian Identity movement, and the two movements intermix on occasion. As the BHI movement continues to attract believers, it is important to understand the antisemitic narrative espoused by the movement, and how it interacts with other ideologies.