By JERUSALEM POST STAFFJew Jitsu 311(photo credit: Courtesy)
A Facebook page noting the increased presence of Orthodox Jews in the Irish town of Midleton appeared online earlier this week, using words and images that could easily be construed as anti-Semitic.The page, titled “The invasion of Jews in Midleton,” has already received 384 “Likes” from members of the popular social networking site.Midleton is a town 22 km. east of Cork, which has had a Jewish population since a wave of immigrants arrived in the late 19th century from Eastern Europe.The page photo has a picture of an ultra-Orthodox Jew bending down in the street in an awkward position with the caption “Jew Jitsu.” The page administrator also added a video post to the page of British-Jewish comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in character as anti-Semitic reporter Borat singing the song “Throw the Jew Down the Well.” While it was unclear whether the Facebook page had been created with anti- Semitic or purely humorous intent, it was not the first time the Web site had published pages insensitive to Jews or even blatantly anti-Semitic.At the end of July, the site took down a page written in French that advertised a “spa” at the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, with “spa services” including a “river of Jewish blood” and “saunas using gas.”Another murderous anti-Semitic theme appeared on Facebook, also in July, when a user calling himself Alex Cookson launched an open invitation to an “event” called “Kill a Jew Day.” The page urged users to engage in violence “anywhere you see a Jew” between July 4 and July 22. A large image of a swastika was placed at the top of the page. Under the heading “description,” Cookson wrote, “You know the drill guys.” It was the fourth call to murder Jews that had been put on Facebook within a short period.Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.
