A FACEBOOK GROUP entitled “The invasion of Jews in Midleton” has caused controversy abroad. The facebook group featured in this morning’s Jerusalem Post. The paper said the page “appeared online earlier this week, using words and images that could easily be construed as anti-Semitic.”

The page notes the growing presence of Orthodox Jews in Midleton, Co Cork. There is a link to the song “Throw the Jew Down the Well” – which features in the Sacha Baron Cohen movie Borat.

The profile photo for the page contains a picture of an ultra-Orthodox Jew bending down in an awkward position in the street with the caption “Jew Jitsu.”

Yesterday the page had just over 380 “likes” but the number has since grown to over 410 despite the outrage of some Facebook users.

Uri Gobey wrote “it is a form of racism and creates hate speech…Currently a lot of Jews and Israelis travel to Ireland but if they feel threatened by things like this, they may not bother coming there any more, this also damages your countries tourism market”

The group also appeared on an Israeli blog that lists cites full of  “anti-Israel / hate speech”. The blog owner is encouraging users to report the page to Facebook. A number of other Irish groups are also listed on the blog – Boycott all Israeli products in Ireland,  Boycott Israel and Israeli business in Ireland.