A Reporter Got An Anti-Semitic Death Threat From A Trump Supporter

Hadas Gold, who writes about media for Politico, is the latest in a growing number of journalists and public figures to receive anti-Jewish hate from people who say they're Donald Trump supporters.

A reporter for Politico is the latest person to receive threats and anti-Semitic messages from a self-described Donald Trump supporter.

Hadas Gold runs Politico's On The Media blog, and on Monday, a photoshopped image was tweeted showing her with a bullet hole in her forehead and the yellow badge the Nazis used to mark Jews.

"Don't mess with our boy Trump or you will be first in line for the camp," a message with the image said.

The Twitter account that sent the message has been suspended. Twitter does not comment on individual accounts, but its policies prohibit promoting violence or attacking people based on race, ethnicity, and other personal characteristics.

A spokesperson for Politico said the threats were made by email as well as via Twitter.

"POLITICO notified Twitter of the threatening and vile tweets, and Twitter acted promptly to suspend the account. There were many more tweets and emails, some even more vile if that is imaginable. A police report is in the process of being filed."

The threatening message comes at a time when anti-Semitic activity online has been on the rise — particularly targeting journalists and public figures. In June, a congressional candidate in California said she received persistent hate and harassment after her cell phone number and personal email were posted on a neo-Nazi blog. White nationalists have repeatedly said they're hoping for a Trump victory, and the alt right has turned old-school hate speech into memes.

At the same time, Twitter has struggled — and by some accounts, failed to prioritize — addressing harassment on its platform.

Though the account that harassed Gold was suspended shortly after the message was sent, others remained. Journalist Julia Ioffe, who contributes to Politico magazine and has written about Melania Trump, tweeted about what had happened to Gold.

In response, a newly created Twitter account named after a neo-Nazi blog sent her a gif of her face inside an oven, along with the yellow badge designating her as a Jew.


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