Controversial activist group Human Rights Watch’s Executive Director posts “Antisemitism is always wrong, but…” tweet
The Executive Director of the controversial activist group, Human Rights Watch, posted a tweet with the phrase “Antisemitism is always wrong, but…”.
Kenneth Roth, an attorney who has headed the organisation since 1993, wrote on Twitter: “Antisemitism is always wrong, and it long preceded the creation of Israel, but the surge in UK antisemitic incidents during the recent Gaza conflict gives the lie to those who pretend that the Israeli government’s conduct doesn’t affect antisemitism.”
His tweet captioned an article about the surge in anti-Jewish racism in Britain over the past few weeks during the conflict between the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group, Hamas, and Israel.
Mr Roth’s tweet appeared to victim-blame the Jews for antisemitism, seeming to justify antisemites holding Jews responsible for the actions or perceived actions of the Israeli Government. According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” is an example of antisemitism.
Many observed that Mr Roth would never countenance blaming other minorities for the hatred visited upon them.
Mr Roth initially doubled down, posting another tweet that said: “Interesting how many people pretend that this tweet justifies antisemitism (it doesn’t and I don’t under any circumstances) rather than address the correlation noted in the Haaretz article between recent Israeli government conduct in Gaza and the rise of UK antisemitic incidents.”
He then deleted the original tweet and reposted the article in a tweet with the following caption: “I deleted an earlier tweet because people misinterpreted its wording. I repost the Haaretz article here without commentary: ‘UK Antisemitism Rose to Record Levels During Israel-Gaza Fighting’ ‘The most intense period of anti-Jewish hatred in recent years.’”
Campaign Against Antisemitism has long called for tougher regulations on social media sites and that social networks proactively search for and remove hate speech from their platforms.
