Hate speech triggered Pittsburgh shootings

The new tolerance in the US for bigoted commentary is behind the increase in anti-Semitic violence. It is why 11 Jews were killed in a synagogue this week, says Zach Schapira.

Hate speech triggered Pittsburgh shootings

The new tolerance in the US for bigoted commentary is behind the increase in anti-Semitic violence. It is why 11 Jews were killed in a synagogue this week, says Zach Schapira.

On Saturday, the world awoke to the horrifying news of a synagogue shooting in the US city of Pittsburgh during Sabbath services.

Robert Bowers, armed with an assault rifle and three handguns, charged into the sanctuary of the Tree of Life temple, yelling “all Jews must die”, before spraying bullets indiscriminately on the worshipers.

He killed 11 and wounded six others. It is believed to be the deadliest attack on Jewish people in the history of the US.

Debates are already raging about gun control, the death penalty, and security at houses of worship. But this tragedy, while similar to other recent mass shootings, is also very different.

Coming on the heels of a record-breaking increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the US, it represents a continued escalation in violence against Jewish people. Emerging from a pattern of tolerated hate speech, it serves as a reminder that Americans must address the increasingly permissive environment in the US, which trivialises anti-Semitism.

Shortly after the shooting, we learned that the murderer was active on Gab, a social network that advertises its protection of free speech above all else. In recent weeks, he posted comments, such as “jews are the children of satan” and “there is no #MAGA, as long as there is a kike infestation”.

He called one member “a deceptive little oven-dodger” for debunking a rumour that trucks marked with the Star of David were bringing migrants to the US.

Unsurprisingly, this did not appear to violate the platform’s community guidelines, which reserve the right to police explicit calls for violence, but make no mention of hate speech.

Though Bowers wrote “screw your optics, I’m going in” just minutes before the shooting, it was too late.

Only after the attack did Gab close the account and refer it to the FBI. (Gab was offline Monday, posting a message that it was “under attack” and inaccessible, while it transitioned to a new hosting provider.)

Some may be comforted knowing that such disgusting speech is at least relegated to a small forum for bigots to blow off steam. But the problem is significantly greater. This isn’t just the stuff of fringe, extremist websites.

According to an extensive study by the Anti-Defamation League, some 3m users posted 4.2m English-language anti-Semitic items to Twitter between January 29, 2017, and January 28, 2018. Three million people, spewing hatred at Jews.

In at least one prominent case, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan blamed society’s moral decadence on the “Satanic Jew and the synagogue of Satan” and later quipped: “I’m not an anti-Semite. I’m anti-termite.”

While Twitter removed his blue verification badge after the first tweet, they apparently did not find the second in violation of any existing policy.

Following an uproar, Twitter said that it would not suspend Farrakhan or remove the offending tweets, because they did not violate Twitter policies at the time.

Bigotry is contagious, and social media companies are failing in their obligation to curtail it.

Anti-Jewish hate speech has also spilled out beyond the internet. Arthur Jones, an avowed Nazi, who told Politico he was running to fight a “two-party, Jew-party, queer-party” system, will be on the ticket for an Illinois congressional seat this November.

One candidate for state office in North Carolina wrote on his campaign website that Jews were the descendants of Satan and that God “is a racist and white supremacist.”

A candidate for the Missouri House of Representatives, during a radio talk show interview, said “Hitler was right”.

This March, a councilman in Washington apologised for a comment accusing the Rothschilds, a prominent Jewish family, of being behind climate change.

Additionally, though more nuanced, plainly anti-Semitic rhetoric is often disguised as criticism of Israel.

US Congresswoman Betty McCollum has repeatedly accused the Israeli military of mistreating and abusing Palestinian children.

Linda Sarsour — a co-leader of the 2017 national Women’s March on Washington — accused Israel of being behind the killing of unarmed black people in the US.

A presentation at the national conference of United We Dream — America’s largest immigrant youth-led community — accused Israelis of sterilising, imprisoning, and murdering Palestinians in order to maintain a majority of white Jewish people in Israel.

While cloaked in language about Israel, these attacks quite clearly cross the line of legitimate criticism, flirting instead with blood libels that have been used for hundreds of years to justify persecution and violence against Jews.

Saturday’s bloodbath must serve as a wake-up call. Generation after generation, demagogues have poisoned minds, but society still underestimates the ability of words to arouse action.

As human beings, our instinctive optimism lulls us into believing the Pittsburgh shooting was an isolated incident.

And America’s reverence for the first amendment blinds the nation to the dangers of letting hate speech fester.

If there’s one lesson from Pittsburgh, it’s this: In all societies, hate speech breeds violence. It follows a predictable pattern, which begins with the dehumanisation and demonisation of a targeted group. Injustice, real or perceived, is then attributed to that group.

Finally, crazed bigots set out to restore what they perceive as justice, with tragic consequences.

The first two ingredients are firmly in place in the US today. Grievously, we witnessed Saturday what happens when you add the third.

Zach Schapira is executive director of the J’accuse Coalition for Justice, a non-profit organisation dedicated to combating anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias.

more courts articles

Man (25) in court charged with murdering his father and attempted murder of mother Man (25) in court charged with murdering his father and attempted murder of mother
Man appears in court charged with false imprisonment of woman in van Man appears in court charged with false imprisonment of woman in van
Man in court over alleged false imprisonment of woman Man in court over alleged false imprisonment of woman

More in this section

Can the University of Limerick's president survive latest controversy? Can the University of Limerick's president survive latest controversy?
Garda inscription on a police jacket from Ireland S Mick Clifford: Why did the Garda disciplinary process over bike-gate take so long?
Calls for international criminal court to end ‘impunity’ for environmental crimes Calls for international criminal court to end ‘impunity’ for environmental crimes
Lunchtime News
Newsletter

Keep up with the stories of the day with our lunchtime news wrap.

Sign up
Revoiced
Newsletter

Sign up to the best reads of the week from irishexaminer.com selected just for you.

Sign up
Cookie Policy Privacy Policy Brand Safety FAQ Help Contact Us Terms and Conditions

© Examiner Echo Group Limited