Just one day before the massacre at the Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh, the Anti-Defamation League published a harrowing study of the effect of social media in spreading anti-Semitic hate. The study was conducted for the ADL by Oxford scholar Samuel Woolley and presented, in part, the following findings:
"Continuing what began during the 2016 presidential election, the members of far-right extremist groups and the so-called 'Alt Right' have stepped up 'online propaganda offensives' in the runup to the upcoming midterm elections to attack and try to intimidate Jews and especially Jewish journalists..."Exhibit A would be the despicable use of letter bomb recipient and progressive philanthropist George Soros in this anti-Semitic offensive, as demonstrated in the vile tweet by despicable weasel and Rethuglican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Reptile-CA), as noted in the post below. But he's just the tip of the garbage heap. Right-wing bots have played a major role in spreading anti-Semitic memes and lies:
"Bots have played a critical role in anti-Semitic attacks online. Nearly 30 percent of the accounts that repeatedly tweeted terms meant to denigrate Jews were judged to likely be bots, according to the analysis. These accounts made more derogatory comments about Jews on average than accounts that seemed to be from humans – 43 percent of the tweets even though they represented just 28 percent of the accounts."And the kicker:
"The study also found that 80.26 percent of the harassing tweets used hashtags associated with those on the right side of the political spectrum. Nearly 40 percent of the tweets included #MAGA or #KAG, which supporters of President Trump use to tout his 2016 and 2020 campaign slogans. The most popular term used by Trump supporters 'by one or two orders of magnitude' was 'Soros,' referring to George Soros, the Jewish billionaire that anti-Semites use to blame for anyone who resists conservatives." (our emphasis)Neo-fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump encourages this spewing by his cult followers, using loaded and unsubtle language like "globalists" and "nationalists" in his rage speeches. His reference to the tiki torch-bearing neo-Nazis of Charlottesville as "very fine people" was no slip. He knows they form the hardest core of his base, who rejoiced after November 2016 by acts of vandalism against Jewish temples and cemeteries.
We. Must. Vote. Them. Out.
BONUS: Josh Marshall reminds us that Rump's closing campaign ad in 2016 was filled with anti-Semitic dog whistles.
BONUS II: Jay Michaelson says it's time for Trump- supporting American Jews to decide which side they're on --
No amount of pro-Israel policies—no embassy in Jerusalem, no encouragement of settlements, no increased aid—outweighs the existential danger to Jews of the Trump movement’s coddling, or even overt encouragement, of anti-Semitism, racism, and nativism. Even those Jews not motivated by solidarity with Muslims, Mexicans, the media, and others singled out by Trump for opprobrium must now recognize that we Jews, ourselves, are at risk.
