Twitter Sorry For Making ‘Kill All Jews’ A Trending Topic
Union Temple in Prospect Heights Image by wikicommons
Bright white sneakers. Glass water bottles. Kill all Jews. You know — just trends!
A spokesperson for social media giant Twitter apologized for allowing the phrase “Kill all Jews” to show up on the list of trending topic in the New York area on Friday morning.
The horrifying phrase was “trending” (being tweeted about at a high volume) in reaction to a news report that a Reform synagogue in Brooklyn was vandalized with a series of violent, anti-Semitic phrases, including the words “kill all Jews.” The crime resulted in the cancelation of a get-out-the-vote event that would have been held at the synagogue on Thursday night, hosted by “Broad City” star, comedian Ilana Glazer.
Twitter explained their side of the “kill all Jews” debate in a statement, BuzzFeed News reports:
“This phrase should not have appeared in trends, and we’re sorry for this mistake. This was trending as a result of coverage and horrified reactions to the vandalism against a synagogue in New York. Regardless, it should not have appeared as a trend.”
Oy. Twitter’s algorithm allows “trending” phrases to appear automatically. But would a little oversight hurt? We at the Schmooze noticed the phrase trending for at least fifteen minutes. It looked, to us, like just another example of the new normal for American Jews.
It could have been worse, we suppose. After all, “die Jew rats” was also scrawled on the temple.
Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at Singer@forward.com or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
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.
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 the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
