At this seder, don’t talk about the weather
Trayon White Sr., the Washington D.C. councilman who suggested on Facebook that rich Jews control the weather, will go to a Passover seder.
White will be a guest at the first-night seder of Elissa Silverman, another council member, the Washington Post reported. He had his choice of seders — he’s gotten invitations from many Jewish leaders after he’d talked about the relation between the Rothschilds and the weather.
White, a Democrat representing the district’s 8th ward, posted a video early on March 16 in which he accused “the Rothschilds” of controlling the climate to make money — an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that has gained traction on the web. He later removed the video and issued an apology.
The Rothschilds are a well-known European Jewish dynasty descended from a Jewish banker originally from Germany. White did not specify which of the many Rothschilds he was accusing of weather control.
Several days later, there was another video featuring White, although apparently he did not post this one himself. In this second video, he said that the Rothschilds control the World Bank and the federal government.
Internet conspiracy theorists claim that the Rockefeller Foundation’s Resilient Cities initiative, which provides grants to cities, including Washington, to address environmental and economic problems, is part of a plot to control and reduce the population of North America. And some conspiracy theorists also think that the Rothschilds, working with the Rockefellers, have technology that controls the weather.
Silverman, who will host White at the seder, issued a statement describing his Rothschild comments as “hateful and dangerous.” She told the Washington Post that his ignorance about Judaism and anti-Semitism is a call for engagement.
“I want to be very clear that anti-Semitism has no place in civic discussion, but this has shown that there is a lack of exposure to Judaism and anti-Semitism … there are strains of this, especially in Trayon’s community,” she said. “The way to combat intolerance is to engage.”
JTA Wire Service
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