“I reject antisemitism in any form,” Doug Mastriano has said, in response to the controversy over his use of the right-wing social media site Gab as a “consultant” to his campaign. Pennsylvania's GOP gubernatorial nominee later quietly closed his account. We’re glad he rejects antisemitism, but he needs to specifically reject Gab’s antisemitism. He has not done that, and that raises questions about how seriously he meant his rejection of antisemitic bigotry.
Antisemitism was part of Gab’s brand, and founder and CEO Andrew Torba’s profile, before Mastriano signed on with them. Torba clearly approves of his site being used to threaten Jews. Mastriano either failed to do basic homework, or knew exactly who he was associating with.
In October of last year, Gab’s official Twitter account (which has since been suspended) assailed America’s “Judeo-Bolshevik” society. And Torba regularly refers to “Zionists” on Gab, including claiming that “Zionists” created the Federal Reserve Bank. This all happened before Mastriano paid Gab $5,000 in “consulting fees” that resulted in every new Gab user following his account, and appeared on Torba’s podcast.
Now the antisemites on the platform have attacked Jewish state Rep. Dan Frankel. He represents the neighborhood where the Tree of Life massacre occurred and has spoken out about Gab’s relationship with Mastriano.
“Words of hate quickly turned into the deadliest attack on Jewish people in U.S. history” less than four years ago at the Tree of Life synagogue, Miri Rabinowitz wrote in these pages last week. The shooter was “a prominent and verified user of Gab, consistently posting neo-Nazi propaganda and repeatedly calling for violence against Jewish people.” He called Jewish people the “children of Satan.”
These weren’t generic words for Rabinowitz. Her husband, Jerry, was one of the 11 people murdered that day.
Other social media try, however ineptly, to eliminate such speech. Gab is happy to be characterized by it, and even actively promotes it. As Gillian McGoldrick reported, after the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle reported its story about Frankel, Torba shared the story to his profile — and thereby to every user — with the comment: “Whine more. Seeth more. Free speech lives here on Gab and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Including ‘offensive’ memes and words.”
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with being an outside-the-mainstream politician, as Mastriano surely is. But such figures must ensure they don’t ally themselves with hate-mongers and the unhinged, whom they attract as blood in the water attracts sharks. They must make clear where the line between them and the extremists is, and be clear that they will never cross it.
Mastriano did not do this. He did the opposite. Now the extremists he chose as allies have directed their hateful words at Frankel, and will direct them at others. As Rabinowitz said: “Let’s be clear: Words of hate can bring about acts of hate.”
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