Republican National Convention shuts down YouTube comments in wake of anti-Semitic abuse from Trump supporters
Anti-Semitism continues to ominously swirl around the Donald Trump campaign. I even have to block and remove anti-Semitic comments from Jew-hating Trump supporters here on JTF!
The Republican convention shut down comments on its YouTube livestream after anti-Semitic abuse appeared during a speech by Linda Lingle, the Jewish former governor of Hawaii.
Comments including “Make America Jewish Again” punctuated by yellow stars of David and “Ban Jews” appeared on the feed, the liberal news website Raw Story reported.
Lingle, Hawaii’s governor from 2002 to 2010, and now the chief operating officer of Illinois, dedicated much of her speech on Monday to claiming that Republicans have become more reliable friends to Israel than Democrats.
JTA has requested comment from the convention.
The Presumptive Republican nominee has been accused of pandering to anti-Semitic elements of among his supporters ever since he was reluctant to disavow the support of former KKK leader David Duke in an interview a few months ago.
Trump has certainly never expressed support or appreciation for anti-Semitism in any form, but it’s undeniable that some of his most enthusiastic supporters express extreme anti-Semitic sentiments – at least on the internet.
The perpetrators of this abuse are often members of a vaguely defined movement usually called the “Alt-right”, for Alternative Right, and defenders of the movement, such as Breitbart‘s Milo Yiannopoulos, claim that their internet escapades are mainly just a protest for free speech and the freedom to offend, rather than expressions of genuine anti-Semitism.
