German drugstore chain shows ad with antisemitic conspiracy rapper
German and Israeli Jews say they will no longer shop at Rossmann
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALThe rapper Massiv.(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
BERLIN – The giant German drug store chain Rossmann sponsored an advertisement with a rapper who has advocated an antisemitic conspiracy theory against Israelis during the jihadi plane attacks on 9/11 in New York City.Rossmann is the second largest retail drugstore in Germany, with a total of 4,088 stores and 56,200 employees.The German rapper Wasiem Taha, who is of Palestinian origin, circulated on social media a statement that “On September 11, 2001, 4,000 Israelis did not show up for work at the World Trade Center.” A caption under the statement and a picture of a passenger plane about to strike a WTC tower reads “More facts about Islam.”Taha wrote above the social media post: “Weird, isn’t it.”Taha fantasized in a song a number of years about a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv with a bomb belt.The popular Rossmann video advertisement targets a young audience and addresses the post-coronavirus climate: “Clubfeeling 2020. So that we all celebrate after corona.”Customers are showed wearing face masks so they can later party.In 2018, the left-wing daily taz wrote that the Berlin rapper Massiv promoted a “9/11 conspiracy theory and hate speech against Israel.” The paper said that Massiv is “without a doubt pro-Palestinian” in regards to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.Taha was born in Germany in 1982.A Rossmann spokeswoman sent a company statement to The Jerusalem Post on Friday. The statement said "We are against any form of antisemitism...Massiv distances himself today from his earlier antisemitic statement."
Rossmann wrote that Massiv assured the drug chain in a statement that "I distance myself from hate, violence, war and antisemitism. Since 2015, I have completely defused my texts from negative expressions and profanity. I am working wih youths in different projects. My music is motivating." Rossmann said the advertisement was a one time deal with the rapper and the company does not plan to work with him again. The German Jewish and pro-Israel activist Malca Goldstein-Wolf told the Post on Friday that “The impression arises that Rossmann does not take antisemitism seriously. Anyone who spreads conspiracy theories about Jews stokes hatred of Jews."She said that "a well-known company like Rossmann does not immediately end its cooperation with the rapper Massiv in times of increasing antisemitism and does not apologize for the wrong decision is a slap in the face of Jewish customers. I will no longer shop at Rossmann stores.”Arye Sharuz Shalicar, who was born in Germany to Jewish-Persian parents and made aliyah in 2001, and author of the book The New-German Antisemite – Do Jews today belong to Germany? – tweeted: "always have shopped at Rossmann. I will refrain from that from now on. Why? Because Rossmann paid an antisemitic conspiracy theory rapper named Massiv to promote the company. Or how do you understand this agitation from him after 9/11?”
