Liverpool tweet receives antisemitic responses

Friday 26 Sep 2014
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Liverpool FC’s official Twitter account received a series of antisemitic messages from abusive users after publishing a tweet wishing their Jewish supporters a happy new year.

The club marked Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year in the Hebrew calendar, with a tweet on Friday that read: “Liverpool FC would like to wish all our Jewish supporters around the world a happy new year. #RoshHashanah”. However, the tweet was removed several hours later.

Liverpool have recognised various religious events and holidays on social media and was one of several clubs to mention Rosh Hashanah on Twitter on Friday. Kick It Out contacted Anfield officials having received a number of complaints about the antisemitic abuse on the club’s site. It has also reported the alleged hate crimes to True Vision, the Police’s online reporting facility, and investigations could follow.

A spokesperson for Kick It Out said: “It is encouraging that a football club recognises these holidays and religious landmarks – Liverpool did the same for Ramadan – but extremely sad when a club does that in a proactive manner and gets these responses. Premier League clubs appeal to supporters around the world and it would have been nice for Liverpool’s Jewish supporters to see this message from their club, that’s the bigger issue.”

Liverpool removed their tweet independently of any advice from Kick It Out and have defended the response on a site followed by 3.22m people. A club spokesperson said: “Due to a number of offensive comments that were attached to a tweet on the official LFC twitter account, the tweet and comments have since been removed from the account.”

Merseyside Police are currently looking into the racist abuse that was directed at Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli after he tweeted “Man Utd…LOL” after Manchester United fell to a 5-3 defeat at Leicester City.

From the Guardian

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