Anti-Jewish commentary is flooding the Internet in the wake of Bernard Madoff's arrest on charges of masterminding fraud

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Anti-Semitism floods Internet after Madoff scandal, Jewish group says

by: Maureen Shamee Updated: 21/Dec/2008 00:35

Bernard Madoff's alleged 50 billion dollars Ponzi scheme drained the finances of private investors, philanthropic foundations and banks.



NEW YORK (EJP)---Anti-Jewish commentary is flooding the Internet in the wake of Bernard Madoff's arrest on charges of masterminding one of the biggest Wall Street frauds in history, a Jewish group fighting anti-Semitism said.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) spoke of "an outpouring of anti-Semitic comments on mainstream and extremist websites."

The public comment sections of highly trafficked news sites, blogs, and financial message boards that are filled with anti-Semitic comments, mostly from anonymous users, the group said.

The Jewish businessman’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme drained the finances of private investors, philanthropic foundations and banks.


Madoff, 70, is Jewish and a prominent member of the powerful US Jewish community. He is alleged to have defrauded investors, including a number of Jewish-related charities, of some 50 billion dollars.


“Site users have posted comments ranging from deeply offensive stereotypical statements about Jews and money -- with some suggesting that only Jews could perpetrate a fraud on such a scale -- to conspiracy theories about Jews stealing money to benefit Israel,” the ADL said in a statement.

“ These and other anti-Jewish tropes have appeared on popular blogs devoted to finance, in comment sections of mainstream news outlets and in banter among users of Internet discussion groups.

ADL’s national director Abraham Foxman said that “Jews are always a convenient scapegoat in times of crisis, but the Madoff scandal and the fact that so many of the defrauded investors are Jewish has created a perfect storm for the anti-Semites.”.

"Nowadays, the first place Jew-haters will go is to the Internet, where they can give voice to their hateful ideas without fear of repercussions."


The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said that the public comment sections of highly trafficked news sites, blogs, and financial message boards that have featured material on the scandal

The League gives on its website (www.adl.org) examples of these anti-Semitic postings and features selected anti-Jewish comments posted to white supremacist and extremist websites relating to the Madoff scandal.

"Blogging and social media sites are changing the way people communicate their reactions to events in the news and interact with each other,"said Foxman.

"More people are online than ever before, and many more websites offer users the ability to comment immediately and anonymously. Those who harbor anti-Semitic beliefs feel most comfortable expressing themselves in cyberspace, where they can provoke a reaction from others or find like-minded individuals to affirm their beliefs."

ADL said popular news sites in New York and Florida – the two epicenters of the Madoff story – have seen their share of anti-Semitic posts since the scandal broke.

At one point the comment section of The Palm Beach Post featured numerous anti-Jewish posts. They were subsequently removed by the site’s administrators.

Other high-traffic sites with anti-Semitic posts have included the comment-enabled sections of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Forbes, New York Magazine, the New York Post, and Israeli websites of Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post.

Examples of anti-Semitic postings quoted by ADL include:

“The greed and corruption of the Jews has brought the financial system and the American economy low.” – post by “jeanrenoir” on portfolio.com.

Ho hum, another Crooked Wall Street Jew. Find a Jew who isn’t Crooked. Now that would be a story – anonymous post on dealbreaker.com.

One Jew thief robs another bunch of Jew thieves – I suppose that’s what you’d call a victimless crime. I suppose if he’d not scre*ed his fellow Jews – and robbed us poor gentiles it would’ve been absolutely kosher, eh?” – post by “XDFXDFXDF” on nymag.com.

“Nice he could manage to send money to Isreal (sic) and pass the losses on to US investors.” – post by “cbmiked” on Forbes.com.

“Just another jew money changer thief. It’s been happening for 3,000 years. Trust a Jew and this is what will happen. History has proven it over and over. Jews have only one god – money.” – post by “Adolf” on PalmBeachPost.com.

Madoff is “another Jew banker … The Sec is filled with Jewish gatekeepers who routinely turn a blind eye to jewish financial bandits … It’s no conspiracy that the Jews are the source of all the financial troubles in the world.” – post by “Thieving Bastards” on sunsentinel.com.