Facebook CEO faces anti-Semitic backlash after posting photo of his dog wearing a kippa and tallit.
By United With Israel Staff
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced a cascade of anti-Semitic comments after posting a photo of his dog, Beast, wearing a kippa and prayer shawl on Tuesday. Both were embroidered with Jewish stars.
The photo was one of several photos of the Puli breed of Hungarian Sheepdog that Zuckerberg posted. Other photos featured Beast with one of Zuckerberg’s children, wearing a green St. Patrick’s Day hat, and with a cake.
Many of the more than 6,000 comments posted to the kippa photo were simply images of Palestinian flags, or maps depicting the entire Holy Land as Palestinian. The kippa photo also had 4,400 likes and 8,000 angry emojis. None of the of the other photos prompted angry emojis.
In response to the hostile reactions, Moti Ankari commented, “Lol literally this post has nothing to do with israel…. And here are the comments. Reminder antizionism goes hand and hand with antisemtism”
And the American Jewish Committee tweeted ,”No one is safe from Jew-hatred. Not even Mark Zuckerberg‘s dog. @Facebook‘s CEO posted a cute picture of his pet wrapped in a Star of david scarf and with a kippa on his head. He has since been inundated with antisemitic abuse. We must make sure social media platforms are free of hate.”
No one is safe from Jew-hatred. Not even Mark Zuckerberg‘s dog.@Facebook‘s CEO posted a cute picture of his pet wrapped in a ✡️ scarf and with a kippa on his head.
He has since been inundated with antisemitic abuse.
We must make sure social media platforms are free of hate.
— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) July 14, 2021
Zuckerberg’s post highlighted the Dogspotting Society Facebook group, where he had recently done a question and answer session about new features for Facebook group administrators.
The dog photos were posted to Zuckerberg’s 116 million followers.