According to a report by the Ministry of Diaspora, the corona plague was used to spread antisemitic conspiracy theories • The ministry identified antisemitic activists who tried to link Jews to the plague
Supporters of the National Socialist Movement in Georgia, USA Burning Swastika, in 2018
Photography:
Reuters
Following the Corona epidemic, there is expected to be a sharp rise in anti-Semitism and violence against Jews around the world over the coming year, the Ministry of Diaspora warned today (Sunday).
In anticipation of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Wednesday, the government intends to discuss today the anti-Semitic report for 2020 prepared by the Diaspora, which reveals a gloomy forecast for 2021. According to the report, the Corona plague has been used to spread antisemitic conspiracy theories against Jews around the world
Those behind these conspiracies claim that the Jews spread the virus in order to profit economically from the chaos it causes and to create a new world order.
The report also said that last year there was a tens of percent increase in the spread of anti-Semitism on the Internet.
The report also revealed that the main arena for expressing anti-Semitism has shifted from the physical space to the virtual space: with the outbreak of the corona crisis, the ministry's monitoring system located attempts by well-known antisemitic activists to link Jews to the plague. The culmination of what was an Iranian campaign The hashtag # Covid48, which was distributed 250,000 times and viewed by hundreds of millions of Twitter users, compared the State of Israel to the deadly virus.
The crisis has led to an increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States as well, in addition to the political polarization in the presidential election campaigns, the dissemination of conspiracy theories and protests following the death of George Floyd.
A survey conducted by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), nine out of ten respondents said they are troubled by anti-Semitism and eight out of ten (82%) believe it has increased in the past five years.
In Germany, which this year will mark 1,700 years of Jewish life in its territory, another increase in anti-Semitism has been diagnosed.
During the years 2020-2017, 380 proceedings were opened against far-right activists who worked for the German police.
Investigators within the police found evidence of police officers wearing Nazi uniforms and insignia and exposed many scandals related to anti-Semitism and racism in the ranks of the German police.
However, the report also identifies positive trends: in 2020, three Muslim-majority countries adopted the definition of anti-Semitism as a standard for identifying anti-Semitism around the world, including for the first time an Arab country - Bahrain. The three join many other countries, including the US, UK, Germany, France and Italy, in addition to international organizations and leading universities that have ratified the work definition of anti-Semitism that also includes Holocaust denial and anti-Israelism.
There has also been a decline in the number of antisemitic posts on social media and it seems that the steps taken by major networks against hate speech have led its extremist users to migrate to less supervised networks.
Data from the ministry's monitoring system indicate a 50% drop in the number of antisemitic messages posted on Twitter between 2018 and 2020.
The report further notes that increasing regulation on social networks has pushed extremist activists to “alternative” online platforms, which have become a haven for white and neo-Nazi nationalists. The unique information gathered from the ministry’s monitoring system shows that users excluded from these sites simply switched to unregulated platforms. They can be expressed freely.
Diaspora Minister Omar Yankelevich: "The Jewish people have served for thousands of years as a scapegoat for all the ills of the world. Unfortunately, anti-Semitism has not missed the current epidemic either. "One of many examples of the new face of anti-Semitism these days. If anti-Semitism is a global phenomenon, so should the war. It is my hope that in the coming year we will be able to join hands in eradicating the virus of anti-Semitism from the world.