New Jersey Councilwoman Claims She was Hacked After Posting Antisemitic COVID-19 Meme

The Township Council president has been accused of sharing two inflammatory posts on Facebook — one antisemitic in nature and another that suggested Chinese people were to blame for the pandemic. In response, Joyce Ship-Freeman said her page was "hacked" and that she is being attacked for "purely political" reasons.

"I am a proud African American woman who rose above it all and will not let men bully me when they don’t get their way. Shame on them for hating a woman who happens to be African American and a senior citizen," Ship-Freeman, a Democrat, said Wednesday evening in an email to New Jersey 101.5 News.

In a written statement Tuesday, the Simon Wiesenthal Center shared two screenshots that appear to show the posts on a personal Facebook page of Joyce Ship-Freeman.

One of the posts incorrectly described a "Saint Corona" as a patron saint of plagues and infectious diseases. It went on to purportedly draw a connection to "Israel" becoming a nation in a disparaging manner.

The second post appeared to point to the origin of the novel coronavirus in China as a motivation for not eating Chinese food.

The SWC called for a "clear public apology" from Ship-Freeman. "Whatever the circumstances of how they got on her page, why has it taken her one month to remove the incendiary tropes about Jews and Israel?" the organization said.

Simon Wiesenthal Center Eastern Director Michael Cohen also said in an email that the posts were finally taken down by Ship-Freeman “only when publicly called out, and secondly, that her initial public reaction was not to condemn the antisemitic and anti-Chinese messages but rather to prioritize her personal political image."

Mercedes Benz Instagram Account Posts Swastika After Account Gets Hacked

An unidentified group of hackers recently hacked German-owned automotive company Mercedez-Benz's official Instagram account. A Twitter user first recognized the unusual posts from the page. The company confirmed the tweets and said that they apologize for any inconveniences that the hackers have made-- since some of the posts involve the Swastika logo and Bitcoin donation amid pandemic. 

On Tuesday evening, May 5, the Instagram account of Mercedez-Benz profiled @mercedesbenz_de, was taken over by hackers for quite some time. Suspects changed the name of the account to "HACKED BY catz (hacked by catz)."

Aside from the name profile, hackers also posted unusual pictures on the page. What's most interesting was when the hackers posted the infamous logo of the German Nazi, Swastika character.

Even the pictures of one of its competitor BMW was posted on the page-- showing what appears to be a promotion to buy their products.

A report also identifies the hacker sharing from the Stories section of the Mercedes-Benz account. "All of you follow," said hacker, sharing an Instagram user's account. Hacker shared a photo belonging to a different user and wrote, "Follow. I love it."

After the Twitter user speculates that the official Instagram account of Mercedez-Benz was hacked, the management of the company officially confirms the hacked account on a follow-up thread.

The official Twitter account of the German-owned company said that they apologize for what happened and clarifies that they are now in control of their account. Information on the identity of the suspects is not yet released by the company.