By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
Actor Sacha Baron Cohen took a stand against anti-Semitism on Twitter. As Israel continues to battle rockets as well as negative publicity amid the recent conflict with Palestinians and Hamas, few have spoken to defend Israel or call out anti-Semitism. On Sunday, Baron Cohen, the 49-year-old Borat actor, stood out, blasting Twitter and its CEO, Jack Dorsey, for allegedly enabling anti-Semitism on the social media platform. “The surge in antisemtism on the streets is fueled by antisemistism on social media,” the actor wrote on Twitter on Saturday, tagging both the platform and Dorsey, its founder. “Why do you allow #HitlerWasRight ?!” he wrote. “Those who celebrate the Holocaust aim to perpetuate another. #StopHateForProfit.”
As reported by the NY Post, Baron Cohen was reacting to a report by the Anti-Defamation League released on Friday which revealed that over 17,000 tweets used variations of the phrase “Hitler Was Right” between May 7 and May 14, following the days of violence between Israel and Palestinians. “ADL has also seen an increase at times in on-the-ground activity that demonized Israel and that has crossed at times into anti-Semitism,” the ADL report added.
The number of disturbing tweets referenced by the ADL report highlights a frightening jump, with 193 reports in anti-Semitic incidents in the week following the beginning of the conflict in Gaza, compared to 131 the week before. “As the violence between Israel and Hamas continues to escalate, we are witnessing a dangerous and drastic surge in anti-Jewish hate right here at home,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said on Friday. “We are tracking acts of harassment, vandalism and violence as well as a torrent of online abuse.”
Baron Cohen’s comments on Twitter moved others to react as well. Actor Mark Ruffalo tweeted support, tagging Dorsey the following: “You had the wisdom to block Trump from Twitter for inciting violence and disseminating disinformation. Please use that same wisdom to stop antisemitism and anti- Muslim propaganda on this platform today.” Ruffalo is best known for his portrayal of Bruce Banner/the Hulk in the ‘The Avengers’ movies.
Baron Cohen, a filmmaker, known for his humor in defying political correctness and the “Da Ali G Show”, was also recently in the news for winning the Comedic Genius award at the MTV Movie & TV Awards. This year during the Golden Globe Awards he had announced that he was retiring his famous Borat character, saying it was “probably the most dangerous project I had to work on.”
