Image by Getty

By Ari Feldman August 15, 2016

Donald Trump used another graphic initially published by an anti-Semitic site last week at a rally in Sunrise, Florida. He held up a chart that purported to show the amount of money several countries in North Africa and the Middle East had paid in order to receive money from the State Department, calling it a “Pay to Play” system. The graphic showed a twenty dollar bill with Hillary Clinton’s face in the center.

The graphic, however, had been tweeted last month by former Klu Klux Klan member and candidate for senator of Louisiana, David Duke. That image had an Israeli flag where the stamp of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York would be. The graphic Trump held up at the Florida rally, on a large piece of poster board, did not display the Israeli flag or a Star of David.

Nathaniel Meyersohn, a reporter for Buzzfeed, first noticed that Duke had originally tweeted the graphic.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

David Duke in July | Donald Trump yesterday pic.twitter.com/Ld32FCWu0c

— Nathaniel Meyersohn (@nmeyersohn) August 12, 2016

The graphic was published on BeforeItsNews.com, a community-sourced conspiracy theory site that has an active UFO search section, warnings of the “coming civil war” and an article stating that Bill Clinton may die from AIDS within a year. In its original form the graphic does not seem to have depicted the Israeli flag. It is likely that Duke added that himself.

Last month Trump tweeted a graphic depicting a Star of David and referring to Hillary Clinton as the “Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!” Trump was roundly criticized for the tweet, which originally came from an online neo-Nazi forum. Trump then changed the Star of David to a circle, before defending the original graphic by saying it was meant to be taken as a sheriff’s star.

“These false attacks by Hillary Clinton trying to link the Star of David with a basic star, often used by sheriffs who deal with criminals and criminal behavior, showing an inscription that says ‘Crooked Hillary is the most corrupt candidate ever’ with anti-Semitism is ridiculous,” Trump said in a statement released by his campaign.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount