(JTA) — WikiLeaks removed tweets that described some of its Jewish critics as “establishment climbers.”
The account, believed to be run by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, was responding to tweets linking its massive release of Democratic Party leaks with Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin is believed to back Republican Party nominee Donald Trump, and there is evidence that the recent hacking into the Democratic National Committee was carried out by Russians.
“Tribalist symbol for establishment climbers?” said a Wikileaks tweet on Saturday. “Most of our critics have 3 (((brackets around their names))) & have black-rimmed glasses. Bizarre.”
The triple parentheses, originally used by anti-Semitic social media users to designate Jews, has been appropriated by Jewish social media users.
In another tweet, Wikileaks wondered whether the symbol “has been re-re-purposed to now be a tribalist designator for establishment climbers.”
Wikileaks came under fire on social media for the tweets and the account removed them while continuing to defend them.
A subsequent tweet by the account suggested that whoever is running it sought to single out “neo-liberals” who were appropriating an anti-racist symbol. “Neo-liberals” is used as a pejorative on the far left for liberals who embrace foreign interventionism.
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