FBI CRITICIZED FOR TWEETING LINK TO ANTI-SEMITIC DOCUMENT

For over a century, the fabricated text “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion” has advanced a persistent anti-Semitic trope: that Jews are plotting to take over the world. From Hitler to Henry Ford, rabid anti-Semites have long shared the notorious text.

On Wednesday, an FBI Twitter account did the same. An account called FBI Records Vault tweeted out a link to a PDF containing the anti-Semitic tome as well as FBI documents related to it, with no other context, leaving critics baffled and outraged.

The FBI later apologized and clarified that the account is automated and sends links to records that have been made public via Freedom of Information Act requests.

But outcry over the tweet continued after the mea culpa. In a statement, the Anti-Defamation League condemned the FBI for not noting that the documents are “virulently anti-Semitic.”

The tweet came amid mounting concerns about anti-Semitism. Hate crimes against Jews have been on the rise around the country, with anti-Semitic crimes increasing by 21 per cent in New York City last year. On Wednesday, Trump embraced support from QAnon, an internet conspiracy theory that has touted anti-Semitic tropes that echo those in the “The Protocols.”

Racheline Maltese, an author, tweeted that by not deleting the tweet, the FBI’s apology hasn’t corrected the problem. Maltese warned that the document, without context, “actively puts Jewish people in danger.”