Lohud Slammed for Posting Antisemitic Image on Twitter and Instagram

Lohud is coming under fire by community leaders and the Anti-Defamation League for posting an image on Twitter and Instagram that many in the Jewish community saw as blatant Antisemitism.

The image portrayed a person holding pencils tied to a bundle of cash, and was posted along with the following title “Rabbi holds the strings on $76M for East Ramapo School District.” The ‘Lohud exclusive investigation’ is set to be posted on Wednesday, Feb 9th.

“This image draws from the worst millennia-old antisemitic tropes about Jews,” the ADL said. “At a time of rising antisemitism, this is not only irresponsible but dangerous.”

The ADL continued by calling on Lohud to apologize to its readers and the entire Jewish community. “This image should never have been published,” the group added.

In a scathing statement Agudath Israel protested the caricature, and called for a “full apology, and actionable commitment by Lohud to avoid bigoted imagery and coverage of the Jewish community in Rockland County in the future.”

Taking issue with the article itself, Agudah added “we wonder how any article which emerges from an editorial board that approved such a hateful cartoon can pretend to be free from bias.”

Jeremy Barr, a media reporter for the Washington Post, noted that Lohud deleted “obviously offensive” image from Instagram, but it remained on Twitter at the time.

Chaskel Bennett, a community leader and Agudah Board member, called the tweet “shameful,” adding that “at a time of alarming incidents of violence against Jews, it is the height of irresponsibility & recklessness to title an article with such provocative race-baiting innuendo.“

Lohud has since removed the tweet and issued a half apology, according to Jeremy Barr, although the apology doesn’t appear on their Twitter or Instagram pages, where the original hateful image appeared.