Obama criticizes those who publish 'vile anti-Semitic conspiracy theories'

Former US President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign rally in support of Pennsylvania Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for the US Senate, in Pittsburgh, November 5, 2022.

Obama lashed out at celebrities and people in positions of power for "creating a dangerous atmosphere" and posting "vile anti-Semitic conspiracy theories" online, and urged Americans to question what they read online.

"You don't need to study history to understand how dangerous and unacceptable this is," the former president told a crowd of Democrats at a rally in Pittsburgh ahead of midterm elections scheduled for next week.

Obama's announcement comes amid several controversies surrounding US celebrities accused of posting and distributing anti-Semitic content.

Most recently, NBA star Kyrie Irving faced backlash for posting a subsequently deleted tweet linking to an anti-Semitic documentary and only apologized after he was suspended from matches by his Brooklyn Nets.

Rapper Kanye West has been embroiled in controversy over a series of anti-Semitic remarks and tweets. Since then, the controversy has deepened, with white supremacists adopting his remarks and using the phrase "Kanye is right about the Jews."

And despite West being banned from Twitter for his rhetoric, he was recently allowed to return.

"Just a few days ago, my friend Paul Pelosi was attacked in his own home," Obama said, referring to the attack apparently directed at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week.

“Here’s what’s clear from Pittsburgh,” he told the cheering crowd, “our habit of demonizing political opponents, saying crazy things, creates a dangerous atmosphere. And when you have people in leadership positions who promote or ignore excessive rhetoric, and then when it happens such an attack, they neglect it, they joke about it, then more people will get hurt."

Obama continued, "Moreover, we are violating the core spirit of our democracy, the spirit of who we are as Americans."

Following the attack on Paul Pelosi, new Twitter owner Elon Musk — a self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist" — tweeted a conspiracy theory that Paul was attacked by a man he met at a gay bar.

“Whether out of malice or ignorance, we have recently seen major celebrities re-post vile anti-Semitic conspiracy theories online. And I don’t understand when we decided that we would just believe everything we read on the net,” Obama said. on Saturday.

"Here's a piece of advice for you if you read or see something online where there's some grand theory about how any particular group, be it blacks or whites, Jews, Catholics, immigrants or gays, are the cause of all your problems, it's safe to say that this is rubbish. This is a lie. This is a dangerous poison. And we must challenge and end this kind of thinking," he stressed.