‘GhostEzra’ And The Tip Of The Iceberg Of Anti-Semitism

Hundreds of thousands attracted to Internet sites

The anti-Semitism that you see is just the tip of the iceberg.
For example, check out an Internet personality who goes by the nom de guerre “GhostEzra” and who has hundreds of thousands of far right, white power, anti-Semitic followers who religiously watch his rants on what is likely the largest anti-Semitic platform on the Internet.
GhostEzra is actually Robert Smart, a 39-year-old Baptist from, where else, Boca Raton, Fla., and he has been described as “an open Nazi who praises Hitler, admires the Third Reich, and decries the supposedly treacherous nature of Jews,” according to a report from the Anti Defamation League (ADL).
Since his first posting on the far right Telegram channel in January 2021, GhostEzra has spread common, threadbare anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Jewish people control the media and banking, that Jews started the first and second world wars and that they are trying to dominate the world. It would be unremarkable in the world of anti-Semitism but for the fact that the postings have had well over 300,000 subscribers since the first posting, according to the ADL. GhostEzra also posts on the far-right network Gab, where he has more than 113,000 followers.
Telegram, an almost entirely unmoderated service, exploded in popularity on the far right fringe in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attacks, which prompted major social media services like Twitter and Facebook to bar violent and misleading information.
GhostEzra is steeped in the QAnon world of lies, disinformation and hatred, as he also has posted unsubstantiated theories about President Biden’s death, the non-existent widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election and claims that the coronavirus is a manufactured tool to control the world.
The ADL report says that anti-Semitism is the thread that links QAnon’s origins at the 4chan social network and its future.
“QAnon’s antisemitism has been most visible at two points: its beginnings — when it emerged from the swastika-studded fever swamp that is 4chan — and the present, when the most popular QAnon influencer, GhostEzra, is an open Nazi who praises Hitler, admires the Third Reich, and decries the supposedly treacherous nature of Jews,” the ADL report says.
Anti-Semitic sites typically use dog whistles to attract attention, like the progressive financier George Soros, who is Jewish and the Rothschild family, a one-powerful Jewish banking family.
“In right-wing conspiracy theories, Soros is portrayed as a malign figure who spends his vast wealth trying to undermine social institutions, fomenting racial discord, and sponsoring ‘white genocide.’ The Rothschilds — a once-powerful Jewish banking family– are, in right-wing conspiracy culture, a stand-in for the old canard that ‘Jews control the banks,’” the ADL reports.
Also common among white supremacists and anti-Semitic groups is jargon like taking a “redpill,” which refers to someone gaining knowledge of how “Jews are pulling the strings of world events and plotting to drive whites into extinction.”
GhostEzra began with a Twitter account until he was suspended for violating the social channel’s rules. He then moved on to Telegram, where his following has exploded and according to the ADL, it has become “the biggest pro-Hitler voice on Telegram and the single largest QAnon influencer on the platform.”
According to published reports, Smart is married with one son and may have run a number of online businesses, including as an Amazon reseller, selling everything from dog food to garden equipment. He was interviewed in October 2020, when he attended Donald Trump Jr.’s “Fighters Against Socialism” rally.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported on Oct. 11, 2020, that Smart attended “with his Colombian wife and their small son” and talked about the dangers of socialism, “It starts small. A little bit here and a little bit there, and it turns into a Venezuela.”
Trump Jr. and Ultimate Fight Championship (UFC) star Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal led the campaign bus across South Florida to press for a high voter turn out with Hispanics in South Florida for trump’s reelection.
GhostEzra is the most overtly anti-Semitic QAnon influencer, but far from the only one.
Another is known as “InevitableET” or IET and is run by Craig Longley, a Denver-based cross fit chiropractor. Among IET’s fans is L. Lin Wood, the discredited trump conspiracy lawyer, who tweeted on July 27, 2021, “I enjoy reading the posts of IET 17. Lots of scripture and some really good advice. Try it. You might like it too.”
In 2019, Longley’s account attracted then-president trump, who retweeted Longley’s inaccurate claims about the president’s impeachment. Trump’s retweeted:
“Trump has not been impeached. The House can’t impeach, they can only vote for impeachment. Then the Senate trial or the Supreme Court trial. Both have to vote to impeach trump before he is actually removed from office. Which. Will. Not. Happen.”
Longley started an Instagram account in August 2020, after he was suspended from Twitter. His Instagram account has 30,000 followers and he talks about COVID-19 denial, election fraud conspiracies, claims that President Biden is part of the shadowy cabal of elites running a child sex trafficking ring, and a claim that Jews are attempting to enslave the world. Longley also has tweeted a link to a website about the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a bedrock of anti-Semitism, that is a fabricated anti-Semitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. It was first published in Russia in 1903, and was later used extensively as a propaganda tool by the Nazis.
Longley’s latest effort is a Telegram channel called “We The Media,” which has more than 210,000 subscribers. Latest posts include “Russia not threatening anyone with nuclear war,” “America has zero moral authority to criticize the choices of another nation’s leader (referring to Putin)” and “POTUS has Unfinished Business. And if I know Donald J Trump, He will never stop until he has finished what he started.” The channel also has numerous comments in support of trump’s new social media network, “Truth Social.”
Longley also has participated in the “Blue the Jew” movement, as advertised on neo-Nazi Stormfront website, where anti-Semites Photoshop images of Jewish people blue, a technique developed on fringe websites to use visual clues to disseminate anti-Semitic messages while avoiding triggering mainstream platforms’ hate speech rules.
The ADL cites another important QAnon influencer, “Joe M,” a South African man who created a widely-viewed and most effective QAnon recruiting material on YouTube. In it, Joe M urges Twitter followers to watch the pro-Nazi propaganda film “Adolf Hitler: the Greatest Story Never Told.”
“What if the casting of Hitler as a villain was fabricated by the Churchill/Rothschild/Roosevelt/Stalin Deep State to frame him for the Holocaust, and his speeches against ‘Jews’ were really in reference to the Luciferian banking cabal?” Joe M says.
The ADL report concludes that in the long run, QAnon and similar sites inevitably “will fade back into the primordial ooze from which new conspiracy theories arise — the stew of lies, fears and status anxiety that give birth to conspiracy theories around the world.”
“Yet the damage has already been done. Many of QAnon’s most notable claims have already made it into the mainstream, where its toxic impact on our national politics will be felt for decades to come,” the report says.