FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate told Congress Tuesday that the FBI uncovered a social media account featuring anti-Jewish and anti-immigration posts which it believes to be associated with Thomas Crooks, the gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump. Addressing a joint hearing of the Senate judiciary and Homeland Security committees, Abbate shared that the FBI uncovered over 700 comments posted by this account between 2019 and 2020, but did not name the platform on which the comments were made. 

 

The limited information led to speculation on social media doubting the validity of the FBI findings. The CEO of the alt-right platform Gab, Andrew Torba, shared on X that the FBI requested to see posts from a different account on his platform which the FBI also believes to be associated with Crooks. Arguing against the FBI’s claims, Torba indicated that the Gab account posted only seven times, saying the account was “unequivocally pro-Biden” and in favor of a lenient immigration policy. This tweet has over 28 million views at the time of writing, with many of the comments and reposts suggesting users on the platform agreed with Torba’s sentiment. 

Deputy Director Abbate was asked about the Gab account during the joint session of Congress and said the FBI is also looking into the account in question. Abbate suggested that the account he was referring to initially was not on Gab and also reiterated that the FBI has yet to confirm that either account truly belonged to Crooks.

This week, conversations about instances of antisemitic vandalism and graffiti increased by 150% compared to last week, mainly due to multiple instances of vandalism carried out against Jewish institutions throughout the nation. Individuals on social media were quick to report on the vandalism and voice their outrage over the incidents. 

 

The Jewish Federation of greater Pittsburgh and Chabad of Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, PA, the same neighborhood in which the Tree of Life shooting happened in 2018, were vandalized with antisemitic graffiti featuring an inverted red triangle symbol. This symbol, often used by Hamas as a way to identify Israeli targets, became more popular after October 7 to represent Hamas and glorify its use of terrorism. Additionally, signs reading “We Stand with Israel” were defaced across homes in Squirrel Hill. In response to the attacks, Chabad of Squirrel Hill will be hosting a pre-Shabbat “Fight with Light” gathering tonight.

 

Police are also investigating a series of antisemitic incidents in the Bay Area. On a highway overpass, a group held a banner with antisemitic language and placed flyers containing antisemitic rhetoric on cars in a parking lot in the same area. In addition, people in three vehicles dropped flyers in driveways of homes in Napa. Social media posts discussing vandalism and graffiti spiked around the times of the attacks.

Additionally, in Canada, signs at two synagogues in Toronto were set on fire. The incidents are being investigated as hate-motivated arson committed by one person. Community members belonging to Kehillat Shaarei Torah are worried that antisemitism has been allowed to fester and hasn’t been taken seriously. According to Toronto police, hate crimes are up nearly 55% since last year and Jews are the most targeted group in the city. 

At the end of June a group of well-known antisemites gathered in Somerset, KY, at the “JP” (Jewish Problem) Conference, as reported by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The conference featured a series of speeches given by White supremacists, far-right extremists, and other antisemites espousing anti-Jewish rhetoric and hate. 

 

The conference was also live streamed on the official conference websites and participants uploaded clips of the conference to mainstream social media such as X. Social media reaction to the event was low other than some of the participants sharing clips of their own speeches and a small number of accounts which celebrated them. In the clips speakers shared sentiments such as:

The blatant antisemitism on display at this event was unprecedented according to the ADL, and highlights the steep rise in antisemitism we are experiencing in the United States. The phrase “Jewish problem,” a phrase often used interchangeably with the “Jewish question,” has historical troubling roots tied back to the Holocaust. The phrase was used in the 19th and 20th centuries by European philosophers who claimed the presence of Jewish minorities in European countries was a problem that needed to be solved, and was used by the Nazis to justify “the final solution to the Jewish question” which led to the Holocaust.

 

In an interview with newspaper Israel Hayom, Pennsylvania State Representative Mark Gillen spoke about his plans to build a Holocaust museum in Berks County in the face of growing antisemitism, a project which received the support of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Gillen previously founded the Berks Military History Museum in the city of Mohnton, which houses World War II artifacts which is reportedly popular among the general public. So far, Rep. Gillen has acquired concentration camp uniforms and Stars of David from the Warsaw Ghetto. 

 

Rep. Gillen reported he has faced threats and harassment as a result of his plan to build the Holocaust center. Gillen was targeted with antisemitic slurs and comments of Holocaust denial on social media; the harassment became so severe that a bomb squad was placed on standby during the ceremonial groundbreaking of the museum in 2021. In response Gillen said that he “wasn’t expecting the effort antisemites took to shut down my project,” and added that the waves of harassment “only validated that we should be doing this.” 

 

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue recently released a new study uncovering a network on TikTok sharing neo-Nazi content. The research uncovered over 200 accounts which have generated millions of views of content openly supporting Nazism. The key findings of its research include:

 

 

 

 

 

FCAS is a nonpartisan, registered 501c3 non-profit organization. We do not support any political party or candidate. We never endorse candidates for office. We do call on everyone, regardless of political affiliation, to support the fight against Jewish hate and all hate.

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