Spokane Rabbi Targeted By Anti-Semites After Advertising Holocaust Event

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By Sam Kestenbaum June 5, 2017

A Spokane, Wash. rabbi is facing online anti-Semitism after advertising a Holocaust memorial event on Facebook.

“It’s not a good feeling to have hundreds of Jew haters verbally attack you,” said Rabbi Yisroel Hahn, who had created a Facebook page to advertise an upcoming speaking event of Holocaust survivor Marthe Cohn.

Hahn told local TV station KREM that he received dozens of hateful comments.

Some posts read “The Holocaust did not happen” and “Shut your lying Jew mouth and stay away from our white youth.”

Others reportedly show the Star of David on fire with a caption asking readers to spit on flag of the state of Israel. “These are the forces of darkness,” Hahn told told another station.

“It points the finger that we really need to bring a Holocaust survivor to speak,” he said.

Hahn, a Chabad rabbi, even invited those who posted on his Facebook page to show up: “Go and educate yourself and show up at the Holocaust survivor speech.”

Email Sam Kestenbaum at kestenbaum@forward.com

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 kestenbaum@forward.com and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum.

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