JK Rowling Blasts British Anti-Semitism On Twitter

JK Rowling Image by Getty Images

The woman who wrote a seven-book series featuring unforgettable Jewish side-character Anthony Goldstein has taken to Twitter to call out instances of anti-Semitism across the web.

JK Rowling, as handy with a click as she is with the quill, took to the web on Monday to post screenshots of anti-Semitism from the internet, focussing on the current fraught conversation surrounding British Parliament members and Jews.

Rowling, one of Twitter’s most prominent and enthusiastic justice-focused posters, tweeted five screenshots showing social media users engaging in what she labeled #antisemitism. Three identified instances in which people used association with Israel as a way to accuse Jews of crimes in an attempt to avoid the label of anti-Semitism. “When challenged, out comes the stock defense [sic] of the racist alt-right. #antisemitism” she captioned a screenshot in which a user seemed to use the word “Zionist” as a euphemism for Jew. In another, a Twitter user solicited a rabbi to comment on an article on the website “The Synagogue of Satan,” titled “The Secret Jewish History of World Domination.”

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Rowling’s tweets are most often concerned with disavowing prejudice, and she’s been on a specifically Jewish tear as British politicians continue to be accused of and associated with anti-Semitism. She retweeted British MP Anna Turley’s status about the origins of the Holocaust on Friday, and British professor David Hirsch’s thread about the legitimate fear of anti-Semitism in the UK that same day. Two weeks before, she shared an article from the UK Spectator, called “The Old Left and the New Anti-Semitism,” following another tweet highlighting Jewish citizens’ fears of anti-Semitism in her country.

Rowling has 14.4 million followers on Twitter, and she’s not Jewish. She doesn’t have to be doing this, but she is. Her support is a reminder that allies can be found in the darkest places of the internet — if one only remembers to turn on the light.

Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at Singer@forward.com or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

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