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‘The Zionists Always Get Their Way’: Libertarian Party of Michigan Posts Antisemitic Cartoon Depicting Jews as Puppet Masters
A cartoon tweeted by the Libertarian Party of Michigan on May 8, 2024 that has since been deleted. Photo: Screenshot
The Libertarian Party of Michigan on Wednesday posted an antisemitic cartoon depicting Jews as puppet masters who control both the Democratic and Republican parties in the US.
The graphic was posted on multiple social media platforms, but gained particular traction on X/Twitter, where it received widespread blowback but also a chuck of support — garnering over 1,000 likes before it was ultimately deleted.
The Libertarian Party of Michigan did not respond to The Algemeiner‘s request for comment for this story.
“I know some people think of me as ‘libertarian.’ I have used that word to describe myself at times,” journalist Brad Polumbo wrote in response to the graphic. “But please understand that I have no affiliation whatsoever with whatever the f–k this is.”
Max Abrahms, a professor of political science at Northeastern University, wrote, “I’ve found that foreign policy libertarians are more likely to (1) view themselves as smart, (2) view themselves as smarter than they are, (3) condescend when they’re dilettantes on national security issues, (4) and yes have issues with Jews.”
This is not the first time the Libertarian Party has been accused of promoting antisemitism. In August 2022, the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire posted a now-deleted tweet reading, “Six million dollar minimum wage or you’re antisemitic,” in a reference to the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Then, a few months later, the national party tweeted out a depiction of Sam Bankman-Fried — the fraudster who ran FTX — that many argued was antisemitic.
Additionally, the Mises Caucus wing of the Libertarian Party invited an activist named Bryan Sharpe (or Hotep Jesus), who many consider antisemitic, to speak at its convention back in 2021. A Mises Caucus leading member said, regarding the invitation: “I don’t actually think that someone who is trying to be a truth-seeker and understand what’s going on — and asked the question about whether or not Jews run Hollywood is an antisemite.”
Many observers have pointed out that it is important to make a distinction between the Libertarian Party and people who generally think of themselves as libertarian, arguing the latter merely describes a worldview that prioritizes liberty in economic and social affairs. Meanwhile, the party is seen by many to have been taken over by extremists.
Liz Wolfe, a journalist at Reason, noted she believes “the better question is ‘What’s going on with the Libertarian Party?’ Certainly not the same as libertarianism.”
“I mean, I don’t feel like their antisemitic posting represents what I value,” she continued. “Far from it.”
The post ‘The Zionists Always Get Their Way’: Libertarian Party of Michigan Posts Antisemitic Cartoon Depicting Jews as Puppet Masters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Says Eight Arrested for Suspected Links to Israel’s Mossad Spy Agency
The Mossad recruitment ad. Photo: Screenshot.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday they had arrested eight people suspected of trying to transmit the coordinates of sensitive sites and details about senior military figures to Israel’s Mossad, Iranian state media reported.
They are accused of having provided the information to the Mossad spy agency during Israel’s air war on Iran in June, when it attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and killed top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
A Guards statement alleged that the suspects had received specialized training from Mossad via online platforms. It said they were apprehended in northeastern Iran before carrying out their plans, and that materials for making launchers, bombs, explosives and booby traps had been seized.
State media reported earlier this month that Iranian police had arrested as many as 21,000 “suspects” during the 12-day war with Israel, though they did not say what these people had been suspected of doing.
Security forces conducted a campaign of widespread arrests and also stepped up their street presence during the brief war that ended in a US-brokered ceasefire.
Iran has executed at least eight people in recent months, including nuclear scientist Rouzbeh Vadi, hanged on August 9 for passing information to Israel about another scientist killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Human rights groups say Iran uses espionage charges and fast-tracked executions as tools for broader political repression.
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Body of Idan Shtivi, Murdered on Oct. 7, Retrieved from Gaza in Special IDF Operation
Idan Shtivi. Photo: Courtesy of the family
i24 News – The body of Idan Shtivi, a 28-year-old murdered by Palestinian jihadists at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, was recovered in a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet in central Gaza, it was cleared for publication on Saturday.
Shtivi’s remains were returned to Israel alongside the body of Ilan Weiss, another hostage killed during the October 7 massacre.
“Idan Shtivi was abducted from the Tel Gama area and brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists after acting to rescue and evacuate others from the Nova music festival on October 7th, 2023. He was 28 years old at the time of his death,” read an IDF press release.
“Following an identification process conducted at the National Center for Forensic Medicine, along with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, the Hostages and Missing Persons Headquarters notified his family.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Shviti “was a gifted student of sustainability and governance, and a courageous individual” who acted heroically on October 7, helping others flee.
“He was killed in the process and his body was abducted to Gaza by Hamas. My wife and I send our heartfelt condolences to the Shtivi family. So far, 207 hostages have been returned, 148 of them alive. We will continue to act tirelessly and decisively to bring back all our hostages—living and deceased.”
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Woman Stabbed at Ottawa Grocery Store in Latest Antisemitic Attack
A social media post by the alleged attacker, Joseph Rooke of Cornwall, Ontario. Photo: Screenshot via i24
i24 News – The stabbing of a Jewish woman at an Ottawa grocery by a man with a long history of antisemitic posts on social media, the latest antisemitic hate crime in Canada, sparked outrage and prompted condemnation from officials including the prime minister.
Both the victim and the attacker are in their 70s. The woman is reportedly in serious condition.
The suspect was identified as Joseph Rooke, who has authored a series of lengthy rambling screeds on social media, ranting against Israel and Jews.
“Judaism is the world’s oldest cult,” he writes in one post, going on to say “over time jews have become insidious in governments, businesses, media conglomerates, and educational institutions in order to do what they do better than anyone else. Jews are the world’s masters of propaganda, gaslighting, demonization, demagoguery, and outright lying. Using their collective wealth they have become masters of reprisal.”
“I am under no obligation whatsoever, legal, moral, or otherwise, to like jews and I do not. If that means I meet the jewish definition of an anti-semite, so be it.”
Canada has seen a steep spike in antisemitic attacks over the past two years, including a recent incident in Montreal where a Hasidic Jew was beaten in front on his children.
After Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned the incident, many, including former Israel’s ambassador the US Michael Oren, pointed out that Carney’s rhetoric and policies contribute to the increasing insecurity of Canada’s Jewish community through uncritical embrace of outrageous and easily disprovable allegations that Israel and its supporters were guilty of the worst crimes against humanity.