ADL: Extremists Attack John McCain as ‘Pawn of Jews’

    NEW YORK, Aug. 13 /EMWNews/ -- While continuing their

racist attacks against Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic

presidential nominee, white supremacists and anti-Semites have opened up a

similar line of attack against his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain,

claiming that he is a "pawn of the Jews" and an enemy of the white race.



    On extremist Internet forums monitored by the Anti-Defamation League

(ADL), the Republican candidate has come under sustained attack by

anti-Semites and white supremacists who portray him either as pandering to

or being controlled by Jews, and as a "race traitor" for his moderate views

on immigration.



    "While we had expected that the bigots and white supremacists would

focus their anger on Barack Obama as the African-American candidate, what

has happened is that both candidates are equally unacceptable to white

supremacists, who see them as being controlled and manipulated by the

Jews," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "In the warped

conspiratorial worldview of the haters, McCain and Obama are equally

tainted by the controlling hand of Jews, who they allege control the

government and pull the levers of power in Washington."



    ADL, which monitors hate groups and extremist speech on the Internet,

has posted on its Web site examples of attacks against both Obama

(http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/Barack_Obama.htm) and McCain

(http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/race-traitor.htm) by haters on the

domestic scene, as well a cartoon circulated by white supremacists which

expresses their virulent anti-Semitism. The image shows Obama and McCain on

bended knee, pleading and kissing the buttocks of a gross stereotypical Jew

with hooked nose and side-locks. The image is similar to cartoons that have

appeared in newspapers (http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASaw_14/5338_14.htm) in

the Arab and Muslim world portraying both candidates as being controlled

and manipulated by Jews and Israel.



    Editor's Note: For more information or to schedule an interview with an

expert, contact ADL Media Relations at (212) 885-7755 or e-mail

[email protected]. Examples of extremist rhetoric on the presidential race

and more information about domestic extremist groups and movements are

available online at http://www.adl.org.



    A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, ADL neither supports nor opposes

any candidate for political office.



    The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading

organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that

counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.