Similarities between “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene are few and far between, but a Jewish watchdog group has named both as semifinalists for its “Antisemite of the Year” award.
For its third annual, publicly voted-on award, StopAntisemitism.org has assembled a motley list of 10 candidates, including a British pop singer, a Palestinian journalist, an ice cream company executive — even a human rights advocate.
Liora Rez, who founded the watchdog group in 2018, notes that the “list of semifinalists encompasses individuals on all sides of the political spectrum and from all walks of life.”
“The Antisemite of the Year Contest is about exposing individuals who harbor hatred and bigotry towards the Jewish community,” Ms. Rez told The Washington Times. “What matters is that these individuals’ beliefs, which they have openly shared with the public, are hateful and anti-Semitic.”
In including Mr. Noah among the semifinalists, StopAntisemitism.org says “he has blamed Israel for defending itself against terrorist attacks and has repeatedly shared [anti-Semitic] tropes on social media.”
For Ms. Greene, the watchdog group notes that the Georgia Republican was “stripped of her committee assignments after her many antisemitic conspiracy theories came to light.”
The other eight semifinalists: social justice activist Shaun King; Mohammed El-Kurd, a Palestinian correspondent for The Nation; Anuradha Mittal, board chairman of Ben & Jerry’s; former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Georgia Democrat; Human Rights Watch Executive Director Ken Roth; Andrew Torba, CEO of the social networking site Gab; British pop star Dua Lipa; and former adult entertainer Mia Khalifa.
Past “winners” were SUNY law student Nerdeen Kiswani, who last year threatened to set fire to an Israeli Defense Forces sweatshirt in a viral video, and Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Democrat, who was under fire in 2019 for comments about Jews pledging “allegiance” to Israel.
After the public votes, the watchdog will announce three finalists on Dec. 6 and a “winner” on Dec. 27.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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