QAnon conspiracy theorists seek to link Beirut explosion to Rothschilds

Facebook posts from accounts connected to the QAnon conspiracy theory are wrongly blaming the Rothschilds, the influential European banking family, for the explosion at the port of Beirut.

The Facebook posts falsely claim that the Rothschilds own the Central Bank of Lebanon, which has been struggling to contain the country’s spiraling financial crisis. And because the central bank’s headquarters is located just a few miles away from the site of the explosion, the posts conclude that the Aug. 4 boom was the family’s doing.

"The Beirut bombing today was directly next to the Lebanon Central Bank, which is also owned by the most evil deep state family, the Rothschilds," one post says. "There are no coincidences."

"Rothschild bank explosion in Lebanon," says another. "Covering up evidence … bodies everywhere, this was premeditated, multiple explosions."

"Don’t believe the first narrative," the second post adds.

The two Facebook posts were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

Let’s start by debunking the posts’ most outlandish claim: There’s no evidence to suggest that the Rothschilds — the wealthy Jewish family that established a financial empire in Europe beginning in the 1700s — are responsible for what happened in Beirut. 

Details are still emerging about the explosion, which as of this writing has left at least 135 people dead and many more wounded, displaced or unaccounted for. Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab and President Michael Aoun have pledged to investigate. 

But U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Aug. 5 that "most believe" it "was an accident, as reported," despite President Donald Trump’s suggestions that it was an "attack."

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Lebanese authorities said the blast took place at a warehouse along the Beirut waterfront. They have attributed it to the detonation of more than 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical commonly used in fertilizer. Diab said the stockpile had been at the warehouse for six years.

It remains unclear what set off the ammonium nitrate. A fire appears to have spread with the help of fireworks also kept at the port, according to early reports. The resulting explosion registered as the equivalent of a 3.3 magnitude earthquake. Reverberations are said to have been felt as far as Cyprus, more than 100 miles away from Beirut.

But what about the Central Bank of Lebanon? The Facebook posts claim that the Rothschilds own the bank, putting them in charge of a building not too far from the site of the explosion.

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The Facebook posts are wrong about that connection, too. 

The headquarters of the Central Bank of Lebanon, or Banque du Liban, is located a few miles away from the port of Beirut, according to Google Maps. It is not "directly next to" the explosion site, as one Facebook post claims. Reuters reported that the building was not seriously damaged by the blast. And there’s no evidence that it’s controlled by the Rothschild family. 

The Rothschilds have been a target of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories for centuries, according to the Washington Post, including accusations that they control the global economy and various central banks. Supporters of QAnon have newly embraced those tropes. 

But the Central Bank of Lebanon is an independent government agency. It was established on Aug. 1, 1963, according to its website, and it started to operate a year later. The central bank is currently headed by Riad Salamé, its governor since 1993.

"BDL is a legal public entity enjoying financial and administrative autonomy," the bank’s website says. "Its capital is totally appropriated by the State."

As Reuters first reported, the 2019 annual report from Rothschild & Co, the family’s strongest present-day tie to banking, does not mention ownership of central banks.

Only a handful of countries, including the U.S., have central banks with shareholders outside their respective governments.

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