Calls for violence against Jews rose by 1,200% with NYC emerging as epicenter of threats: report
A shocking new report suggests the number of antisemitic posts online increased 1,200% since Hamas began its terror attack in Israel on October 7 — with New York City emerging as an epicenter for this hate.
The Antisemitism Cyber Security Monitoring System found that between October 7 and October 10, at least 157,000 posts calling for violence against Israel, Zionists and Jews were made online, according to a survey obtained by the Jerusalem Post.
That represents a 450% increase from the four days before. It also represents a 360% increase when compared to the same period last month.
Separately, a report from the Anti-Defamation League found 347 messages on Telegram from extremists calling for violence against Jews, Israelis and Zionists in just the first 18 hours after Hamas’ surprise attack — up approximately 488% from the day before, according to USA Today.
In the UK, the first four days of the conflict saw a surge in antisemitic content of over 300%, according to the government’s Community Security Trust.
FBI Director Chris Wray told reporters on Sunday, “The threat is very much ongoing and in fact, the threat picture continues to evolve.”
“Here in the US, we cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas or other foreign terrorist organizations, could exploit the conflict to call on their supporters to conduct attacks on our own soil,” Wray warned, CBS reports.
He also noted that Jews and Muslims alike, as well as their institutions and houses of worship, have been threatened in recent days.
But, he said, the bureau is “moving quickly to mitigate the threats” — much of which are not credible, senior officials told the news station.
A majority of the posts found by the Antisemitism Cyber Security Monitoring System considered antisemitic were attributed by the group as “New Anti-Semitism,” which predominantly revolves around anti-Israel sentiment, according to the Israeli Post.
Classic antisemitism made up 16% of the content, and posts denying the Holocaust were up 6%, according to the survey.
Much of the antisemitic content originated in Paris, where a teacher was stabbed in “Islamist terror,” the report says.
But coming in second place for its number of antisemitic posts was New York City, where hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters were seen stomping on and burning the Israeli flag while at least one person displayed a Nazi flag.
Meanwhile, 7amleh — the Arab Center for Social Media Advancement’s online monitoring group — manually found 260 examples of hate speech targeting Muslims, according to USA Today.
Its automated analysis also identified 4,305 anti-Muslim posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, where Elon Musk has laid off much of its content moderation and policy teams.
The staggering statistics come just months after the ADL found antisemitic incidents in the US reached their highest level in 2022, with nearly 3,700 reported cases.
The group has been tracking antisemitic incidents since 1979, based on information provided by victims, law enforcement, local media and community leaders.
“The level of hatred that we already were dealing with on the ground, combined with what people are seeing online, just kind of all came together at the worst moment,” Oren Segal, vice president of ADL’s Center for Extremism, told CNN.
Social media sites say they are working to remove hate speech on their platforms.
Meta executives told USA Today it has Hebrew and Arabic speakers working around the clock to respond to hate speech in real-time, and TikTok announced that it was ramping up resources to help curb violent, hateful and misleading content.
YouTube owner Google also noted that during major events, like this war, it prioritizes news and information from authoritative sources and removes harmful content.
“Hate speech targeting the Jewish, Palestinian or any religious or ethnic communities is not allowed on YouTube,” the company said in a statement.
“This applies to all forms of content, including videos, livestreams and comments, and our policies are enforced across languages and locales.”
