Tories say antisemitic social media post was the result of a hacked account

The press secretary for Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says an investigation by the Progressive Conservative Party has uncovered evidence that someone accessed a social media account belonging to a political staffer and then used that account to post antisemitic comments.

"We believe we have identified that person," Meagan Byrd said in an email to reporters Tuesday evening.

"They were a party member but they were swiftly removed from the PC Party. The individual was not an employee of the party, caucus or government."

Byrd provided no other details about the person, how they were identified or what the investigation entailed.

The revelation followed word earlier in the day that the Tories and provincial government were investigating a post on a social media account belonging to Nargis DeMolitor that referred to Israel as the Nazis of the 21st century.

"Israel must stop being the Nazi's of 21st century. Killing innocent Palestinians for political gain is inhumane and dictatorial. Free Palestine Now…"

The post accompanied a photo from a recent rally showing someone holding a poster with the words "Ethnic cleaning + genocide …. Sound familiar?" alongside a swastika.

DeMolitor, who ran unsuccessfully for the Tories in 2021 and is a special advisor to Immigration Minister Jill Balser, removed it and said in a subsequent post that her account had been hacked.

"Information was tweeted without my knowledge. I apologize if anyone was offended!" she wrote.

She did not respond to a phone message seeking comment.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said she remained concerned even though the social media post has been attributed to a PC Party member who "inexplicably" had access to DeMolitor's account.

The granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Chender noted that this is the third time someone affiliated with the Tories has been connected to social media posts involving racist or antisemitic language. The premier fired a staffer two years ago after it was shown that they made racist remarks about former MLA Angela Simmonds.

Last summer, following a Tory byelection win, an employee in Houston's office apologized after they retweeted a post that referenced Nazi Germany.

"We continue to be concerned about this kind of thread of antisemitic and racist commentary that can be traced back to this party," Chender said in an interview.

"Certainly we all hope the premier and PCs take a long look at why this is the case."

Reserving judgment

During question period on Tuesday, Deputy Premier Allan MacMaster said the post was unacceptable.

"It was an awful thing to say," told reporters at Province House.

"Very hurtful. Incredibly hurtful."

But MacMaster, who was the one that informed the House of the investigation by the government and his party, said he wanted to ensure DeMolitor was the one who authored the post before passing judgment. He told reporters that she had produced evidence to show she received a notification that her account was accessed from a different device than normal, although he'd not seen it.

"I'm hesitant to just go and condemn her for something that was said on her account unless we can be sure that she actually said it," he said told reporters.

Prior to the release of the statement from the premier's office, Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said it's not appropriate for the Progressive Conservative caucus office to be involved in the investigation.

If there was a hack, Churchill said there is proper protocol to follow and the matter should be passed on to the office of the privacy commissioner and the RCMP should be notified.

"I think if the PCs are in charge of this investigation they're just going to want to cover their own arses and I don't know that we can trust what the outcome of that investigation is going to be," he told reporter at Province House.