Antisemitism and Threats Directed at Officials Over Storm Response - NYT

[question everything]

A wave of antisemitic rhetoric and online threats has been leveled at state and federal officials in North Carolina in recent days as they respond to the destructive aftermath of Hurricane Helene, according to a report released on Tuesday by a nonprofit research group that studies online platforms.

Researchers with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the nonprofit, found that on X, the social media platform, 33 posts that contained misinformation about the flood response had together generated more than 160 million views as of Monday. The posts have driven many of the false claims that have been swirling since the remnants of Helene decimated western North Carolina with extreme flooding and mudslides.

(snip)

The antisemitic attacks have been lobbed mainly at the mayor of Asheville, Esther Manheimer, as well as at the secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s director of public affairs, Jaclyn Rothenberg. Posts that questioned Ms. Rothenberg’s loyalty to the United States because of her Jewish heritage had more than four million views on X. Another post that called out Mayor Manheimer’s faith racked up nearly 13 million views on the platform.

(snip)

Kevin Corbin, a Republican state representative in North Carolina, pleaded on Facebook, “PLEASE help stop this junk.” Representative Chuck Edwards, a Republican whose district includes western North Carolina, released a lengthy statement on Tuesday that sought to debunk several false claims, including that FEMA was seizing property and that the government had the technology to geoengineer a hurricane.

More..

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/08/us/north-carolina-floods-antisemitic-social-media.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Q04.WCXk.hPTABMZLDNT-&smid=url-share

(free)

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. You DISGUSTING MAGA fucks will NOT be happy until we are shooting each other in the streets...

Some of us will do WHAT WE MUST to protect this country from you CRYBABY ASSHOLES

[The Roux Comes First]

2. I Hate to Say It, But Is All This Hate Home-grown?

Yes, our familiar clod is always ready to spread hate and lies, he seems to have nothing else to do these days to keep his hands off his balls, but to me this reeks of foreign malignancy. The sort that cheated him into his first "presidency," heh-heh.

[hatrack]

3. Fuck you, Kevin Corbin.

"Ouch!! I stood by and warmed myself st the fire I helped build, and now it"s burning my house, and the fire department sold off the trucks for quick cash!! Waaaahhhhhh!!!!"