A report issued by Fighting Online Antisemitism and the World Zionist Organization shows an uptick of about 300% in antisemitic content on the internet compared to the same period last year.
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The report notes that there were 34,182 posts that could be considered antisemitic, anti-Israeli, pro-Hamas terrorist, or inciting violence against the Jewish people or otherwise fake news about the war and denial of the massacre committed by Hamas.
"Hateful content was monitored across nine social media platforms: X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, VKontakte, Telegram, Reddit, and LinkedIn," the report said. "The majority of the content was published on X (56%, 19,240 items), Facebook (21%, 7,262 items), Instagram (13%, 4,520 items), and TikTok (8%, 2,862). Only 2% of the content (478 videos) was found on YouTube. The content was monitored in 8 different languages, mainly in English (47%), Russian (27%), French (12%), and Arabic (9.5%). 4.5% of said content was in Turkish, Polish, Serbian, and German," it continued.
The organization's monitoring activity online used an advanced and unique AI system for collecting content, developed by Fighting Online Antisemitism in collaboration with the Israeli hi-tech, "facilitated by the Israeli high-tech companies Vetric and Brightdata," the authors said in the report, noting: "This innovative AI system enables efficient and instantaneous monitoring of manifestations of antisemitism content within a specific social network, thereby enhancing the capacity to report and remove such content."
Since November, the number of antisemitic content on social media has continued to rise. At the same time, in recent months, FOI's cooperation with the leading networks has strengthened and led to an increase in the amount of posts that are taken down for their antisemitic content compared to 2022 on a yearly basis. "The average removal rate of above-mentioned content monitored and reported by FOA in the relevant timeframe across platforms is 26%, higher than the average removal rate in 2022 (20%). The highest percentage of content was removed by Facebook (35%), followed by X (28%), YouTube (27%), Instagram (27%), and TikTok (24%)."
Since FOI is officially recognized by those platforms as a trusted source regarding monitoring and reporting content ('Trusted Flaggers'), it has direct access to the relevant entities in those online networks and can therefore expedite the process of removal, as this means contacting them directly and "propelling them to remove hateful content.
Raheli Baratz-Rix, who is the head of the Department for Combating Antisemitism & Enhancing Resilience at the World Zionist Organization told Israel Hayom: "Since the outbreak of the war we have noticed that antisemitism has spiked with great intensity, with overt anti-Zionism and anti-Israelism."
She further said: "I see a worrying escalation in rhetoric on social media and in antisemitic incidents in their various manifestations. When antisemitic ideologies are allowed to continue around the world, spaces are created where hatred based on religious or ethnic identity becomes normative.
"Today Israel faces cruel murderers trying to destroy its identity, values, and principles, while at the same time, there is another front against Jews around the world who are persecuted because of their Judaism."
The CEO of Fighting Online Antisemitism Tomer Aldubi, said that the sharp rise in antisemitism and hatred of Israel in the online space should concern all of us.
"We must not underestimate for a moment its implications for the security of Jewish and Israeli communities around the world. It is only a matter of time before those who post antisemitic hatred online will take a knife or gun and attack Jews and Israelis in public spaces," he stressed but noted with optimism that there are improvements in how this is countered by those in charge in the various networks. "Alongside the worrying rise in hate online, we must commend the exceptional cooperation between the organization and social media platforms including TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and Meta, which has expanded significantly since the outbreak of the war. This has led to a meaningful increase in removal rates and we are confident that the content removals will continue consistently in the coming months."
Since the outbreak of the war, more than 3,000 volunteers from the United States, Latin America, Australia, Europe, and Canada have participated in more than 60 workshops held by the FOI and the World Zionist Organization to combat antisemitism online.
"Against this backdrop, FOA launched a vital initiative – an international online boot camp for global volunteers, seeking to join the digital battlefront," the organizations noted in the report. "Training was designed to equip individuals with the skills and knowledge necessary to effectively monitor and combat antisemitic content, on a range of popular social media platforms, in accordance with the IHRA working definition of antisemitism and in multiple languages. This included identifying content that is classic antisemitism, anti-Israeli, inciting violence, containing misinformation, support of Hamas/terrorism, and fake news.
The workshops are held in Hebrew, English, and Spanish and provide practical tools for removing antisemitic content on social media and creating pro-Israel content online, with an emphasis on TikTok and Instagram.
In the coming month, FOI and the World Zionist Organization are expected to launch new training and education programs for young German and French speakers from around the world – both Jews and non-Jews.
A report by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs that examined major antisemitic events around the world and released last week shows that in the US more than 400 Jewish institutions received fake bomb threats by email – a 540% increase compared to 2022.
In Canada, the number of antisemitic events in Toronto increased by 211% since the outbreak of the war. In the UK, there was an increase of 162% in antisemitic crimes in London in 2023. In France, the number of requests for aliyah increased by 430%. In South Africa, the government declared that citizens who enlist in the IDF may be subject to prosecution in the country. And in Australia as well, the number of antisemitic events in October and November increased by 738% compared to the equivalent period in 2022.
Chairman of the Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, MK Oded Forer said: "We are dealing a lot with the worrying rise in antisemitism around the world, especially since the outbreak of the war here in Israel. This harms Israel's national security. The fight against antisemitism is hard but we must not despair. Only 20% of antisemitic events are reported in the world, so the extent of antisemitism is much higher than what is known and reported in the media."
MK Forer also said that "organizations around the world are sounding the alarm and asking for the help of the Israeli government. Those who spread inciting content against us around the world must face legal steps."
The head of the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University Prof. Dina Porat said at the committee hearing: "There is Qatari, Saudi, and Iranian money pouring into institutions of higher education in the United States and they encourage manifestations of antisemitism towards Jews and towards Israel. According to our research, an antisemitic event occurs every 80 seconds around the world. Israel is fighting against global forces that encourage hatred towards Judaism and towards Israel, the struggle against them needs to be more institutionalized."
