Antisemitic conspiracies flourish in wake of Soleimani assassination

The US strike that killed Qasem Soleimani has sparked numerous antisemitic and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories that attribute the decision to Jewish and "Zionist" control of US President Trump.

(From right to left) Congressman Gregory Meeks; Governor Andrew Cuomo, UJA CEO Eric Goldstein; Senator Chuck Schumer; Mayor Bill DeBlasio; US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand; JCRC CEO Michael Miller; and New York State Attorney General Letitia James march against antisemitism across the Brooklyn Bridge. (photo credit: COURTESY JAKE ASNER - UJA-FEDERATION OF NEW YORK)
(From right to left) Congressman Gregory Meeks; Governor Andrew Cuomo, UJA CEO Eric Goldstein; Senator Chuck Schumer; Mayor Bill DeBlasio; US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand; JCRC CEO Michael Miller; and New York State Attorney General Letitia James march against antisemitism across the Brooklyn Bridge.
(photo credit: COURTESY JAKE ASNER - UJA-FEDERATION OF NEW YORK)
The US strike that killed Qasem Soleimani has sparked numerous antisemitic and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories that attribute the decision to Jewish and "Zionist" control of US President Trump, the latter often used as a code word for Jews, according to a report released by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Figures on both the far-left and far-right have been employing antisemitic conspiracy theories, including from white supremacists and other overt antisemites, but activists on the far-left have also accused Israeli or Jewish lobbies of having a powerful influence on US foreign policy.
In response to the conspiracies, Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO said that “for now, these conspiracies are limited to the extremist fringe, where anti-Semites typically look to any major world event as justification for their bigoted views. Our concern is this steady drumbeat of anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric may contribute to an environment in which more overtly antisemitic beliefs take root and move from the fringes into the mainstream.”
One conspiracy suggests that Jews and wealthy Jewish Republican donors have been pushing the president to attack Iran.
“The Jewish race,” wrote one white supremacist blogger, “has always manipulated and conscripted others into fighting off their racial enemies.”
Iran's Press TV, a hotbed of conspiratorial accusations, said that “the Jews want Iran to attack America,” because they “want America to get into a war with Iran, for Israel.”
Other examples, on both the far-right and far-left, have included White supremacist Paul Nehlen, who wrote on Telegram saying that “the kikes who own Orange Man were gonna have their war with Iran one way or another. Go fill up your gas tanks tonight. Gasoline will spike like a MF while you sleep. The kikes will have had advanced knowledge of this…watch all sorts of economic smash [sic] in the next 72 hours.”
Henry Makow, an anti-semitic conspiracy theorist, said that US foreign policy under Trump will lead to a third world war between the "Islamic world" and "political Zionists" aimed at "[culling] the Goyim”, which will bring a “Masonic Jewish banker world government.”
Gordon Duff, another antisemitic conspiracy theorist who runs Veterans Today, said to Press TV that Jared Kushner is an "Israeli handler" that received orders from Israel to kill Soleimani.
Antisemitic propagandist, Nathanael Kapner of the “RealJewNews” website, discussed in an interview with “ex green beret” Joe Cortina the potential of war with Iran, in which the latter said that it will be “brought to you by IsraHell and its pawn in the White House, and by the infestation of treasonous Jewish agents throughout America, along with countless Gentile shills who make a living out of sending our boys into harm’s way.”
Lastly, former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, another known antisemite from the far-left, tweeted “Guaranteed: Trump’s @POTUS statement about Soleimani and Iran was written in Israel. ALL LIES. @realDonaldTrump Zionist puppet.”