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Jewish group bullies Indian-origin student in USA for saying that Hindu ‘Swastika’ is a peace symbol and different from Nazi symbol

A Twitter handle 'StopAntisemitism.org', who claims to expose antisemitism on social media, attacked the Indian-origin Simran Tatuskar for her attempts to introduce 'Swastika' in the school syllabus and claimed that she was trying to normalise the "largest symbol of hate in America".

On Friday, a 21-year-old student named Simran Tatuskar had to face a tremendous amount of bullying on social media after she had tried to portray ‘Swastika’ as a peaceful symbol and include it in the school syllabus. Simran a student of the Brandeis University in Massachusetts, USA.

However, a Twitter handle ‘StopAntisemitism.org’, who claims to expose antisemitism on social media, attacked the Indian-origin Simran Tatuskar for her attempts to introduce ‘Swastika’ in the school syllabus and claimed that she was trying to normalise the “largest symbol of hate in America”.

In its further tweet, the Anti-antisemitism group wrote, “In Nazi Germany, one of the first thing antisemites did was erase the history and persecution of the Jews, minimize their struggles and appropriate their beings. By normalizing the swastika, this is repeating that vicious cycle,”.

As the self-proclaimed protectors of Jews began to harass the Indian-origin Simran Tatuskar, many Indian social media users rallied behind her to school the social media handle for bullying the young girl and also described how Hindu Swastika was entirely different from ‘Nazi Hakenkreuz’ or the hooked cross – the symbol of Nazis, which is often confused with Hindu symbol of ‘Swastika’ due to similar appearance.

Several users also slammed the self-proclaimed vigilantes fighting the anti-Semitism regarding not only their ignorance about Hindu culture but also for defaming symbols associated with Hinduism.

Another social media, supporting Simran, said that the social media handle ‘StopAntisemites’ should immediately issue an apology to her and Hindus for their vile campaign. The user said that such witch-hunting by certain jews will only alienate friends and asked the group to educate themselves before launching such attacks to bully young students.

American politician and a prominent Jew leader David B Cohen also joined the debate, saying that “Hindus, Buddhists & Jains should teach us the true meaning of an important symbol of their cultures, & how the Nazis stole & perverted it. India’s one of the only places where the majority never discriminated vs. Jews.” He said that he knows real antisemitism, and Simran’s comments are not antisemitic. “If a hate group appropriated the Star of David, Jews wouldn’t abandon the symbol. We’d reclaim it and educate others on why it’s important to us,” he further said, although adding that Jews justifiably have a very strong visceral reaction against the Nazi symbol, so it’s always best to proceed with patience and compassion on these matters.

Hindu swastika vs Nazi hooked cross

The ignorance of the handle ‘StopAntiSemites’ was such that it evoked response from senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Taking to Twitter, Abhishek Manu Singhvi wrote that Hindu ‘Swastika’ was not the same as the ‘Nazi Hakenkreuz’.

The senior Supreme Court advocate added that Hindus, Buddhists, Jains use ‘Swastika’ as a symbol of peace and prosperity, while Nazis misused the symbol. This is the same as demonizing any other religion for misuse of its tenets and should be discouraged and condemned, he added.

Despite all the clarification by various social media users, the ‘StopAntiSemites’ did not stop threatening and bullying the 21-year-old student for her attempts to restore the real meaning and significance of the ‘Swastika’. As the fallout for the constant bullying, Simran Tatuskar had to clarify her position on the issue and issued deep regrets for the unintentional misunderstanding.

Read- The Swastika in Charlottesville: the symbol needs to be reclaimed from Nazis

After receiving wide-spread criticism on social media its bullying, ‘StopAntisemites’ tried to claim victory and close the matter by saying that Simran has apologised. But a reading of her statement shows that she has not apolologised, but only clarified her position. She only regretted due to misunderstanding created by her post, but didn’t apologised for that.

Simran Tatuskar, in an Instagram post, said, “I would like to clarify my original statement because I regret the misunderstandings that it has caused, and this is an issue for me and my community”.

She added that the ‘Nazi swastika’ represents the horrors of the Holocaust. However, she said, “As someone who is not Jewish, I know I cannot fully understand the Jewish experience and feelings my post evoked, but I never wanted to harm anyone.”

“When I included both symbols in my original post, I wanted to show the visual differences of the left-facing hooked cross Nazi swastika and the right-facing Hindu/Buddhist/Jain swastika for those who were unaware of the difference,” she wrote.

Ayodhra Ram Mandir special coverage by OpIndia

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OpIndia Staff
OpIndia Staffhttps://www.opindia.com
Staff reporter at OpIndia

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