Rep. Cicilline urges Pompeo to address growing online anti-Semitic trends

Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-RI) has requested Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to acknowledge combatting online anti-Semitism addresses movements domestically and across the globe during next week’s State Department conference.

“Anti-Semitic cyberhate is a serious global challenge, and we must consider how all leaders – including our own – must do better to ensure that they are part of the solution,” Cicilline wrote in correspondence to Pompeo. “A new ADL report documents a deluge of problematic content on Twitter directed at the Jewish American Members of Congress currently running for reelection. The vast majority of these messages either draw on false conspiracy theories regarding George Soros or attack the loyalty of Jewish American lawmakers.”

Cicilline serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and is currently the highest-ranking Jewish member of the House Democratic leadership team. He encouraged highlighting the importance of what he called national leaders fighting the intersection of anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant scapegoating.

“I hope you will utilize your platform at the State Department’s international summit this month to highlight – and seek solutions to – these specific challenges, which I believe comprise a major part of what fuels anti-Semitism today, both online and ultimately in the physical world,” Cicilline concluded.