Jacob Wohl Says Jews Must Have Christmas Decorations to Assimilate in U.S.
Far-right conspiracy theorist and smear campaigner Jacob Wohl has claimed that Jewish people should decorate their homes with Christmas decorations to aid with "assimilation."
Wohl, who is currently facing a $5 million fine from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for orchestrating more than 1,100 illegal robocalls, made the claims on self-styled "free speech" social media platform Gab.
"I firmly believe that every Jew in America should decorate their home with Christmas lights. It's called assimilation. America is a Christian country," Wohl wrote on November 4.
A number of commenters who replied to Wohl's post expressed their disagreement.
"Or you could … you know … Practice what we all preach on Gab & allow freedom of choice without getting all offended that someone else chooses different than you," wrote Gab user DuxNoctis.
"Instead of forcing your beliefs & preferred life style on others who may not feel the same. Just because someone has a different religious belief, does not make them a bad person or something."
Gab user JVS posted: "America is also a country that included freedom of religion in its constitution. Hanging Christmas lights does not make a person a Christian."
The post was also condemned by Twitter users after screenshots of it were shared.
Steve Hofstetter, a comedian who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his philanthropic work, tweeted: "I wonder how many Nobel Peace Prize nominees have ever told Jacob Wohl to go f**k himself. Because it's one more than it was yesterday."
Journalist Morten Øverbye added: "I firmly believe that Jacob Wohl should decorate the inside of a prison cell for Christmas."
In a follow-up post on Gab on November 5, Wohl dismissed the criticism he had received on Twitter.
"These snowflakes are so pathetic and unhinged that they're now calling me (a Jew) 'antisemitic,'" Wohl wrote. "Reminds me of when they sued me under the 'KKK Act of 1871.'"
In a statement to Newsweek, Jake Hyman, spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League, said: "No one should take anything Jacob Wohl says seriously. His inflammatory rhetoric and stunts are meant to incite and create false outrage.
"The less attention people pay to him, the better off we all are."
Wohl is best known for spreading a number of false accusations such as Joe Biden having 30 days to live after testing positive for coronavirus in March 2020 and completely made-up claims that Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Dr. Anthony Fauci were being accused of sexual assault.
Wohl also attempted to smear Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar in a racist conspiracy theory by claiming that her ex-husband Ahmed Elmi was actually her brother whom she married in order to gain U.S. citizenship. Omar was forced to release a statement saying the allegations were "absolutely false and ridiculous" while explaining her relationship to Elmi, from whom she separated in 2011.
In August, the FCC proposed fining Wohl and fellow conspiracy theorist John Burkman more than $5 million for making 1,141 robocalls to cellphones without getting people's consent first, a crime under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
According to the FCC, the calls made between August 26 and September 14, 2020, falsely claimed that if people voted by mail in the 2020 election their "personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts."
The pair were previously charged in October 2020 by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel for allegedly using robocalls in an attempt to suppress votes in the 2020 election.
In May 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James was also granted permission to intervene in the federal lawsuit over allegations that Wohl and Burkman used 5,500 robocalls in an attempt to suppress Black voters in the state.
Wohl has been contacted for comment.
Update 11/5/21, 12:20 p.m. ET: This article was updated to add comments from a spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League.