For the third year running, an anti-Semitism watchdog will crown the winner of its annual "Anti-Semite of the Year" competition out of a list of individuals who stood out for their anti-Jewish and anti-Israel bias over the passing year, including pop stars, top executives at multinational corporations and even U.S. congresspeople.
U.S. non-profit StopAntisemitism has compiled a shortlist of ten individuals who have outwardly displayed anti-Semitism over the last year with the aim of directing a spotlight to their bigotry.
Online users can vote for their pick for the dubious honor through the group's website.
The competition's first vote ran until December 5, and a day later, the group announced the three finalists picked by the users — Ben & Jerry’s board of directors chair Anuradha Mittal, British pop star Dua Lipa, and U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
U.S. ice cream parlor chain announced last July it will stop selling its products in the "Occupied Palestinian territory" and ordered its Israeli franchisee, who operates independently, to cease marketing the company's products in the West Bank.
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Ben & Jerry’s board of directors chair Anuradha Mittal
(Photo: S Martin/Flickr/Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic)
Mittal is believed to be behind the decision as a quick look into her Twitter history revealed consistent anti-Israel rhetoric and harsh criticism of Israel's policy toward the Palestinians, including support for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
Singer Dua Lipa repeatedly attacked Israel on social media during the country's war against Palestinian terrorist factions in the Gaza Strip.
Republican congresswoman Taylor Greene has made it on the list following a series of controversial remarks she made.
In a post she shared and later deleted on Facebook in 2018, the Georgia lawmaker pushed a conspiracy theory that claims a laser beam — launched from space at the initiative of Democratic politicians and several companies, including Rothschild Inc — is responsible for a series of wildfires in California.
Jewish groups and other prominent figures accused Taylor Greene of "promoting wild anti-Semitic conspiracy theories."
In her election campaign last year, the Republican drew much criticism after she took a picture with Chester Doles, a Georgia man with deep-rooted ties to white supremacist groups, who has since "shown remorse" for his neo-Nazi past and is trying to make headway up the Republican Party's ranks.
In June, Taylor Greene was a guest on a podcast in which she compared the COVID-19 measures adopted by the Democrats who control the House of Representatives, including the mask mandates, to the gold star badges that the Nazis made Jewish people wear on their clothes during the Holocaust.
"You know, we can look back in a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star and they were definitely treated as second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany," Greene said on the podcast.
Taylor Greene eventually apologized for her remarks weeks later after receiving wide bi-partisan condemnation.
The vote is set to run until December 27 when StopAntisemitism is set to announce the winner.