ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman has issued a statement, saying: "We are seeing some individuals holding anti-Semitic signs at the 'Occupy Wall Street' rallies, and some videos posted on YouTube from the rallies have shown individuals expressing classic anti-Semitic beliefs such as 'Jews control the banks' and 'Jews control Wall Street' "While we believe that these expressions are not representative of the larger views of the OWS movement, it is still critical for organizers, participants and supporters of these rallies to condemn such bigoted statements clearly and forcefully," he added.

Foxman further noted that "there is no evidence that these anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are representative of the larger movement or that they are gaining traction with other participants. However, history demonstrates time and again how economic downturns can embolden anti-Semites to spread malicious conspiracy theories and promote stereotypes about Jews and money. As a consequence, these statements must not be left unchallenged. The League said it will continue to monitor the tenor and messages at the demonstrations to ensure that they do not get hijacked by extremists or anti-Semitic elements.

Our comment: The Occupy Wall Street movement is not a movement in any sense of the word. It is not organized and does not have a unified agenda. Demonstrators come to hold signs expressing their own personal views. No two signs are the same. If the ADL was able to find a few anti-Semitic demonstrators there, it should come as no surprise. They are doing the Jewish people no favor by attracting media attention to these few troublemakers.

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