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.
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“This entire episode is immensely painful for us, the Jewish community at large and all decent people,” Rabbi Motti Seligson, a spokesperson for Chabad, told The Associated Press. He also noted that sensationalism and errors in the media “have provided fodder to these individuals who are trolling online.”
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...
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