Promoting Anti-Jewish Sentiments
The finalists for the much-discussed “Antisemite of the Year” competition, hosted by @StopAntisemites on Twitter, have been unveiled: the top three finalists are Rashida Tlaib, a US Congresswoman; Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas; and Gigi Hadid, a model of Palestinian heritage.
The competition, aiming to spotlight individuals who promote anti-Jewish sentiments, has sparked heated discussions due to the contentious nature of the nominees’ actions and statements.
Rashida Tlaib
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of the United States joined a Facebook page that applauds Hamas for the attacks it continues to execute at various locations. Tlaib, a congresswoman from the Democratic Party, belongs to the “Palestinian-American Congress” group. This group is not visible to outside users or listed in Facebook’s internal search engine.
Tlaib requested a visit to Israel in 2019 to see her grandmother, who was 90 years old then. However, the then-Interior Minister, Aryeh Deri, stated that he would only grant the request provided Rashida refrains from advocating for an Israel boycott while in the country.
Tlaib tweeted that she chose not to visit her grandmother due to the oppressive circumstances, which conflicted with her principles of battling racism, oppression, and injustice. She also declared that she would not travel to Israel for the foreseeable future.
In a subsequent tweet, Deri alleged that Rashida’s stance was a deliberate provocation, adding that her animosity towards Israel surpassed their affection for their grandmother.
Gigi Hadid
The first phase of the hostage exchange saw the release of 13 Israeli women and children from Hamas captivity. Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian American supermodel Gigi Hadid shared a false story with her 79.1 million Instagram followers.
The tweet claimed that Israel, before October 7, has been accused of being the sole nation detaining children as prisoners of war and engaging in a history of torture, rape, humiliation, and killing Palestinians for years. The tweet featured an image of Palestinian terrorist Ahmad Manasra, who, at the age of 13, tried to kill Jews in Pisgat Ze’ev, critically wounding a 20-year-old Jewish youth and a 13-year-old Jewish boy. Strangely, Hadid’s post omitted this information.
The model also claimed that Israel had abducted Manasra when he was 12 and held him in isolation despite his severe health issues following his capture. Gigi further said that there are hundreds of Palestinian youths enduring imprisonment and suffering in Israeli jails.
But four days after publishing the article, Hadid published another piece in which she took back her previous comments and expressed optimism for the hostages’ rescue. “In order to demonstrate this idea, I gave the wrong example. I made a mistake,” she wrote.
In a post she made before the start of the conflict, Hadid expressed empathy and sorrow for the Palestinian struggle, acknowledging that she has a sense of responsibility to support and care for her Jewish friends.
While explaining her daughter’s stance using his Instagram account, Gigi’s father, a billionaire real estate developer, Mohamed Hadid, compared the State of Israel to the Nazi party. However, the post was no longer visible on the account four hours later.
Ismail Haniyeh
As the head of the political bureau of the terrorist group Hamas since its founding in 1987, Haniyeh is responsible for some of the most horrific and severe murders and attacks against Israelis and Jews. Such attacks include shootings, kidnappings of soldiers, suicide bombings on buses, and the October 7 massacre.
In addition to being a terrorist organization, there has also been ample evidence of antisemitism among its members on numerous occasions. In an interview with a popular international media outlet, President Isaac Herzog disclosed that a copy of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” translated into Arabic was discovered in a children’s room Hamas used as a terrorist headquarters in the Gaza Strip.
According to reports from terrorist investigations into their involvement in the Black Sabbath massacre, Hamas gave them orders to murder women and children, decapitate heads, and even violate bodies. The group, whose leaders include Haniyeh, was the target of a terrorist strike that also set off a global antisemitic movement.
Meanwhile, there has been a 500% spike in anti-Jewish incidents worldwide since October 7. @StopAntisemites stated that it would announce the winner of the “Antisemite of 2023” on January 8, 2024.
