A criminal charge has been laid against Pretorian Simone Abigail Kriel for allegedly posting antisemitic and inflammatory messages on her Instagram page on 16 May 2020. The charge was laid by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) through its legal representatives Ian Levitt Attorneys. Ms Kriel, is widely known in Pretoria and in fitness/athletic circles.
Included amongst the offensive material allegedly posted by Kriel were such comments as:
- The f***n Jews are greedy as f**k and they will wage war against countries and races, based on lies and deception to get what they want.
- There is a special place in Hell for them and not even that is good enough for what they are doing to this world!
- It was the Jews that bombed, raped, sodomised and burned all people in Germany alive. Hitler innocent. Our history has been twisted to favor the Jews without question
SAJBD National Vice-Chairperson Professor Karen Milner, in whose name the charge was laid, said that racist and inflammatory rhetoric of this nature was not only criminal but dangerous and needed to be confronted as strongly as possible. This was particularly true in the current climate, when many people were feeling anxious, frustrated and confused.
“It is at such times that conspiracy theories tend to flourish, and all too often Jews end up becoming the scapegoats” said Milner, a professor of Psychology at Wits University, “The posts in this case portray, inter alia, Jews as being intrinsically evil, morally and spiritually corrupt and enemies of humanity at large. As such they constitute classic antisemitism”.