Rabbi speaks out against Twitter's Middle East director amid history of anti-Israel tweets
Rabbi Abraham Cooper explains why he does not believe the apology issues by the new Twitter Middle East director over history of anti-Israel tweets and explains the ongoing history of antisemitism.
A prominent rabbi, Abraham Cooper, slammed Twitter on Tuesday after it was revealed that the tech giant's newly appointed Middle Eastern news director had a history of making anti-Israel posts.
"In the case of this woman, it’s like putting the KKK in charge of what your kids are gonna learn about the Civil Rights Movement, from Twitter," said Cooper on ‘Fox & Friends First’ Tuesday. "They just don’t care."
On November 1, Fadah Jassem announced that she was joining Twitter as the editorial curation lead for MENA, ending her tweet with the emojis of many Middle Eastern countries flags, but did not include Israel’s.
Fadah Jassem, Twitter (Fadah Jassem, Twitter)
In 2010, Jassem also tweeted that Israel "was not born," but rather "dropped like a bomb in the middle of Palestine."
Fadah Jassem, Twitter (Fadah Jassem, Twitter)
She later apologized for "forgetting" the Israeli flag and stated that she was "ill-informed with some tweets" she made at a younger age.
Cooper said that Twitter’s new hire was a "statement" to the Jewish community, which has already been reeling from hate crimes across the United States. He added that there is a "huge credibility gap" with Twitter, not just among the Jewish community, but also among Americans generally.
FBI statistics for 2020 showed that Jews in America constitute 58% of all religiously motivated hate crimes. Jews also are the third-largest victims of hate crime out of all minority groups in the U.S. ahead of Muslims, Hispanics, and Asians.
He said that Jassem’s apology "did not pass the smell test" and asked that she send a tweet to and sit down with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, of which Cooper is the associate dean. Cooper added that the larger issue was with Twitter’s management at the San Francisco headquarters.
"Their signal to the Jewish world is we just don’t care about you," Cooper said.
The rabbi noted that Twitter had previously bolstered anti-Semitic messages, allowing over 200,000 tweets a day from ISIS before Congress intervened and "shamed" them to change.
When it comes to the Middle East, Cooper accused Twitter of "living in the last century" and playing a "dangerous game" in a time when "woke culture" has consistently "put Israel on the backburner."
"Frankly, Twitter is part of the problem today, not part of the solution," added Cooper.
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Cooper also added that Twitter could have done a lot more to "degrade" the hate and bigotry directed at Jews online, but instead engaged in a "scandal" to take down former President Donald Trump while allowing Ayatollah Khamenei to talk about a "final solution" for Jews and gays.
"Their arrogance is bottomless," said Cooper.
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