Online Antisemitism: He Put on Tefillin for the First Time and Lost Thousands of Followers

UFC fighter Lando Vannata, who is Jewish on his mother's side, put on tefillin for the first time at the Western Wall and shared it on social media. Within hours, he lost over 1,900 followers on Instagram. Head of the Binyamin Council Israel Gantz condemned the campaign and called for support for the fighter.

American UFC fighter Lando Vannata, who arrived in Israel ahead of the international GFN1 fighting event, revealed that he is Jewish on his mother's side. During his visit, he went to the Western Wall, put on tefillin for the first time in his life, and shared the moving moment on his Instagram account, which has tens of thousands of followers. In the video, Vannata is seen putting on tefillin and dancing joyfully, captioning it with a single word: "Shalom." Hours later, he discovered he had lost over 1,900 followers in 24 hours and posted about it in a story with a laughing emoji. The post garnered tens of thousands of views and comments, some hostile. Head of the Binyamin Council and Chairman of the Yesha Council, Israel Gantz, responded: "We are proud of Lando for not backing down and proudly revealing his Judaism... Anyone who thinks they can intimidate people through boycott campaigns on social media is mistaken." Gantz called on the public to visit Vannata's pages and support him. The article presents the event as online antisemitism, using terms like "silencing" and "boycott campaigns."