A Facebook post by the Bracken County Republican Party attacking the new director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as being part of the "Jewish junta" drew criticism Friday from Jewish leaders in Kentucky.
The post about new ATF director Steve Dettlebach went up early Friday morning was deleted shortly after a Courier Journal reporter contacted Bracken County GOP chair Karin Kirkendol about it.
“A Jewish anti-gun activist, Steve Dettelbach, has just been made director of the ATF," read the Facebook post. "The Jewish junta is getting stronger and more aggressive.”
The post — linking to a tweet Tuesday from a gun reform organization celebrating Dettelbach's Senate confirmation — went on to criticize two Republican senators who voted for his confirmation.
Asked in a voicemail and text who made the post, Kirkendol initially replied in a text that she hadn't read it. The post was deleted shortly thereafter, and Kirkendol did not respond to follow-up questions about the author of the post.
Shortly before noon, the Bracken County GOP Facebook had a new post signed by Kirkendolabout the now-deleted missive.
"Earlier today, I was made aware of an inappropriate post on the Bracken County GOP Facebook page," Kirkendol wrote. "That post does not represent the values of the Bracken County Republican Party. It was incredibly insensitive. We will investigate how this occurred and we commit to tighter oversight of our social media going forward."
Kirkendol wrote an email to The Courier Journal early Saturday morning claiming the site was "hacked" and decided to delete the county party's entire Facebook page "due to the hurtful nature of the article, and how much harm it was bringing to so many."
"The Bracken county republican party would not, and did not publish anything antisemitic ― as some of our very own members have Jewish heritage," Kirkendol wrote. "Whoever hacked into our account meant to divide. Let’s not give them that satisfaction."
Kirkendol did not immediately respond to follow-up questions asking who were administrators for the Facebook page and who authored to post in question, since administrators can see who authors each post on their page.
Republican Party of Kentucky spokesman Sean Southard condemned the initial posting Friday afternoon.
"We condemn the language in the original post and want to make it clear: It does not represent the values or ideals of the Republican Party of Kentucky," Southard said.
Sara Klein Wagner, the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Louisville and Trager Family JCC, told The Courier Journal in a statement that while she is glad the county GOP chair deleted and apologized for the post, "we feel compelled to reiterate that antisemitism of this nature is dangerous, and there's no place for it directed at our public officials or anyone in our communities."