On Sunday, StopAntisemitism, a pro-Israel watchdog group, labeled Cusack its “Antisemite of the Week.” The actor rejected the claim and accused the group of smearing him and other activists to distract from Israel’s destruction of Gaza.
Accusation
In a post on X, StopAntisemitism accused Cusack of calling Hamas a “charitable organization” and claiming that “Hamas was financed by the Israeli government.” It tagged his agency and asked why the organization was “repping this bigot.”
Firm denial
Cusack responded by calling the group’s accusations “a list full of lies.” In a separate post, he dismissed them as a “smear to distract” from Israel’s actions.
Firing back
Cusack also accused StopAntisemitism of “weaponizing racism against peace activists.” “I want to know if people who follow them know” about this behavior, he wrote. “If they know do they condone this vile behavior?”
Posting rampage
Cusack then retweeted dozens of pro-Palestinian — though not pro-Hamas — posts on X. In one of these posts, an X user said StopAntisemitism needs “to be reminded of the true definition of antisemitism, which does NOT include legitimate criticism of Israel. Criticizing a state that has massacred 25,000 people (11,000 kids) is not antisemitic. Period.”
Death toll
In 2022, StopAntisemitism was described as an “Islamophobic, anti-Palestinian website” by Islamaphobia dot org, which is run by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Other critics of Israel that have been branded with the “Antisemite of the Week” label include the secretary general of Amnesty International, MSNBC Host Mehdi Hasan, Gigi Hadad, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Trevor Noah, Palestinian-American Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd.
Dubious origins
StopAntisemitism was founded and is run by Liora Rez, who Islamaphobia dot org describes as a “right-wing extremist.” According to the CAIR watchdog, Rez “obsessively attacks human rights activists, Muslim leaders, and people of color, particularly African-Americans,” focusing “most of her attention on supporters of Palestinian human rights.”
Shameful choices
“Rez also frequently ignores far-right leaders and groups with antisemitic views so long as they support the Israeli government,” the watchdog notes. “For example, Rez has never once listed former president Donald Trump on its website despite his long history of antisemitic remarks.”
Personal ties
In 2022, Trump was criticized for meeting with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, both of whom have espoused antisemitic views. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Fuentes is an open Christian white nationalist and holocaust denier who “frequently relies on antisemitic tropes about Jewish control of media and political institutions.”
Widespread influence
In 2020, Al Jazeera reported that StopAntisemitism was working with the Israeli government to try and convince Facebook to change its algorithms to include criticism of Israel as antisemitism. According to the report, under this definition of antisemitism, “those who speak out against the subjugation of Palestinians are called antisemites.
Attacking ordinary people
In November, CTECH reported on StopAntisemitism’s widespread use of doxing against individuals criticizing Israel or voicing support for Palestinian human rights. According to CTECH, the doxing “is intended to create economic and social consequences in the real world – to threaten the current or future workplace, the study scholarship or university registration.”
Public shame
The group also publicly shames people criticizing Israel or supporting Palestine. In the weeks following the October 7 attacks, a van circled a Harvard campus with a huge digital sign emblazoned with pictures of students who had signed a letter accusing Israel of being responsible for the violence. The pictures were labeled, “Harvard’s leading anti-Semites.”
Fact check
In October, the Times of Israel reported that “Netanyahu propped up Hamas” for years. In December, the New York Times reported that Netanyahu had allowed and even encouraged billions of dollars in payments from the Qatari government that benefited Hamas.
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