ADL blasts Fox News for calling Bloomberg ‘puppet master’, an anti-Semitic trope

“The use of the term ‘puppet master’ specifically conjures up longstanding anti-Semitic tropes about Jewish power,” said ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

Following a comment by Fox News anchor Raymond Arroyo comparing ex-Jewish NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg to a “puppet master,” the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) sent a letter to the network condemning the use of the anti-Semitic trope.

“This charge, and the comments that followed about Bloomberg’s wealth and power, play into deep seated anti-Semitic canards about Jewish power and money,” wrote Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.

“The use of the term ‘puppet master’ specifically conjures up longstanding anti-Semitic tropes about Jewish power, and the notion of the Jewish puppeteer has figured in anti-Semitic imagery throughout modern history,” he added.

Greenblatt also took to Twitter to blast the anchor’s comments by calling it “disturbing” and unfortunate that “rhetoric from white supremacists & other antisemites” was said on live TV.

On Thursday night’s broadcast of the “The Ingraham Angle,” Arroyo said that Bloomberg’s recent endorsement of former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign will help him become Biden’s “puppet master.”

“Joe Biden won’t actually be in charge of the things if he is elected president. He will be a geriatric Pinocchio whose strings will be pulled by the politicians, activists, or donors currently propping him up. That includes big donor Mike Bloomberg,” Arroyo said.

“Mike Bloomberg is going to have more power than any ordinary American will in a Biden administration,” he said.

This is not the first time that a Fox News anchor has suggested that a wealthy Jew controls events from behind the scenes.

Last September, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs claimed that George Soros uses his “tentacles” to influence nonprofits and other non-government organizations.

“It is extraordinary and I think most people, I’ll include myself, cannot conceive of why a man would fund efforts that would work against sovereignty… and to see his tentacles reach out into various non-government organizations and nonprofits,” Dobbs said at the time.