Melissa Joskow / Media Matters
Before setting out to allegedly perpetrate what’s believed to have been the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in American history, the Tree of Life synagogue shooter went on Gab to write a post in which he blamed Jewish people in the U.S. “for bringing in an invasion of nonwhite immigrants.” In the past 24 hours, Fox has peddled the same talking point twice during its prime-time programming, showing that the network is not above promoting the same baseless, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that have motivated violent extremists.
On the April 10 edition of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity hosted conspiracy theory-monger Glenn Beck, who said the migrant caravans were “directly” funded by “George Soros and others” (George Soros is Jewish). Beck then directly addressed President Donald Trump -- a common practice at Fox -- saying the caravans are “an assault on the republic” and that “we can’t fight the enemy if we won’t call them by name.”
And while fearmongering about immigration during the April 10 edition of his show, Fox Business’ Lou Dobbs claimed “left-wing money, a lot of groups” and “the United Nations” (which the Tree of Life shooter also mentioned) were behind caravans of migrants headed for the U.S. border.
Though Dobbs didn’t specifically mention Jewish people, he has peddled the conspiracy theory of Jewish groups funding migrant caravans enough times that “left-wing money” has become a dog whistle for his intended audience. Dobbs and others at Fox News repeatedly peddled this conspiracy theory in 2018 with little repercussion. After Judicial Watch’s Chris Farrell claimed on Dobbs’ show that the “Soros-occupied State Department” was helping fund a group of migrants traveling to the United States, people widely criticized the show, with Variety noting that “citations like that are typically meant to allude to Jews,” and Fox condemned the statement, banning Farrell from the network. But soon after, Dobbs showed the hollowness of Fox’s attempt to curtail anti-Semitism on its airwaves; as Dobbs tried to wrap up a segment in another episode, one of his guests said criticizing Soros was not anti-Semitic. Dobbs laughed, adding, “I’m certainly glad that I didn’t just break away there.”
Additionally, Dobbs’ baseless comments about migrants have been celebrated in the past by conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones, whose site Infowars pushed the conspiracy theory that the United Nations and George Soros is behind the “migrant caravan invasion.”
After the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre and even after Soros himself was directly targeted with a pipe bomb, right-wing media figures continued their attacks on him. Dobbs posted a tweet, which he later deleted, saying, “Fake News--Fake Bombs.”
Many journalists and media figures noticed yesterday’s episode of blatant anti-Semitism and its connections to the Tree of Life massacre. But to Fox, it’s business as usual.