The site received media attention in April 2004 when it emerged as the first result in aGooglesearch for the word "Jew" and a petition was started to get the site removed from Google search results.[7][8] A scandal in 2006 involved solicitations for donations to aid victims ofHurricane Katrina being redirected to Jew Watch.[9]
Jew Watch claimed that Jews control the world's financial systems and media.[14][15] It also claimed that the "All Anti-Christian Jewish RedCommissars" killed 100 million Christians in Russia from 1917 to 1945 under the orders of "Trotsky, the Jewish Commissar of Commissars".[16] It said that global Jewry is the driving force behind both globalcapitalism andcommunism.[17] The site linked to others which speculate that Jews have committed or are planninggenocide against thePalestinian people;[18] the site also promotedHolocaust denial, maintaining thatthe Holocaust either never happened or was greatly exaggerated.[19]
Controversy
Google Search results
Many news sources,weblogs, and general information sites linked to Jew Watch creating aGoogle bomb that led to the site being the first search result for the term "Jew." In May 2004, Steven Weinstock launched an online petition on RemoveJewWatch.com to remove Jew Watch from Google. By mid-2004 the site had collected over 125,000 signatures.[7][8]
In response to complaints, including one from theAnti-Defamation League (ADL), Google added an explanation to searches for the site. They said their results are automatically ranked by computeralgorithms, and that they do not approve of any of the results.[20]
When it transpired that the anti-Semitic website Jew Watch ranked highest in the search engine Google's results for the search term "Jew", a Remove Jew Watch campaign was established, to demand that Google remove the offending website from its listings. Fortunately for the principle of free speech, Google did not capitulate to this particular demand ... Forced to act on its own initiative, Remove Jew Watch successfully used Googlebombing ... Better still would have been either a proper contest of ideas between Jew Watch and Remove Jew Watch, or alternatively a decision that Jew Watch was beneath contempt and should simply be ignored. Not every crank and extremist warrants attention, even if they do occasionally manage to spoof search engine rankings.[21]
In 2013, Jew Watch was still appearing on the first pages of Google Search results for the term "Jew."[22]
Hurricane Katrina solicitations
St. Louis City Circuit Judge Julian L. Bush permanently barred Frank Weltner and his site InternetDonation.org from soliciting funds in Missouri for charitable purposes after it was revealed by State Attorney GeneralJay Nixon that Frank Weltner had set up multiple websites soliciting funds for victims ofHurricane Katrina and then redirected those wishing to donate to his site that collected money for Jew Watch.[9] A press release from the Attorney General said:
Anyone who takes advantage of the generosity and compassion of his fellow citizens in an attempt to fund his hate-filled Web site should never again be in the position to solicit charitable funds from well-meaningMissourians.[23]
"Racists of all beliefs can find materials to their liking on the Internet. ... One such site, Jew Watch, contains articles and other writings on anti Semitic themes, with such titles as "World War Two Slave Labor Issues and Greedy Jewish Lawyers" and "The Rothschild Internationalist Zionist Banking One World Order Family"."Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the use of the Internet for purposes of incitement to racial hatred, racist propaganda and xenophobia, and on ways of promoting international cooperation in this area. World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. Preparatory Committee Second session. Geneva, 21 May-1 June 2001. Item 6 of the provisional agenda. Review of Reports, Studies and Other Documentation for the Preparatory Committee and the World Conference. United Nations General Assembly. A/CONF.189/PC.2/12. 27 April 2001
"As previously reported, the anti-Semitic site Jew Watch used to be the first item returned from a Google search on the word "Jew," a result that attracted widespread criticism and several online protest campaigns." David Becker.Anti-Semitic site drops off Google,CNET, April 26, 2004. Retrieved May 21, 2007.
"Money donated through multiple Web sites registered to Frank Weltner of St. Louis was redirected to a site that collected money for an anti-Semitic and racist organization, Nixon said ... Nixon said Weltner registered at least 10 Internet domain names with Katrina-related themes, such as donatekatrina.com and katrinafamilies.com. The Web sites showed photos of neighborhoods in rubble and families in peril, along with a pitch to donate. Those who clicked on a link to donate were redirected to a central Web site, InternetDonations.org., the same collection point for individuals pledging donations to JewWatch.com."Nixon obtains permanent injuntion against Jewwatch.com operator who deceptively solicited Katrina donationsArchived 2012-07-22 at theWayback Machine, Attorney-GeneralJay Nixon press release, October 26, 2006. Retrieved May 21, 2007.
"Google's review comes a couple weeks after the Anti-Defamation League and online petitioners expressed concern over an anti-Semitic Web site, Jew Watch, showing up among the top results for the search term 'Jew.'" Verne Kopytoff.Google revisits policy on hate sites,San Francisco Chronicle, April 23, 2004.
"A New York real estate developer has launched an online petition to get an anti-Semitic site removed from Google's index after it came up as the first result when he did a search for the word 'Jew'."Online petition launched against anti-Semitic site,The Age, April 7, 2004.
"Although not mentioned in the Audit, two specific antisemitic web sites came to the attention of the Canadian Jewish community. Jew Watch, a vehemently antisemitic web site, was being listed by an Internet search engine under the 'Jewish Resources' section."1998 Audit of Antisemitic IncidentsArchived 2012-02-10 at theWayback Machine,B'nai Brith Canada. Retrieved May 21, 2007.
"In March, during a casual Web search, the 26-year-old real-estate investor accidentally found that Jew Watch, an anti-Semitic site, was the top Google result." John Brandon.Dropping the Bomb on Google,Wired News, May 11, 2004. Retrieved May 21, 2007.
"... even when they appear on the internet, the antisemitic extremes of Jew-watch.com and the ethnic boosterism of Jewhoo.com seem relics of an archaic time." Vincent Brook.You Should See Yourself: Jewish Identity in Postmodern American Culture, Rutgers University Press, 2006,ISBN0-8135-3845-9, p. 232.
"... Jew Watch (a hate site allegedly reporting Jewish monopoly, banking, and media control worldwide)." Eli M. Salzberger, Niva Elkin-Koren:Law, Economics and Cyberspace. The Effects of Cyberspace on the Economic Analysis of Law. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004.ISBN1-84064-669-1. p. 72
"Racist skinheads connect and reconnect online through a multitude of websites like Stormfront and Jew Watch, which are deep reservoirs of hate ..." Barry Howard Minkin:Ten Great Lies That Threaten Western Civilization Ten Great Lies, 2007.ISBN0-9792904-0-6. p. 140.
^Frank, Weltner."The Jews Who Rule Media".jewwatch.com. Jew Watch. Archived fromthe original on 18 February 2015. Retrieved20 December 2014.Jews Do Rule the Media. This means they can control what we hear, see, think, and largely believe.
