MidEast

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Al Jazeera Tweets Anti-Semitic Climate Change Cartoon

Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera found itself embroiled in controversy on Wednesday after its English-language Twitter account tweeted an anti-Semitic cartoon to promote a story about climate change.

Al Jazeera later deleted the tweet, but not before social media users captured the original content in a screenshot, The Forward reported.

“He, he, he, my global warming, uh, I mean, climate change scam is working out perfectly for our long term Talmudic plan of world domination!” the meme exclaimed.

A screenshot of the anti-Semitic meme shared with a deleted Al Jazeera tweet on Wednesday.

A screenshot of the anti-Semitic meme shared with a deleted Al Jazeera tweet on Wednesday.

The text was accompanied by an image known as the “Happy Merchant,” which depicts a hook-nosed Jew in a yarmulke maliciously rubbing his hands together.  The image was originally drawn by white supremacist cartoonist Nick Bougas, who published his work under the pseudonym A. Wyatt Mann, and appeared alongside other racist material.

The story was tweeted in context to U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw his support from the so-called Paris Agreement, a global initiative designed to address climate change.

After a period of silence, Al Jazeera apologized and called the post an error. “This is not AJE image but a reply to an old thread that was mistakenly linked,” Al Jazeera English tweeted. “We apologise for the error.”

Critics of the Qatari network have accused the broadcaster on more than one occasion of promoting anti-Semitic tropes, particularly through its Arab-language media channels.

[Photo: aljazeera.com]