By MELISSA GOLDIN (Associated Press)
News of a brawl between police and worshippers on Monday over a secret underground tunnel found connected to a historic Brooklyn synagogue was picked up quickly on social media, with posts spreading baseless claims about the passage, many laced with antisemitism.
The conflict at the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in New York City, which serves as the center of an influential Hasidic Jewish movement, began when a cement truck arrived to seal the tunnel’s opening. Proponents of the tunnel then staged a protest and ripped off the wooden siding of the synagogue. Police called to the scene ultimately arrested nine people.
Those supporting the tunnel said they were carrying out an “expansion” plan long envisioned by the former head of the movement, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. But that hasn’t stopped a proliferation of social media posts falsely suggesting the passage is proof of illicit activities such as child sex trafficking.
Here’s a closer look at the facts.
CLAIM: The tunnel is connected to a local children’s museum.
THE FACTS: The tunnel does not connect to the Jewish Children’s Museum, which is located across the street from Chabad’s headquarters.
Commonly referred to as 770, a nod to the address of the complex’s original building, the Chabad headquarters now encompasses multiple adjacent structures in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.
The passageway is believed to have started in the basement of an empty apartment...
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