Right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins has been condemnd for blaming the "Chief Rabbi and his support for mass migration" into Europe for the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in which 11 died.
Robert Bowers, the suspected shooter, is purported to have kept a social media account that sent antisemitic messages in the hours before the attack.
Two days after the mass shooting stunned the Jewish communty, Ms Hopkins tweeted she was “watching the pin-the-blame on the donkey".
“Look to the Chief Rabbi and his support for mass migration across the Med," she wrote. "There you will find your truths.”
It is unclear whether Ms Hopkins was referring to Ephraim Mirvis, the UK's Chief Rabbi, or Pinchas Goldschmidt, the Chief Rabbi of Moscow and Europe's most senior rabbi.
Rabbi Mirvis drew support for his stance on the European migration crisis, after leading a delegation of United Synagogue rabbis on a visit to the Idomeni refugee camp, one of the largest migrant centres in Greece, in November 2015.
A month earlier he also raised the matter at a private audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican, urging him to confront the “profound crisis”.
Rabbi Goldschmidt has called for Jews and Muslims to unite to "resist attacks on minority religions and defending religious freedom".
Ms Hopkins, who was dismissed from LBC radio last year after calling for a “final solution” to Islamic terrorism, was widely condemned by a host of political and cultural commentators.
Journalist David Aaronovitch said Ms Hopkins, who has longed sought to provoke people with extreme statements on a variety of issues, had "gone the full fascist".
And Hopkins goes the full fascist. From Apprentice to Auschwitz in five celebrity hops. And here's the question: since she didn't start off here, how on earth did she find this place?
— David Aaronovitch (@DAaronovitch) October 29, 2018
Kate Maltby called her tweet "repulsive".
This is repulsive. And should be contemplated by everyone who has enabled the career of Katie Hopkins in the UK. https://t.co/WiVsQSXeWq
— KateMaltby (@KateMaltby) October 29, 2018
Journalist Tanya Gold called Ms Hopkins "disgusting".
I think we all know what you would have had to say about Jewish immigration from central and eastern Europe in the late 19th century, and before the war. You're disgusting.
— Tanya Gold (@TanyaGold1) October 29, 2018
Food writer Jay Rayner added: "Katie Hopkins says the blame for the Pittsburgh massacre of Jews lies with... the Jews. Feel free to report this tweet to Twitter. By the thousand."
Astonishing. Katie Hopkins says the blame for the Pittsburgh massacre of Jews lies with... the Jews. Feel free to report this tweet to Twitter. By the thousand. https://t.co/qWD2K97OpW
— Jay Rayner (@jayrayner1) October 29, 2018
Rabbi Mirvis’s office declined to comment when contacted by the JC.
