A police officer from Cleveland, Ohio who was named “Officer of the Year” in 2019, and also received a medal for his service is under investigation for allegedly posting antisemitic tweets prior to his employment in the police department, a spokesperson has confirmed.

Between 2011 and 2015, Ismail Quran allegedly tweeted antisemitic tirades, glorified Hitler, defended Hamas terror attacks, and compared Israel to Nazi Germany.

In posts uncovered by antisemitism watchdog Canary Mission, Officer Ismail Quran allegedly shared a post that read “Let me salute to Hitler the great”, tweeted “Jews run the world lol Facts! Our owner is Jew!” (sic), and “F**k the @ Jews #FreePalestine”, among many more.

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A tweet allegedly from Officer Ismail Quran on July 14, 2014 (via Canary Mission)

Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia, senior public information officer for the Cleveland Police Department, told Cleveland Jewish News last week that the matter was under investigation: “The Division of Police is aware of this matter and it has been referred to the internal affairs unit for investigation.”

Confirming that Quran has been assigned to desk duty with no contact with the public, Ciaccia added in statement to local CBS affiliate WKBN 27: “The Cleveland Division of Police insists that officers provide the highest levels of professionalism and respect to all citizens. Discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated.”

James Pasch, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in Cleveland, labelled the posts “if accurate, horrific and antisemitic”.

He added: “If the allegations are accurate, we would expect the Cleveland Police Department to handle those allegations appropriately.”

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A tweet allegedly from Officer Ismail Quran on July 3, 2014 (via Canary Mission)

However, the Cleveland Division of Police union president defended Quran, telling WKBN 27: “These tweets are from over a decade ago. He is an amazing police officer. Ismail was policeman of the year in 2019 and assisted in many investigations. He is an asset to the Cleveland community that he serves.”

Canary Mission, the watchdog that exposed the posts, said in a press release: “While we are aware that the dates of Quran’s posts are a few years old, the extreme nature of these hateful posts after he begun his police training, and the fact he is an active police officer is very alarming.

Ismail Quran cm08 Twitter Feb 24 2013

A tweet allegedly from Officer Ismail Quran on February 24, 2013 that reads: 'The Jews run everything' (via Canary Mission)

“They were posted after he had already taken an exam required to become a police officer. As in, he already knew he wanted to become a policeman. Quran was still tweeting things like ‘Scumbag Yahoodi [Jew].”

Criticising the police union president’s response, the watchdog added: “It is a shame that the president of Cleveland’s police union is so focused on protecting an antisemitic police officer, rather than protecting the Jews in Cleveland.”