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Monika Hübscher, who researches anti-Semitism on social media, says that anti-Semitism has become normalized in society.
1 / 2Photo: Gustav Sjöholm/TT
With the help of stereotypes, coded messages and medieval conspiracy theories, Jew-hatred is spread on social media.
– It is not that anti-Semitism arose now. But it is an avalanche-like increase, says Hanna Nir of the Jewish Youth Association in Sweden.
Monika Hübscher is doing her doctorate at the University of Haifa in Israel and is a researcher at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. She has focused on how anti-Semitism spreads on social media.
After the Hamas attack on October 7, that material has increased sharply.
– It’s been absolutely crazy, even if I don’t want to use such words. It has been on a completely different level than I have ever seen before, she says.
Hübscher has been in Sweden for a few days to lecture and, among other things, hold workshops with teachers.
The anti-Semitism that spreads is of various kinds, but follows classic patterns. These are stereotypical images that depict Jews as crooked, insidious and greedy. Others are about dehumanizing Jews – likening them to rats or vermin, or comparing Jews to Nazis. References have also surfaced to the blood accusation, a medieval conspiracy theory that Jews ritually sacrificed Christian babies to bake unsweetened bread.
– There is an AI-generated image of Netanyahu (Prime Minister of Israel) standing with a knife, surrounded by flames and blood and on his forehead the Star of David, which makes you understand that it is not only directed at him but about the Jews, says Monika Hübscher.
“Changed our lives”
One thing that makes anti-Semitism different from other racism is that it mixes derogatory expressions with other false stereotypes and conspiracies about an elite, that the Jews secretly control the media, banks and centers of power.
Young Jews who encounter anti-Semitism have in studies testified that they become angry, sad and change their behavior on social media.
– It’s really something that changed our whole lives, says Hanna Nir, president of the Jewish Youth Association, about the time after the terror-labeled Hamas attack on October 7.
Some avoid social media altogether, others try to be anonymous and only become friends with other Jews, to avoid being met with threats and hatred.
– It is so incredibly sad to see. We who have worked so hard for visibility and openness, that one should be proud to be Jewish. This is so many steps back.
Multiple risks
How Gentiles are affected is more unclear. Hübscher sees a risk both of a normalization of Jew-hatred, but also of a radicalization.
She tells about a Muslim 17-year-old who came across an Instagram account where there was a variant of the blood accusation in a contemporary context. For the girl, it was unclear whether it was true or not.
– She claims to be against anti-Semitism, but is deceived by accounts on Instagram with many followers and likes, and wonders “why would anyone make that up”, says Hübscher.
She thinks the tech giants should take more responsibility, even if the huge amount of material produced makes it difficult.
– They don’t care. The main challenge is that they only care about their turnover, she says.
FACTS Anti-Semitism on the Internet
Anti-Semitism manifests itself in different ways on social media. Here are some examples:
Dehumanization. Jews are likened to vermin, rats or contagion, or simply as “the enemy”.
Conspiracy theories. A series of false ideas that Jews, for example, control banks, media, states, or use blood for rituals.
Comparisons between Jews/Israel and Nazis, where Israel or Jews are portrayed as “today’s Nazis”.
Stereotypes. Jews are described as powerful, deceitful, manipulative, insidious, in illustrations often with large, crooked noses.
Holocaust denial. Various posts that try to minimize, question or dismiss the Holocaust.
Coded messages. To avoid moderation, deletion and suspension, coded messages are common. For example, a user can reverse letters, use numbers and emojis that take on anti-Semitic meanings when decoded.
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