US financial crisis causes spike in online anti-Semitism: monitor
NEW YORK (AFP) — The US financial crisis has provoked an outpouring of anti-Semitism on the Internet, with Jews being blamed for the debacle on Wall Street, a monitoring group said on Thursday.
“The age-old canards about Jews and money are always just beneath the surface,” said Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which fights anti-semitism.
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“As we witnessed after 9/11, whenever there is trouble or uncertainty in the economy or world events, Jews become the scapegoats and ugly anti-semitic canards are given new life.”
The ADL said it had witnessed “a dramatic upsurge” in anti-Semitic statements on online discussion boards, and Internet service providers were struggling to delete them.
Blogs devoted to conspiracy theories as well as white supremacist and neo-Nazi websites have sought to exploit events on Wall Street and the subprime crisis to support their agendas, ADL said.
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