Paul Nehlen Releases Statement From ‘Semitic Liaison’ After Twitter Suspension

Congressional candidate Paul Nehlen has grown closer to white nationalist leaders and thinkers in recent months. Image by Twitter

By Ari Feldman January 25, 2018

Paul Nehlen, the Wisconsin business man running to unseat Republican Speaker Paul Ryan, released a statement from his campaign’s “Semitic Liaison” after being suspended from Twitter. Nehlen was suspended for seven days; Twitter said he violated the company’s rules by making anti-Semitic posts.

The statement was apparently written by Matt Fischer, who goes by @MattsOurSemite on Twitter.

“As a Jew, I cannot help but notice the double standards when it comes to pointing out overrepresentation,” Fischer wrote. “Why is it that we can freely discuss White overrepresentation, but any discussion of Jewish overrepresentation causes such backlash?”

Fischer also referenced the “media charts” Nehlen posted on his Twitter account that assigned Jewish stars to members of major media outlets. Fischer challenged Jewish journalists to “point to even a single name in the charts of a media executive who was falsely identified as Jewish.”

Authorized statement on behalf of the @pnehlen campaign pic.twitter.com/2Ac03CpDGh

— Matt Semite (@MattsOurSemite) January 24, 2018

Fischer’s statement was also posted on Gab, a micro-blogging service similar to Twitter that does not suspend or remove users’ accounts for posting hate speech or offensive content. Twitter’s guidelines state that users cannot “promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease” while using the service.

Correction: January 26, 12:05 p.m. — This post has been updated to reflect that Gab does not remove hate speech or offensive content from its site. Gab’s guidelines state that the company can remove illegal pornography and other illegal content.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. He covers Jewish religious organizations, synagogue life, anti-Semitism and the Orthodox world. If you have any tips, you can email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aefeldman.

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