"The Jewish Junta is getting stronger and more aggressive," the Bracken County Republican Party Facebook page warned in a Friday post, reportedly copying the text from a post by an American Neo-Nazi in what the party claims was a hack of the page.
As first reported by the Louisville Courier Journal's Joe Sonka, the Kentucky GOP branch posted criticism of "Jewish anti-gun activist" Steve Dettelbach, who had just been made director of the ATF.
The post has since been deleted, and Bracken County GOP chair Karin Kirkindol, apologized for the post, saying that the "inappropriate post" did "not represent the values of the Bracken County Republican Party. It was incredibly insensitive. We will investigate how this occurred and we commit to tighter oversight of our social media going forward."
"Our Facebook page was hacked," Kirkendol told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. "We did not post the article, nor do we condone its content. The article did not reflect any of our personal or corporate views. It was immediately removed. We decided to take our site down due to the hurtful nature of the article, and how much harm it was bringing to so many."
Kirkendol continued, saying that "The Bracken County Republican Party would not, and did not publish anything antisemitic -- as some of our very own members have Jewish heritage. Whoever hacked into our account meant to divide. Let’s not give them that satisfaction."
The antisemitic post today by the Bracken County Republican Party was absolutely unacceptable.We appreciate the quick condemnation from Party chair Kirkindol, but the message went beyond inappropriate & insensitive, and further inquiry is needed.Hate has no place in KY. pic.twitter.com/djkdxywjAC
— KY Jewish Council (@KyJewishCouncil) July 15, 2022
On Sunday, The Informant journalist Nick Martin asserted that the text of the post was plagiarized from a post made a day prior by neo-Nazi activist Joseph Jordan.
Jordan, also known as Eric Striker, was featured by the NGO Stop Antisemitism as an April Antisemite of the Week. According to the NGO, Jordan, a white supremacist has contributed to the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer and has been a guest on former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke's podcast.
Jordan reportedly founded the National Justice Party (NJP), a group Stop Antisemitism says are "a fringe group of white supremacists that are virulently antisemitic and frequently accuse Jews of America's problems."
NEW: It turns out a neo-Nazi podcaster first wrote the "Jewish junta" text that was republished Friday on Facebook by the Bracken County Republican Party in Kentucky.Neo-Nazi Joseph Jordan had posted the text on another platform a day prior.Here are the posts side by side. pic.twitter.com/KdJdwI4AKp
— Nick Martin (@nickmartin) July 17, 2022
"The antisemitic post today by the Bracken County Republican Party was absolutely unacceptable," said The Kentucky Jewish Council on Friday. "We appreciate the quick condemnation from Party chair Kirkindol, but the message went beyond inappropriate & insensitive, and further inquiry is needed."
"Reasonable Kentuckians of all political persuasions do not stand for antisemitism," said campaign for Democrat politician Mathew Lehman. "Unfortunately, a handful of extremists who think this language is acceptable, encouraged by our current Rep. Thomas Massie, have taken over parts of the NKY GOP. The latest example reported today from the Bracken County GOP."