The financial scandal surrounding allegations that Bernard Madoff ran a $50 billion dollar Ponzi scheme has given anti-Semites fodder for their bigoted views.  There has been a dramatic upsurge in anti-Semitic comments on a wide range of Web sites since the Madoff story broke in the news.

Anti-Semitic reaction to the Madoff scandal was prevalent on some of the most popular newspaper sites, blogs and message boards on the Internet.  Most of the anti-Semitic comments tended to focus on alleged Jewish greed and thievery, as well as conspiracy theories linking financial losses to Israel.  Extremists, including white supremacists and anti-Jewish conspiracy theorists also added their comments to the anti-Semitic mix.

Just a few years ago, anti-Semites only had their fellow cohorts with whom they could share their anti-Jewish views and conspiracy theories.  Today, these same anti-Semites can be found ranting on mainstream Web sites from the comments sections of mainstream newspapers and blogs to financial message boards to Internet discussion groups. Their views are seen by hundreds of people who visit mainstream sites for news and information.