The surge in antisemitism during and after the recent war between Israel and Hamas has seen Jew-hatred of the most vitriolic nature spewed across major social media platforms, according to a report by the World Jewish Congress.
Posts with blatant antisemitic messages, the justifying of the Holocaust, Holocaust denial, comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, and calling for the destruction of Israel were seen on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms.
Much of the content often graphically glorifies Hitler, demeans Holocaust victims, or accuses Israel of Nazi-like behavior.
At the same time, real-world incidents of antisemitism including verbal and physical abuse as well as vandalism have spiked in numerous countries around the world.
The WJC report noted several themes on social media, including the Twitter hashtag “#Hitler was right,” which trended, and according to the Anti-Defamation League was retweeted and repeated 17,000 times.
One tweet using the “#Hitler was right” hashtag included an image of Hitler and other Nazi officials with the caption: “They told you we were monsters. We were the last warriors who fought the satanic Jewish banking cartel that rules you today.”
On Facebook, a post showed images of prisoners of Nazi concentration camps with the comment: “Definitely Jewish deserve it.”
On Instagram, like other platforms, a dubious quote attributed to Adolf Hitler saying, “I would have killed all the Jews of the world, but I kept some to show the world why I killed them” was widely shared and repeated, along with pictures of Hitler himself.
One person to tweet this message was popular Pakistani actress Veena Malik, star of numerous Pakistani and Bollywood films, although she later deleted the tweets.
“Hitler’s soul would be laughing as the world recognizes his far-sightedness,” was another antisemitic message posted on Twitter, as well as the hashtag “#Holocaust was right.”
Tweets with the phrases “F*ck Jews” and “F*ck Zionists” were also posted, along with comments such as “As long as there is Jewish life in the world, peace is not possible.”
Comparisons were made between the Israeli flag and the Nazi swastika, including the demonization of IDF soldiers as Nazi troops.