A conspiracy theory against Jews known as QAnon claims that there is a conspiracy of Jewish pedophiles within the Democratic Party • "There is no doubt that anti-Semitism is spreading"
Scott Wiener, a local California senator, fell victim to online antisemitic attacks, including one accusing him of promoting "Jewish pedophilia." Republican congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Green accused Jewish billionaire George Soros of the Rothschild family Working in the ranks of the Democratic Party.
In her Twitter tweet, she called him "the enemy of the people."
Knesset debate on anti-Semitism on social media
A post posted on Facebook on September 11 reiterated the old claim that an Israeli company knew in advance about the terrorist attack that took place in 2001. All of these defamations have one thing in common - they originate in far-right US people who believe in the completely false conspiracy theory - QAnon, which is short for QA Anonymous - A mysterious figure who posted on websites allegations that there was a so-called secret conspiracy, against President Donald Trump, according to which Democrats conspired to kidnap and sexually abuse children, shed their blood and defeat the US president.
This connection theory has been gaining popularity in the United States over the past year, and as QAnon becomes more prevalent, more attention is also being paid to the antisemitic elements inherent in it.
Experts in the study of extremist movements that follow the rise of the theory say that the movement is fundamentally anti-Semitic and that hatred of Jews continues to thrive among its ranks.
Researchers are still gathering information on the actions of its people, but it is already clear to them that the movement is spreading around the world.
The New York Times reported that 200,000 QAnon social media accounts were found on the far right in Germany, and that belief in this conspiracy was what prompted members of an extremist faction in Germany to storm parliament there in August.
"The intelligence information on the movement's content shows that there is no doubt that anti-Semitism is spreading," said Joel Finkelstein, head of the Network Contagion Research Institute, which studies hate and incitement on social media and gathers information on anti-Semitism in QAnon.
"There is no doubt about that."
In recent months, the QAnon theory has become an unrecognized factor on the far right fringes of American society, a salient phenomenon that is gaining public attention.
According to a report on the NBC network, at the beginning of August there were already millions of names registered in the movement's Facebook groups.
Several Republican candidates for Congress have expressed open support for QAnon and at political rallies, including those of Trump, participants were seen wearing T-shirts bearing the letter Q, as a sign of their support for context theory.
And while some Republican leaders have condemned the theory, President Trump has refused to do so.
The theory is all-encompassing and flexible, so it encompasses diverse topics that serve a variety of purposes.
This is one of the reasons why it is difficult to trace the anti-Semitism rooted in it.
But the claim that wealthy Jews, including the Rothschild family of bankers, secretly rule the world - is a recurring claim among QAnon followers.
Other elements that do not explicitly mention Jews also have antisemitic resonance, such as the long-standing and false antisemitic blood libel claiming that Jews kill Christian children in order to use their blood for worship purposes.
"The subject of the blood libel is particularly prominent, the idea of kidnapping children to use their blood," says Magda Tetter, a lecturer in Jewish studies and author of the book "Blood Libel: On the Trail of an Antisemitic Myth."
"People will start Google 'killing children for the purpose of using their blood', and this will lead them to develop antisemitic feelings, even if they were not initially inclined to do so."
In recent weeks, many factors have begun to examine the QAnon movement and the components of its hate theory.
One of them is Gregory Stanton, founder of Genocide Watch and a former lecturer in genocide at George Mason University.
In an article published earlier this month, he called QAnon "a rebranding Nazi cult."
"QAnon is nothing but the latest version of the 'exposed' conspiracy in the most influential anti-Jewish publication of all time - the Protocols of the Elders of Zion," Stanton wrote in his article.
He added that QAnon is nothing but a new version of the blood libel spread in the modern age through protocols.
According to Eric Feinberg, vice president of the Safer Internet Coalition, an organization that fights online extremism, mentions of the "Elders of Zion" and the "Zionist-occupied government" are very common in QAnon forums.
He said that proponents of the theory base their arguments against the Jews on the fact that American Jews are considered clear supporters of the Democratic Party.
This matter, he noted, is particularly evident now that elections are imminent.
"The claim that Hollywood is controlled by Jews, that Jewish members of Congress are pedophiles, is consistent with what is said in the protocols of the Elders of Zion," Feinberg explained, referring to antisemitic ideas underlying QAnon's theories.
"Indeed, Jews are more likely to identify with the Democratic Party. They use it against us to say that therefore Jews are pedophiles."
Some supporters are probably aware of the antisemitic intent in the theories they disseminate.
Others are unaware that the ideas of collecting children's blood and controlling the world through conspiratorial bankers are fundamentally antisemitic ideas.
But, says Tetter, these ideas are so ancient and ingrained that there is no need to even mention the Jews by name.
The very mention of the subject serves as a code word for hating Jews.
"Some use antisemitic terms even if they do not speak directly to Jews," she says.
"There are things they promote that are clearly rooted in the vocabulary and the pool of antisemitic ideas, even if they do not explicitly say that the Jews do these things."
Teter adds that these ideas serve as a signal to neo-Nazis and other anti-Semites, regardless of their original purpose.
"When they mention the whole package of conspiracy, of blood, the media, the money, even without mentioning the word Jews, they certainly get the same implicit antisemitic message about Jewish control over the media, government and what not," she explains.
"You do not have to speak explicitly. He who understands - understands."
Feinberg found in his study that QAnon content on social media platforms tends to come mainly from the Telegram app, where it is easier to share content on mainstream social media than, for example, on the extreme 8kun platform.
According to him, a kind of "cyclical ecosystem" is created through which the ideas spread quickly on the various platforms, without their origin being known.
The fact that certain telegram messages are encrypted and that the company sits outside the U.S. and is therefore not fully subject to U.S. oversight also makes it difficult to trace the source of the messages, Feinberg says.
"The Rothschild family, this whole thing with the Elders of Zion - you can actually look it up in the telegram and find it," he explains.
"They use it in this way precisely because Jews tend to support the Democratic Party and so they can say that most of the media is Jewish-owned or controlled by Jews. They use it against us because they believe Trump is the savior."