Al Jazeera Sorry For ‘Mistakenly’ Tweeting Anti-Semitic Meme

By Sam Kestenbaum June 1, 2017

After tweeting (then deleting) an anti-Semitic meme on Wednesday, Al Jazeera apologized and called the post an error.

“This is not AJE image but a reply to an old thread that was mistakenly linked,” Al Jazeera English tweeted. “We apologise for the error.”

The image was originally tweeted on Wednesday to promote a story about climate change.

Al Jazeera later deleted the post, but Twitter user Eli Meixler quickly took a screenshot.

The meme is known as the “Happy Merchant,” and depicts a hook-nosed Jew in a yarmulke rubbing his hands together. BuzzFeed has called the character the “internet’s favorite anti-Semitic image.”

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

Sam Kestenbaum is a contributing editor and former staff writer for the Forward. Before this, he worked for The New York Times and newsrooms in Sana, Ramallah and Beijing. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO