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At oversight hearing, Moskowitz calls out rising antisemitism on Twitter under Musk

The Florida congressman highlighted increasing Twitter antisemitism under Elon Musk, Republicans’ ties to Kanye West and Nick Fuentes

Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images

Representative-elect Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) gives an interview in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill Nov. 29, 2022.

Freshman Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) — brandishing posters displaying an antisemitic meme directed at him and a now-infamous antisemitic tweet by rapper Ye — lambasted spiking antisemitism on Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform at a House Oversight Committee hearing yesterday featuring former Twitter executives.

“Let’s talk about ‘God bless Elon Musk,’” Moskowitz said, referencing comments from multiple GOP colleagues earlier in the hearing. He held up posters displaying a tweet from Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, in which the artist announced he was going “death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE,” and an antisemitic tweet Moskowitz said was directed at himself, which included a meme of white nationalist provocateur Nick Fuentes. Moskowitz said he is regularly on the receiving end of antisemitic tweets.

“God bless the guy who is allowing Nazis and antisemitism to [permeate] Twitter? There’s been a 66% increase in antisemitism on Twitter since Elon Musk ‘set it free,’” Moskowitz continued, referencing Anti-Defamation League data showing a precipitous rise in anti-Jewish rhetoric on the platform since Musk took over last October.

The Florida congressman also criticized what he characterized as some Republicans’ coziness with Nazis and antisemites..

“It’s not fair to say all conservatives are Nazis… but your lord and savior Donald Trump is having tea and dinner with them at Mar-a-Lago,” Moskowitz said, referencing the former president’s dinner with Ye and Fuentes in November. “No, not all Republicans are Nazis, but I gotta tell you, Nazis seem really comfortable with Donald Trump.”

Moskowitz also addressed a tweet —  “Kanye. Elon. Trump.” — by the House Judiciary Republicans’ account praising Ye, which remained online even as the artist came under increased scrutiny for antisemitic comments.

“It took months for that tweet to come down. How come? I mean, these are things I’d love to know. Is it because maybe they’re your voters?” Moskowitz said, addressing Republicans on the committee. “I mean, they certainly aren’t voting for me.”

Also during the hearing, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, testified that tweets by Musk accusing him of supporting pedophilia “led directly a wave of homophobic and antisemitic threats and harassment against me,” and that Roth ultimately needed to sell his home in response to harassment.

Former Twitter employee Anika Collier Navaroli, who appeared as a witness for Democrats, discussed what she said was a reluctance among Twitter management to take action against violent rhetoric on the site. Navaroli also testified that in the wake of the U.S.’s 2020 killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a decision Trump discussed on Twitter, Twitter management “literally instructed me and my team to make sure that World War III did not start on the platform.”

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