Earlier today, the most breathlessly-reported story was one about a Jewish family that was forced to yank their kid from school after Breitbart and Fox News all but claimed they were the five-star generals of the War on Christmas. The story was straightforward: The Jewish family was accused of complaining about a popular Christmas pageant at the school, which was then canceled. They swore that all they did was ask if their kid could opt out, but Breitbart commenters got to work suggesting that they be doxxed, so they left the area for a while.

The Anti-Defamation League has now weighed in and is basically saying, “Whoa, not so fast.”

Today in fake news: ADL confirms reports a Jewish family fled PA county over cancellation of a school Christmas play are false. pic.twitter.com/UcfXWTiXVA — Jon Passantino (@passantino) December 23, 2016

“ADL investigated, and found that in actuality, the family left on vacation for winter break,” is the part of that statement you should pay the most attention to. Somehow, that got twisted into a story about the family “fleeing” in terror. (The school itself did report that they received a number of calls and emails about the story, which did run on conservative outlets and did focus on the possible involvement of the Jewish family in the cancelation of the show. That did happen.)

The ADL even called the reports that the family ran away “untrue and damaging” because they can “sow fear in the Jewish community and beyond.”

But what does this mean for the War on Christmas?

[image: screengrab]

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