Twitter’s new Middle East news boss praised Jew-hating Louis Farrakhan
TWITTER’S NEW head of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) content has posted gushing praise for antisemitic preacher Louis Farrakhan and claimed that Israel was “not born” but “dropped like a bomb” on the Middle East.
Fadah Jassem came under fire on the platform on Monday after she announced her appointment with the post, “Cats out the bag [sic], I’m thrilled to say that I join Twitter as Editorial Curation Lead for MENA today,” followed by a series of regional flags that omitted Israel.
Social media users were quick to raise concerns about her objectivity. The watchdog group StopAntisemitism.org tweeted: “Hey @FadahJassem — seems you forgot something.”
Anti-racism campaigners also pointed to her history of inflammatory tweets. In September 2010, she claimed that Israel was “not born” but “dropped like a bomb” on the Middle East.
Later that year, she praised antisemitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, writing: “Listening to some Louis Farrakhan speeches…
great example of faith transcending boundaries.”
In December 2010, she posted what she claimed was a quote by Farrakhan that read: “We give you our tax dollar to support Israel every year”. Farrakhan has called Jews “termites” and
repeatedly claimed they control a number of countries.
That same month, she again wrote: “Jesus was a Palestinian. Bethlehem is in Palestine. Merry Christmas, and also .... Free Palestine!”
A year later, in a tweet about Israel,
Ms Jassem wrote: “They need to arrange another puppet before this puppet leaves.
“Israel is sh**ting itself. US needs its billion $ investments to pay off.”
Ms Jassem will form part of Twitter’s editorial curation teams.
The team does not produce original journalism, but is responsible for creating Twitter “Moments”, or highlighting news stories from a particular region or event to users. According to Twitter, its curation teams “find and highlight great tweets.”
After her tweets were highlighted by campaigners against antisemitism, Ms Jassem apologised “for forgetting the Israeli flag with reference to MENA as I did others”.
Referring to her past tweets she said: “I can see that I have been illinformed with some tweets when younger.”
In response to Emanuel Miller, an analyst with Honest Reporting, she said: “I apologise for any offence caused by these particular tweets.”
Twitter has been approached for comment.
Israel was ‘not born’ but ‘dropped like a bomb’ in the Middle East
Jesus was a Palestinian. Merry Christmas and Free Palestine