The Anti-Defamation League has called on Republicans and others to cease calling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg “Zuckerbucks,” JTA reported. The term has been used since last year after Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan donated $400 million through the nonpartisan Center for Technology and Civic Life to assist local election offices ahead of the November vote. A conservative think tank, the Foundation for Government Accountability, published a number of articles that used the “Zuckerbucks” term, claiming that the donation unfairly tilted elections. The term actually made it into Congress this month when NY Republican Rep. Claudi Tenney proposed the End Zuckerbucks Act, which would bar nonprofits classified as tax-exempt and nonpartisan from donating funds to election offices. The proposal is co-sponsored by two Republican congresswomen, Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York and Lauren Boebert of Colorado. According to ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, the term Zuckerbucks is a revival of the age-old anti-Semitic stereotype that wealthy Jews maintain control over governments. “In recent years, we’ve seen antisemites alleging that Mark Zuckerberg is ‘proof’ of this stereotype,” Greenblatt told JTA. “Those who use the term ‘Zuckerbucks,’ particularly members of Congress, are dangerously enabling this antisemitic trope, and we urge these policymakers to stop using this term immediately.” Zuckerberg and his wife donated the $400 million after Senate Republicans banned the same amount from being used by elections offices to facilitate voting during the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans claim that the funds disproportionately aided Democrats since they were overwhelmingly used for lower-income areas with large concentrations of minorities. Zuckerberg and Chan denied that the funds were used for partisan purposes. “These funds will serve communities throughout the country — urban, rural and suburban – and are being allocated by non-partisan organizations,” Zuckerberg stated at the time. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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