WATCH: DC councilman promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theory in Facebook video
WASHINGTON — As a few snowflakes fell in D.C. Friday morning, one D.C. Council member took to Facebook to vent about the weather, embracing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that a wealthy Jewish family is controlling the weather.
“It’s climate manipulation and D.C. keep talking about ‘we are a resilient city’ and that’s a model based off the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man. Be careful.”
The Rothschild family is a wealthy family of bankers from Europe who have been the subject of many conspiracy theories stemming from anti-Semitic prejudice that allege they are manipulating world events to their advantage.
The Washington Post said they reached out to White for clarification, to which he wrote, “The video says what it says.”
At around 9 p.m. Sunday, White posted a response on his various social media platforms, apologizing to the Jewish community.
I did not intend to be anti-Semitic and I see I should not have said that after learning from my colleagues,” said White. “I have spoke to leaders and my friends at Jews United for Justice and they are helping me to understand the history of comments made against Jews and I am committed to figuring out ways continue to be allies with them and others.”
D.C. Councilwoman Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1) reached out to WTOP, saying White discussed the Facebook post with her Sunday.
“I believe he is being truthful when he says he didn’t realize what his statement implied,” said Nadeau. “It is my sincere hope that my colleague has learned from this experience…”
The Anti-Defamation League reported anti-Semitic incidents more than doubled in 2017 compared with 2016.
Like WTOP on Facebook and follow @WTOP on Twitter to engage in conversation about this article and others.
© 2018 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for commenting. Your comments are needed for helping to improve the discussion.