The Jewish neo-Nazi: How a former skinhead became an anti-racism advocate

John Daly was an officer of a major neo-Nazi group, but once his religious secret was discovered, white supremacists almost succeeded in killing him.

John Daly got into the neo-Nazi skinhead movement in the usual way. Like most recruits, he was a young man feeling angry and vulnerable in his little hometown, Ocala, Fl., in the late 1980s.

“Getting to know these guys (skinheads) I felt like I had a sense of belonging and I felt like I had people who would help protect me, should I so need it, and with jocks in a small town, you need it,” he said in an interview. “More than once I had cars stop, guys get out, and just beat me up on the side of the road…. I was trying out the facade.”

That made Daly typical. But he is a rare outlier for two reasons. The first is that he got out of organized white supremacy clean, and now pursues anti-racism advocacy, including a speaking tour of Canada that begins this week in Halifax. The other, more bizarrely, is that he is devoutly Jewish, and after his religious secret was discovered and his fellow neo-Nazis almost succeeded in killing him, he moved to Israel, where he lives today in Ashkelon near the Gaza border.  (more...)

The Jewish neo-Nazi: How a former skinhead became an anti-racism advocate

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Ever found yourself in a Room 18? I have, several times. They are surprisingly common, and easy to stumble into -- and difficult to extract yourself from.