(Jewish Group) What starts online... never stays there

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!)

My heart was broken by the tragic events in Pittsburgh – and only days later the antisemitic graffiti attack on a synagogue in California. In the days following, there were numerous other antisemitic hate crimes in the United States, shockingly many. But having worked in the field of digital diplomacy for close to a decade, I cannot say I’m surprised, given the ever-rising tide of ugly rhetoric online inciting violence. Online hatred has real-life consequences, and it’s high time we acknowledge that.

During the wave of Palestinian stabbing attacks in Israel in 2015-2016, Arabic language social media was overflowing with antisemitic calls to violence – a trend that has only recently been reduced by tremendous pressure (and lawsuits) against social media giants like Facebook to remove hate speech.

Social media was one of the primary means of drumming up support for attacks, with hashtags like “Knife Intifada” (in Arabic). Among the most shared content during the wave of attacks were tutorial videos and graphics on “How to Stab a Jew.” But leaving aside the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict for a moment, we also see ongoing trends on Arabic social media of Holocaust denial and antisemitic conspiracy theories, with videos spouting horrific antisemitic rhetoric in Arabic garnering tens of millions of views.

There’s no question that the impact of this content leads to real-life violence. Look no further than ISIS to see how social media incitement (and recruitment) can be used to carry out horrific acts of violence. Hate that begins online doesn’t stay there.
Fast forward to the present with the rise of antisemitism on the extreme Left and extreme Right, and you see the same pattern occurring in the Western world. Antisemitism has long existed in Europe, but after the Second Intifada, it blossomed. European antisemitism has exploded from the far Right in Europe, such as in Austria, and from the far Left as well, with leaders like Jeremy Corbyn actually being taken seriously and rising in popularity. As online antisemitism expands in various communities, so too does “real life” antisemitism. Is it any surprise then, that there has been a steady uptick of online antisemitism in the United States as well? Sadly, we failed to heed the warnings of Jewish communities and organizations which have been sounding the alarm on this pernicious, hateful trend.

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