A Utah tech company founder and onetime prominent figure in state Republican politics resigned from the board of the company he started Tuesday after sending an email outlining an antisemitic vaccination conspiracy theory.
David Bateman, founder and board chair of the company Entrata, claimed the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a plot by “the Jews” to exterminate people, Fox13 reported.
“I write this email knowing that many of you will think I’m crazy after reading it,” Bateman wrote in the email’s first sentence. From there, the entrepreneur claimed, without any basis, that “for 300 years the Jews have been trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church and place a Jew covertly at the top,” and that such an effort had succeeded with Pope Francis. The email also made unfounded claims that both Covid and its vaccines would deliberately destroy people’s immune systems. “I believe the pandemic and systemic extermination of billions of people will lead to an effort to consolidate all the countries in the world under a single flag with totalitarian rule,” Bateman wrote. The email shared other unfounded conspiracy theories about the vaccine’s effects, adding “everything is being expertly censored” even as the email contained links to websites making similar claims.
“I believe there is a sadistic effort underway to euthanize the American people. It’s obvious now. It’s undeniable, yet no one is doing anything. Everyone is discounting their own judgment and dismissing their intuition.
“I believe the Jews are behind this.”
“I know, it sounds bonkers. No one is reporting on it, but the Hasidic Jews in the US instituted a law for their people that they are not to be vaccinated for any reason.”
The email attacks the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine and urges people not to get it. It claims the pandemic and “systematic extermination of billions of people” will lead to an effort to “consolidate all the countries in the world under a single flag with totalitarian rule.”
The recipients included the owner of NBA’s Utah Jazz, Ryan Smith, GOP Gov. Spencer Cox and Utah Senate Minority Whip Luz Escamilla, a Democrat.
Bateman confirmed he sent the email in a text message to the news station. He said he had “nothing but love for the Jewish people” but he echoed the assertions in the email. The email contained his personal opinion and was intended for a few friends, he said.
He has retired as CEO of Entrata, a property management software company, but had remained chair of the company’s board. Bateman had also been a prominent figure in Utah Republican politics, financially bailing out the party a few years ago when its legal debt mounted during a court fight over paths for candidates to get on the ballot.
The Entrata board of directors asked Bateman to step down Tuesday, and he agreed.
“The opinions expressed by Dave were his alone and do not reflect the views or values of Entrata … To be absolutely clear, we at Entrata firmly condemn antisemitism in any and all forms,” CEO Adam Edmunds said in a statement.
His email was also met with shock and dismay from people like Blake McClary, another prominent Utah tech executive who runs the Salt Lake City chapter of Silicon Slopes, a nonprofit representing the state’s tech industry. He tweeted a call for Bateman to step down from Entrata and “not embarrass us.”
Rabbi Avremi Zippel of Chabad Utah called the email “blatant anti-Semitism” and a “flaming pile of garbage” that could lead to real-world violence.
“We know how quickly things go from ridiculous conspiracy theories online and in emails, how that jumps to violence rather quickly,” he said.
The COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. were tested in tens of thousands of people and proven to be both safe and effective at dramatically reducing the risk of serious disease and death. The vaccines now have been given to millions of Americans, and that real-world use plus extra government safety tracking have made clear that serious side effects are extremely rare — and that any risk is far lower than the risks posed by COVID-19.
(AP)
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31 Responses
I didn’t know that Pope Francis is a yid!!
Why do Hasidic people act the way they do?
@ Yabia Omer
You shouldn’t be using that name,
And never never never side with an Anti Semite.
Chachom Ovdya is a shamed
Why do sefardim act the way they do?
I’m chasidish and I got vaccinated. I think this guy needs thy psychic ward
“From there, the entrepreneur claimed, without any basis, that “for 300 years the Jews have been trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church and place a Jew covertly at the top,” and that such an effort had succeeded with Pope Francis.” There has been a Jew atop the Catholic Church since the time of its inception! Last week 2-3 Billion people celebrated the birth of a Jewish baby in Israel 2000 years ago.
A Mormon, the pope and a chassid. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke.
I want to boycott Entrada. Can someone tell me what they make or do?
Yabia Omer, I’m not sure what you are referring to.
But if you have some question, the answer is probably like the Chofets Chaim ZY”A told his son (recorded in the back of “kol kisvei chafets chaim”), “the chasidim are running from assimilation like we run from a fire, and sometimes when you are running from fire you step on someone’s toe..”
Beware the far right, they are our enemies.
Yabia:
Your little comment is implying something, but I don’t know what. Every individual and every group behaves as they do for their own reasons. Are you buying the heap of dishonesty that Chassidic Jews don’t vaccinate? I live in a community of almost all chassidic Jews, and everyone is vaccinated and almost all are boosted. So what’s your beef? Bateman has no problem creating a narrative as the basis for his conspiracy theory. Are you joining in the lies? If yes, shame on you.
This guy us definitely sick in the head.
Yabia Omer, some Chassidim do take the vaccine. Others were influenced by the anti-vax propaganda which was not hard to accomplish giving their lack of secular education and insufficient knowledge of the outside world.
This guy is definitely sick in the head.
To M: Neither does Pope Francis.
Yabia Omer:
Which one?
History repeating itself? In the thirtees world stocks tumbled, which allowed a demagogue to grab power in the most sophisticated country on earth. Now, with covid, some very eloquent demagogue can seize power here in America. Chas vshalom, fill in the rest…
wonder if twitter suspended his acct or is open anti Semitism permitted or perhaps even encouraged
Why does moderator allow comments here, which if they were said by a non jew the whole world would be condemning as anti semitism?
Let’s examine the propaganda, leaving out the Jewish angle for now.
He wrote:
“The email shared other unfounded conspiracy theories about the vaccine’s effects, adding “everything is being expertly censored” even as the email contained links to websites making similar claims.”
In other words, the AP claims, since some web sites do exist that contain the views he espoused, that means he’s a liar in claiming that those views are being expertly censored.
What the AP doesn’t say, of course, is that those web sites are known to essentially nobody and are not part of the “mainstream narrative”.
In other words, he is right that there is zero mainstream discussion on how safe these shots are or are not. But the AP (Always Propaganda) won’t admit even that.
This article is distracting me from my quest to find a Christian that I can knock off so ill be able to make my matzos for Pesach
WHo let him in on our secrets??
Wow. “RABID ANTI-SEMITE”?
Let’s see what he claimed and how that might be viewed as being against Jews.
““I believe there is a sadistic effort underway to euthanize the American people. It’s obvious now. It’s undeniable, yet no one is doing anything. Everyone is discounting their own judgment and dismissing their intuition.
“I believe the Jews are behind this.”
“I know, it sounds bonkers. No one is reporting on it, but the Hasidic Jews in the US instituted a law for their people that they are not to be vaccinated for any reason.””
Regarding his last point, there are certainly ample kol koreys to that effect about these shots. In other words, in certain communities, he is right. Let’s be honest.
However, writing ““I believe the Jews are behind this.”” is offensive and stupid, because there are far, far more gentiles than Jews with political influence and power. So, even if he believes that influential Jews are behind this, he should have specified that, while specifically claiming that he is not applying his claim to ordinary Jews.
That being said, it is pretty absurd to call him a “RABID ANTI-SEMITE” due to that comment. Bottom line: if he met a Jew in the street, would he accuse that Jew of poisoning the American people or anything else? Presumably not.
So, let’s leave the “RABID ANTI-SEMITE” label for the ones who truly hate Jews, not the ones who believe that some Jews did this or that. The hyperbole here is ridiculous.
@ Yabia Omer, How do Chassidic people act?
@ mdd1,
What means “some” Chassidim do take the vaccine???
In fact all Chassidim are taking the vaccine and just “some” were influenced by the anti-vax propaganda….(and some by the lack of research and fast approval of the vaccine)
Nothing to do with their lack of secular education.
The anti-vax rate are the same by Chassidim, Letuim and Sfardiyim…
The So called “secular education” by non Chassidim didn’t protect them against the Nazi’s….
The first Pope, Peter, was a Jew, albeit not a very good one.
Now I know why the Pope wears a kippah!
Even if it were true that a substantial number of Chasidim did not vaccinate, it is NOT because Jews are trying to survive while exterminating everyone else. Punkt fahkert! It is because Jewish non vaxxers are EVEN MORE AFRAID of the vaccine than he is. Simply unbelievable that an intelligent person could draw this conclusion and propagate it.
Crazy but rich . So Was Ford when he published the Protocols. Glad the Board fired him but how many more are out there in the closet secretly funding White Supremacist Hate Groups that specifically target Jews?
AOC, Ilhan and others are openly out there spewing hatred and they are members of GOvt!! Board member of Ben and Jerry’s created a blacklist of Israel that to this very day still exists. How many teachers are out there teaching hatred? Hashem Yerachem. This is all Hashem’s will leading to something cataclysmic. War of Gog Magog? iran throwing nukes around?
He may not be far off about the population culling, but the major hole in his hypothesis of “the Jews” being behind it is how headstrong Israel has been in leading the world in vaccinating her own citizens.
Twitter will NEVER suspend his account. It’s what they promote!!
History repeats itself… anyone remember blood in the matzos???
Ha’Katan, if this guy is not an anti-Semite according to you, then there is noting to talk to you about.