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Trump Assassination Attempt Ignites Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories; Jews, Israel Blamed for Shooting
Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump is assisted by the Secret Service after an assassination attempt on his life during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, US, July 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump’s life has sparked a wave of conspiracy theories online blaming Israel or Jews for the shooting.
Trump survived an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh, on Saturday, days before he is due to accept the formal 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Trump has said he is in good health after being shot in the right ear — he narrowly avoiding a direct shot to the head by turning his head just as the bullet was approaching.
The FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the suspect in what it called an attempted assassination. Authorities also identified a rally attendee who was shot and killed as Corey Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, Pennsylvania. The state’s governor, Josh Shapiro, told reporters that he was killed when he dove on top of his family to protect them from the barrage of bullets.
Following the shooting, prominent antisemitic internet personalities quickly claimed that the Jews and Israel were involved.
Jon Minadeo, the founder and leader of the Goyim Defense League (GDL) — a a neo-Nazi and white supremacist group — hosted a live audio “Spaces” conversation on X/Twitter titled “”The Jews Try to Assassinate Trump!” in which he blamed the Jews for the assassination attempt, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Conspiracy theorists continued to push the narrative throughout the weekend that the Jews and Israel were responsible for the attempted assassination.
Stew Peters, an alt-right internet personality, responded to a post on X/Twitter questioning why police who were notified of a suspicious character on a roof adjacent to Trump failed to react. “The Israeli-based, American War Machine is responsible for the attempted coup on Saturday,” he wrote. “This was NOT a ‘lone wolf’ scenario as the Israeli-funded ‘media’ would LOVE for you to believe.”
Conspiracy theorists also claimed that the assassination attempt was a plot to remove Trump as the de facto Republican presidential nominee and instead replace him with someone more pro-Israel.
In another X/Twitter Spaces meet-up following the shooting, notable internet provocateurs including Nick Fuentes, Andrew Tate, and Mario Nawful, accused Israel of targeting Trump.
“The [Israelis] tried to discard Trump … it was an attempt to throw him out of there,” said Fuentes, a white supremacist and Holocaust denier.
Nick Fuentes addresses supporters in Detroit: “Donald Trump is taking a hundred million dollars from Miriam Adelson … she only cares about the Jewish state of Israel.” Photo: Screenshot
The conspiracy, according to the Spaces conversation, is that the Israelis want Trump replaced with “someone like Nikki Haley,” who they view as a strong supporter of Israel.
Anti-Zionist activist Sulaiman Ahmed similar wrote on X/Twitter: Opinion: Israel shot Trump to install Nikki Haley.”
During his first term as president, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem; cut aid to UNRWA, the controversial United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees; and helped facilitate the signing of the Abraham Accords, which normalized Israel’s relations with several Arab countries. He also recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic region on Israel’s northern border previously controlled by Syria.
Other conspiracy theorists claimed that Trump’s shooter was Jewish or had a Jewish connection.
A widely circulated social media post from an account called Shadow of Ezra showed someone who looks similar to Crooks — who authorities identified as the shooter — wearing a kippah. In the now-deleted post, the account asked, “What do you notice about Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump?” The post seemed to imply that Crooks’s alleged Jewish background motivated the shooting.
Authorities have not confirmed Crooks’s religion or motive. According to some social media users, the claim that Crooks was Jewish originated from the Southern Gospel Times, a Nepalese content mill. The Algemeiner was unable to confirm that information.
Some online conspiracy theorists also accused the counter-sniper response team that shot and killed Crooks of involvement in a Jewish conspiracy. Some online posts used grainy, zoomed photos to try to show that one of the snipers was wearing a red “Kabbalah Bracelet” in order to promote a broader Jewish conspiracy.
Since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ brutal terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, antisemitism – including antisemitic conspiracy theories online – have skyrocketed globally to record levels amid the ensuing war in Gaza. The ADL released a report in April showing antisemitic incidents in the US rose 140 percent last year, reaching a record high. Most of the outrages occurred after Hamas’ atrocities across southern Israel last October.
Days after the Oct. 7 onslaught, the ADL and the University of Chicago’s Project on Security and Threats published a survey showed antisemitic Americans are more likely to to support violence to achieve their political goals as well as antidemocratic and conspiratorial beliefs compared to the general population. The data found a strong correlation between antisemitism, support for political violence, and antidemocratic conspiracy theories on both ends of the political spectrum.
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American Jew Assaulted in Ireland in Suspected Hate Crime
Two of the Star of David necklaces being sold by SXS Jewels. Photo: Instagram
JNS.org – Three men severely assaulted a Jewish man at nightclub in Dublin last month in what is being described as an antisemitic attack, The Irish Times reported on Saturday.
The man, who was not named but was described as a student from the United States living in Ireland, was wearing a Star of David necklace at the club on Nov. 9 when three men approached him and one of them asked whether he was Jewish, according to the report. When he replied he was, the men attacked, causing him a concussion before security intervened.
One suspect was arrested and may be prosecuted for a hate crime, the newspaper reported.
Israel’s ambassador to Dublin, Dana Erlich, condemned the alleged assault and said there has been an “alarming increase” in anti-Israel discourse in Ireland that frequently “mutates” into antisemitism. Despite the attack, the victim remains determined to stay in Ireland, asserting that antisemitism must be confronted.
Separately, an Irish musician with the rock band Fontaines D.C. used his speech in London while accepting a prestigious award to fulminate against Zionism and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Free Palestine, f***k Netanyahu and f**k Zionism,” guitarist Carlos O’Connell said at the end of his remarks at Friday’s Rolling Stone UK Awards 2024 ceremony in London. His band won The Album Award for its release titled Romance.
Ireland is among the E.U. member states with the most hostile policy toward Israel, and joined Spain and Norway in recognizing a Palestinian state in May.
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US ‘Closely Watching’ Situation Unfolding in Syria, Denies Responsibility
Syrians and Palestinians living in Syria stand next to a poster depicting Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad as they mark the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), in Damascus, Syria April 29, 2022. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
i24 News – US National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said that Washington “is closely monitoring the situation in Syria,” while blaming President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for “the collapse of Assad regime lines in northwest Syria.”
Syrian government forces said that areas north of Hama had been taken back from the opposition coalition, led by Hayat Tahrir a-Sham (HTS).
The offensive, dubbed “Operation Deterrence of Aggression,” began last Wednesday and includes other opposition groups, such as the Syrian National Army.
Savett denied the US was involved in the attack, led by “a designated terrorist organization.”
The push overran Assad forces in Aleppo, controlling important transportation routes after taking swathes of territory. The anti-government forces have reached the outskirts of Hama, on the main highway that leads from Aleppo to Damascus.
Russia replaced Lieutenant General Sergey Kisel, in charge of Moscow’s forces in Syria, amid his tactical failures. The weakening of Assad’s allies – including Russia, Iran, and Shi’ite militias like the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah – created conditions that have led to anti-government forces’ most significant gains against Assad in years.
While HTS has long been considered a terrorist organization by the US, Turkey, and other countries, the Syrian National Army, formerly the Free Syrian Army, is allied with Turkey.
HTS, formerly Jabhat A-Nusra, was founded by Abu Mohammad al-Julani, a warlord tied with Al-Qaeda in the early years of the Syrian civil war.
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Egypt Hosts Hamas in New Gaza Ceasefire Push, Looting Halts Aid
Palestinian women react at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip December 1, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Hamas leaders held talks with Egyptian security officials on Sunday in a fresh push for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, two Hamas sources said, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to convene his security cabinet on the matter, two Israeli officials said.
The Hamas visit to Cairo was the first since the United States announced on Wednesday it would revive efforts in collaboration with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza, that would include a hostage deal.
White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said he thought the chances of a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza were now more likely.
“(Hamas) are isolated. Hezbollah is no longer fighting with them, and their backers in Iran and elsewhere are preoccupied with other conflicts,” he told CNN on Sunday.
“So I think we may have a chance to make progress, but I’m not going to predict exactly when it will happen … we’ve come so close so many times and not gotten across the finish line.”
Residents said the military blew up clusters of houses in the northern Gaza areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, where Israeli forces have operated since October.
The military says it has killed hundreds of Hamas terrorists in that part of Gaza as it fights to stop the faction regrouping. It has also lost around 30 soldiers there in combat with Hamas fighters over the past two months, a relatively high death toll.
Hamas does not provide details on its own fatalities.
The halting of aid deliveries through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing came almost two weeks after a large shipment was hijacked on the same route.
UNRWA’s Lazzarini said it was Israel’s responsibility “as occupying power” to protect aid workers and supplies, and that the humanitarian operation had become “unnecessarily impossible” due to what he said were Israeli restrictions.
COGAT, the Israeli military department responsible for aid transfers, denies it is hindering humanitarian relief into Gaza, saying there is no limit on supplies for civilians and blaming delays on the United Nations, which it says is inefficient.
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