Ann Coulter, the 53-year-old ultra-conservative commentator and author who has become perhaps the most prominent Donald Trump supporter in the media, set off a backlash Wednesday when she posted a comment on Twitter appearing to attack “f*****g Jews” who support Israel — and to whom she said Republican presidential candidates were “pandering” in their comments during Wednesday’s debate.
But even as Coulter was widely condemned for what critics called her naked anti-Semitism expressed in the Twitter post — and Coulter’s later protestation in a follow-up post stating, “I like the Jews” — her remark also set off an outpouring of support on the social media micro-blogging platform, with the hashtag #IStandWithAnn reportedly accumulating more than 7,000 tweets.
The hashtag brought out an alarming flood of anti-Semitic remarks from users who said they supported Coulter’s stance.
#IStandWithAnn Because I’m sick of having the Holocaust shoved down my throat every time I dare to question the merits of diversity
— A Big Goy (For You) (@juliusebola) September 18, 2015
#IStandWithAnn funny how the jews are claiming they don’t control of anything, while at the same time telling @AnnCoulter her career is over — hail europa (@haileuropa9) September 18, 2015
#IStandWithAnn because the only thing that will make @Sethrogen funny is Zyklon B
— The Cuckservative (@cuckservative) September 17, 2015
@AnnCoulter Why not just declare Earth a Holocaust Memorial Planet and be done with it? #IStandWithAnn — Jean-Nicolas (@pinga_leche) September 17, 2015
“The tweets were a hodgepodge of typical anti-Semitism, which questioned whether Jews could even be loyal to the United States,” wrote Karol Markowicz in the Jewish magazine Forward . “Her comments opened the door for Holocaust-deniers, Israel-haters and plain old Jew-haters to point to Ann’s comments as a mainstream affirmation of their beliefs.”
The#IStandWithAnn hashtag even included a cartoon featuring the age-old, offensive stereotype of a Jewish person with a large, hooked nose.
It’s racist of us goyims to point out #jewishprivilege ! #istandwithann pic.twitter.com/c6yetdqyYT
— Nocuck (@Nocuckservative) September 17, 2015
But one Jerusalem Post political correspondent saw at least a certain type of value in the outpouring of #IStandWithAnn tweets. The tweets, she noted, appeared to expose the hatred of Jews that often lies behind attacks on U.S. support for Israel.
The #IStandWithAnn crowd’s honesty is refreshing. I’m used to trolls pretending they don’t hate Jews, just Israel. Not these guys! — Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) September 18, 2015
The support for the Ann Coulter attack on “f*****g Jews” was not confined to Twitter , either. Former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke — who ran for president himself in 1988 — devoted a segment of his radio show to support for Coulter’s remark, stating that he would “applaud her” for her stance.
Even Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, supported Coulter in her attack on Republican “pandering” to what she described as “f*****g Jews.”
US govs put their people under Zionists custody. Isn’t it a shame that presidential candidates try to satisfy Zionists&prove their servitude?
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 17, 2015
Who’d have thought that @khamenei_ir & @AnnCoulter have so much in common. Make a cute couple! #IStandWithAnn https://t.co/SN7Vt1Mlzx
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 17, 2015
Ann Coulter continued on Thursday that despite the #IStandWithAnn hashtag on Twitter, her post was not anti-Semitic. “My tweet was about Republicans and the pandering,” she told The Daily Beast . “It wasn’t about Israel, it wasn’t about Jews.”
[Image: Ann Coulter Twitter Feed]