J-Wire has reported on the Online Hate Prevention Institute’s latest report (released 30 March) examining online reactions to the firebombing of Hatzolah ambulances in London last week, drawing attention to the scale and nature of antisemitic discourse among Australian social media users.

The article, “Report warns of coordinated disinformation after London attack on Jewish ambulances”, outlines key findings from OHPI’s report, Australian responses to the attack on London ambulances.

A surge in antisemitic responses

As highlighted in the coverage, the report analysed engagement with a Facebook post by the Australian Financial Review that attracted thousands of reactions and comments, many of them hostile.

J-Wire notes the Report’s findings that more than half of the analysed comments were antisemitic, reflecting what the report identifies as a broader pattern of normalised online hate.

A particularly striking finding was the prevalence of derisive “laughing” reactions, which made up a large majority of responses. Rather than expressing humour, these reactions were used to mock or dismiss the attack and its victims.

Disinformation and conspiracy narratives

The coverage emphasises the report’s finding that disinformation spread rapidly in response to the attack. The dominant theme among antisemitic comments was “atrocity distortion”—claims that the attack was staged or carried out by Israel or Jewish actors themselves.

According to the report, this narrative was prevalent in the antisemitic commentary and frequently took the form of “false flag” conspiracy theories.

Other patterns identified include:

• Denial that the attack occurred or was antisemitic
• Use of traditional antisemitic tropes
• Justifications of the violence

J-Wire highlights the report’s findings that these narratives mirror responses seen after Bondi and other previous antisemitic incidents in Australia, suggesting a recurring and coordinated pattern.

Links to coordinated influence efforts

The article also points to the report’s conclusion that the online response may form part of a broader disinformation strategy linked to Iranian hybrid warfare.

This strategy combines real-world attacks with coordinated online narratives designed to:

• Shift blame away from perpetrators
• Reduce public sympathy for Jewish victims
• Undermine responses to antisemitism

The report describes this tactic as DARVO (deny, attack, reverse victim and offender), a method used to invert reality and recast victims as perpetrators.

Policy implications and recommendations

J-Wire also outlines the report’s recommendations, which call for stronger action from governments, platforms, and media organisations.

Key measures include:

• Reinstating robust hate speech detection by social media platforms
• Strengthening Australia’s Online Safety expectations
• Improving moderation of comment sections
• Developing a national strategy to counter foreign disinformation

The report argues that without coordinated action, online spaces will continue to amplify hate and erode social cohesion.

A broader warning

As noted in the coverage, OHPI’s analysis points to risks that extend beyond a single incident. The findings show how quickly online ecosystems can be mobilised to spread antisemitism and conspiracy narratives, even in response to an attack on a volunteer medical service that treats people of all backgrounds.

The J-Wire article reinforces the report’s central warning: disinformation is not just distorting public understanding of events, but actively contributing to the normalisation of antisemitism.

Read OHPI’s latest report: Australian responses to the attack on London ambulances.
Read J-Wire’s coverage: Report warns of coordinated disinformation after London attack on Jewish ambulances.

OHPI LinkedIn • OHPI Instagram • OHPI Facebook • Bondi Report • Ambulance Attack Responses Report

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Key findings

The report notes that the London Metropolitan Police is investigating the attack as an antisemitic hate crime, and how an Islamist group linked to the Iranian regime, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), has claimed responsibility for the attack, though this is still being verified. We discuss the possibility that the attack is part of an Iranian Hybrid Warfare strategy, an idea raised by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), which we find likely. We add that this strategy looks to go beyond the physical attack, and includes an information warfare element based on disinformation that manipulates online discourse to exacerbate the impact on the Jewish communities while reducing public empathy. This strategy also undermines government and police action against antisemitism. 

The analysis of the AFR Facebook post reporting the attack revealed an alarming public response with derisive laughter being the main “reaction”. By March 28 this accounted for  71% of the over 5,500 reactions to the post. This further demonstrates the normalisation of antisemitism in Australian society.

An analysis of 524 comments found 261 were antisemitic. Most were “atrocity-related” and the dominant sub-category was Atrocity Distortion (68.6% of the antisemitic content). 

• The atrocity distortion content primarily promoted the attack as a “false flag” and inverted the roles of victim and perpetrator by claiming Israel or Mossad were responsible for the attack (88.3% of the distortion content) and carried it out to frame Iran, either to garner sympathy for the US-Israel attack on Iran, or draw the UK into conflict with Iran. 

• A further 12.8% of the atrocity distortion content blames the Jews for the attack on the Jewish charity or claimed it was staged, for example, that it was undertaken as an insurance job.  

Other significant categories of antisemitism included:

• Atrocity Denial (13.0%): Comments dismissing the AFR article as “fake news” or propaganda dictated by Mossad.
• Traditional Antisemitism (10.3%): Comments using classic tropes, such as accusing Jews of controlling societal institutions or the media, or of killing Jesus. 

Atrocity Justification: Claims that rationalized the attack as “payback” for Israel’s actions, holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel.

Recommendations

• Meta should reverse its 2025 decision that scaled back automated trust and safety efforts for “less serious” content violations such as hate speech.
• Australia should require reasonable efforts be made to reduce online hate speech, including in comments, as part of its Basic Online Safety Expectations for social media platforms.
• Media and government staff tasked with moderating social media comments should turn off commenting when they are unable to properly moderate the incoming comments. 
• Staff responsible for moderation should be sufficiently trained in antisemitism to recognise it and feel empowered enough to act to remove it. Those managing social media posts should be confident that taking action to remove antisemitism and other forms of racism and hate will be supported by their management.
• A counter-strategy must be developed to address the efforts to destabilise Australian and Western democracies through the sort of disinformation and inversion presented in this report. This strategy may involve public education, stronger transparency expectations on platforms, and stronger requirements to address disinformation.

Media coverages of this report

March 30 2026. J-wire: Report warns of coordinated disinformation after London attack on Jewish ambulances

The post Australian responses to the attack on London ambulances first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

OHPI’s Bondi Report can be read here.

OHPI’s Report on the Australian Responses to the Attack on London Ambulances to be released 30 March at ohpi.org.au.

OHPI LinkedIn • OHPI Instagram • OHPI Facebook 

The post ‘Victorian antisemitism hits record high for second year running’ — J-Wire cites OHPI first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

Written prior to 7 October, the chapter examines key forms of Holocaust disinformation, including denial, distortion, trivialisation, relativism, inversion, promotion, silencing and abuse.

The chapter has only grown in relevance. The misinformation tactics used in relation to the Holocaust have since been applied to the 2023 October 7 terrorist attack in Israel, and more recently to the 2025 Bondi attack in Australia.

The research in this chapter therefore underpins the Online Hate Prevention Institute’s recent report into the Bondi attack and its aftermath, accessible here.

OHPI LinkedIn • OHPI Instagram • OHPI Facebook • Bondi Report

The post Contribution to “The Palgrave Handbook of Australia and the Holocaust” first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

David Gonski AC, Chair of the Antisemitism Education Taskforce, presented on the Taskforce’s current work and priorities. Visiting UNESCO staff outlined the framework of the program and its planned adaptation across different education sectors and jurisdictions within Australia.

The OHPI’s Dr Oboler attended the dialogue, which brought together representatives from all three school sectors, including government, Catholic, and independent schools, as well as education department officials from across Australia’s states and territories. Participants also included organisations such as Holocaust museums from around the country, reflecting a broad, cross-sector commitment to addressing antisemitism in educational settings.

The event was chaired by Jillian Segal AO, Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, and opened by NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning, Prue Car MP. Contributions were also delivered by Allegra Spender MP and Julian Leeser MP.

The day comprised a series of presentations, panel discussions, and collaborative knowledge sharing sessions aimed at informing a coordinated national approach to addressing antisemitism in schools.

OHPI LinkedIn • OHPI Instagram • OHPI Facebook • Bondi Report

The post National Dialogue on Addressing Antisemitism in Australian Schools first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

As a headline in the New York Times put it, there was, “A Crash, Gunfire and Then a Race to Save a Synagogue Full of Children“. The article describes what happened:

“A truck had rammed through the building doors and down a corridor, past the nursery where infants slept, veering toward the gym where children played. Debris was falling from the ceiling and crumpled walls. Rabbi Arianna Gordon saw an overturned stroller surrounded by broken glass and a security guard rushing by with his weapon drawn.

Then the sound of gunfire ricocheted through the building, reaching the administrative offices and classrooms, and the ears of dozens of children enrolled in the preschool. The truck became engulfed in flames, filling the halls and offices with smoke.”

Children were evacuated as the attacked engaged in a shootout with security, before killing himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

It has since emerged that the attacker, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, was a 41-year-old man born in Lebanon and who has moved to the US and become a US citizen. He lived 20 minutes away in Dearborn Heights, another suburb of Detroit, and one with a large Muslim community. Mayor Mo Baydoun of Dearborn Heights said that earlier this month Ghazali lost a number of family members, including a niece and nephew, to an Israeli strike in Lebanon. Ghazali attack on the synagogue was deliberate, he sat in his car outside the synagogue for 2 hours before driving into it.

The anti-Zionist Video

The Instagram account “davidsaysstuff” was created in May 2025 by David Spevak. At the time of writing it has 138k followers and has made 250 posts. The full name of the account is “david spevak – jewish palestine israel anti-zionist” and its about details start with “Media inquiries:” and his email address. It is clear an anti-Zionist account looking for attention.

A quick search found a Facebook post promoted by a Palestinian advocacy group sharing a video of David in which he seems to make out that Zionist Youth Movements are the same as Hitler Youth. This is not only a demonization of Zionism, but an example of Holocaust distortion. Of course he does this while speaking “as a Jew”, with a giant label to make this clear, and he goes on to say he is a grand child of Holocaust survivors. He comparison is sloppy, has inaccuracies about both Zionist Youth Movements and the Hitler Youth, and would in fact work better if he was speaking about a group like the Scouts. The point is not to provide a full analysis of this video, but to give some background.

The video (you can watching and if you like report it here) that we are looking at on the Temple Israel attack again starts with the “I’m Jewish” imagery, as he speaks “as a Jew”. It also boldly states “Ramming a Synagogue isn’t antisemitism. It’s revenge.” Then is includes a picture of two children, we must assume Ghazali’s niece and nephew, with a label “Murdered by Israel”. Before even looking at the video, let’s unpack this imagery.

• Antisemitism: An attack on a place of worship, chosen as a target because it is a place of worship of a particular religious community, is a hate crime. When the target is a synagogue, it is an antisemitic hate crime.
• Revenge: The idea that being motivated by revenge makes it not antisemitic is deeply flawed. By that logic, if Israel was deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians, it would ok if it was in “revenge” for October 7. And the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 that clearly did target civilians would be justifiable as “revenge” for past Israeli actions. And those actions would be justifiable because of… this logic doesn’t stop hate and violence, it feeds it.

David’s account description says he is about “breaking bias & fear” and “break the cycle”, clearly he isn’t. These are just words to make him look less extreme and more reasonable to those media people he wants to contact him.

On to the video…

He starts by building an emotional connection to the attacker. “I’m so angry and so frustrated, this man lost his entire family. They were killed by an Israeli air-strike in Lebanon.” He uses this to provide a justification for the attack, saying, “So what he did, crashing into a synagogue, yes it was horrific, but it was not an act of antisemitism. It was an act of revenge.”

In Australia we have seen similar arguments justifying, sometimes even glorifying, the attack on a Jewish celebration at Bondi Beach that left 15 innocent people dead in December 2025. We discussed this is detail in our recent report into the attack.

Let’s be a clear. When Jews are targeted, because they are Jews, that is antisemitism. It absolutely does not matter why the attacker thinks Jews should be targeted. What matters is that they have decided to target a group of people chosen because of their identity, not because of anything those specific individuals have done.

The IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism gives as one of its examples of antisemitism, “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.” That’s exactly what this attack was. Ghazali was, quite reasonably, distraught at the loss of his niece and nephew and he blames Israel. He has a right to his distress and his anger – even if Israel’s attack was entirely lawful, even then he has a right to that. That does not make it ok to target Jews. The logic that, “the attack was carried out by a state with a Jewish majority, and a Jewish culture, so I’m going to go find some Jews to kill” is both racist and an example of violent extremism (i.e. terrorism). Imagine if someone upset with any of the 57 countries that have a Muslim majority and a Muslim culture decided that because of what that country was doing, they were going to go and attack mosques and Islamic schools. This example in the IHRA definition not only makes sense, but calls out antisemitism example like we have just seen in Michigan, and last December in Sydney.

David continues in the video saying, “And pretending that this violence came out of nowhere is a lie”. There is absolutely no requirement that antisemitic violence be “irrational”, nor that it “came out of nowhere”. The same is true of violence against any other group. Violence that targets a group based on its identity always has a reason. It may be a poor reason, it may be based on disinformation, indoctrination, and radicalising content, but an antisemitic attack or other hate crime won’t ever have come from nowhere. Anyone who said the attack came out of nowhere would have meant the local community had no reason to expect that they specifically would be targeted. The choice of target after all had nothing to do with this place of worship, anyone who prays there, or any of the children who attend school there. It was simply the closest large Jewish target to the attacker found once they decided they wanted to engage in an antisemitic attack and try to kill Jews.

David continues, “And now, of course, the immediate response, a woman crying on the news that we need more security at synagogues?” He said this as if it is totally unreasonable. He said it as if a community that has just been attacked and witnessed a shootout between the attacker and its security guards, and which might have seen many people, particularly young children, killed if it weren’t for those security guards, is behaving unreasonably by calling for better security. Places of worship, kindergartens, and schools, should all be safe. If they are being target with violence they have every right to call on the state provide greater protection. Keeping people safe is the first job of any government.

David disagreed. He continues with an emphatic “No” saying “What we need is for Israel to stop murdering people”. He uses this to justify the attack saying “Stop acting like you don’t know where this man’s rage has come from.” Then comes the outright lie as David continues, “He doesn’t care that you are Jewish.” If that was the case, he would not have targeted a Jewish place of worship. He clearly did. That is what makes it antisemitic. It really is that simple.

David continues, “He’s mad that his entire family was murdered by an Israeli bomb. So hello! People don’t just randomly hate Jews. So stop gaslighting us, as to think that we have no clue how all of this could have happened. This man was pushed to the edge because of Israel’s complete disregard for human life.” What he has done here is:

1. Imply hating Jews is an acceptable response to Israeli actions – it’s not.
2. Falsely claiming those saying it is an antisemitic attack are gaslighting the public by ignoring the “justification” he provides for the attack (he is effectively demanding that Jewish communities open themselves up to attack as “they deserve it because of Israel” – exactly what IHRA explains is antisemitic, and it is an argument that is clearly insane if made about any other community, whether ethnic, religion, or national)
3. Excuse the attacker targeting a Jewish place of worship
4. Claim Israel is killing people out of a complete disregard for human life, gratuitously if you will, rather than as part of a war in which it has legitimate military targets. It ignores the attacks on Israel from Lebanon.

He goes on to attack the idea of improving security saying, “So bringing more security, how about we arm Rabbis. None of that addresses the real problem.” For a community living in fear of another attack, it very much does address the problem. It improves safety and can save lives. Regardless of anything else, rejecting better security is a callous move.

He ends by saying, “The real problem is Israel need to stop murdering people”. This completely ignores the issue of antisemitism, of Jews around the world being targeted by those who oppose Israel’s military actions, or indeed its existence. A response to at attack on a synagogue is entirely about that. He has sought to reframe and blame Israel, encourage a commendation of Israel, and a justification that urges understanding be shown to those who attack Jewish communities.

In final comment he said, “And to the Zionists who are coming for me, speaking out is how we save Jewish lives.” During the Holocaust there were prominent Jews who joined the Jewish Councils set up by the Nazis. They argued they were saving Jewish lives by doing with the Nazis wanted. If they fill the quotas, selecting who will be taken, perhaps that is better than refusing and having the whole ghetto liquidated at once. This sounds similar. Today, most Jews believe it is better to have a Jewish state, with the military might to defend itself, and that will act to protect Jews or provide a safe place should it look like another Holocaust is about to unfold. Israel has acted, absorbing Jews who were persecuted an expelled from Arab countries. Air lifting 49,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel and safety in 1949-1950. Absorbing Russian Jews fleeing the persecution of soviet Jewry. There are many other examples.

He continues, “We must speak out against what Israel is doing”, adding in a mocking tone, “Not by crying about extra security”, and continues emphatically, “but by speaking our against Zionism. Because that’s the biggest threat to the Jewish people.” In this he is not just demanding an end to the war, or objecting to Israel’s policies, he is demanding its dismantlement and arguing it is Israel’s existence, and its effects to provide a space place for Jews, and a country with a Jewish culture, just like the 47 countries with a Muslim culture, that is the problem.

So to recap, the video shows:

• An attempt to redefine antisemitism so it only counts if the attacker has no coherent rationalisation for attacking Jews (a false definition that eliminates all antisemitism)
• An attempt to justify the attack on a Jewish place of worship and a Jewish school and kindergarden
• An attempt to argue that holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel is ok, rather than antisemitic
• A rejection of calls for enhanced security after the attack, seeking to keep Jewish spaces as easier targets for violence
• A suggestion attacking a Jewish target in outrage at Israel is legitimate, and the Jews should just take it
• An instance that if only Israel would roll over and die, then Jews would be safer
• A demand that Jews join him in calling for Israel’s destruction in order to be safe

All this is done “AAJ” or “As a Jew”.

The post Examining an Anti-Zionist response to the Michigan Temple Israel attack first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

The post ‘Think tank warns social media outrage fuelling distrust and division’ – Article in J-Wire first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

Over the past three years, OHPI has collected 17,392 items of antisemitic content from social media as part of our systematic monitoring project. During this period, 19.4% of this antisemitic data involved one or more of the categories of Holocaust related antisemitism. The categories and volume of data we have on each are: 

Additionally, there are two forms of Israel-related antisemitism that are concerning the Holocaust: 

This data comes from ten social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter), YouTube, Telegram, LinkedIn, Gab, Reddit, and BitChute. 

Here, we explain each type of Holocaust-related antisemitism and share examples of Holocaust related social media posts captured during our monitoring. 

1.1: Denying the Holocaust

Holocaust denial is one of the most common forms of Holocaust-related antisemitic content in OHPI’s online data research and capture activity. IHRA explains Holocaust denial as: ‘discourse and propaganda that deny the historical reality and extent of the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis and their accomplices during World War II’.

The following example from Instagram depicts someone wearing a fake hook nose as a prop to caricaturize Jewish people. The caption reads: ‘Who am I? I’ll give you a hint. I’ve been kicked out of 109 countries and 6 million of me didn’t die in Germany’. The comment denying six million Jews were killed by the Nazi regime is clear case of Holocaust denial. 

1.2: Accusing Jews/Israel of exaggerating the Holocaust 

Accusing Jews or Israel of exaggerating the Holocaust is an attempt to negate or trivialise the established facts of the Nazi genocide of European Jews. It is also a mechanism to imply that Jews are dishonest, accusing them of exaggerating the numbers for ulterior motives.

In this example from Telegram, the user accuses Jews of lying about the Holocaust as a tactic to ‘pressure’ the British to ‘open the doors of Palestine’. It reinforces the antisemitic stereotype that Jewish people are manipulative and dishonest. They write: ‘The Jews have been using the “Holocaust” narrative as a weapon and a tool to advance their agendas including the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine’.

1.3: Blaming Jews for the Holocaust 

The following example comes from X (formerly known as Twitter). In the post, a user shares an image that claims nearly 30% of Gen Z don’t think that Hitler was ‘that bad’. The caption accompanying the image reads: ‘The world is starting to notice why approximately 80 years ago the Germans “went crazy for no reason at all”’. The implication is that jewish behaviour and character justified the Nazi’s persecution of the Jews, rather than being motivated by prejudice.

1.4: Distort the facts of the Holocaust 

Holocaust distortion distorts the facts and the magnitude of the Holocaust. 

The infamous Nazi era book burning events of May 10th, 1933, are referenced in the following X post. This was when German university students across the country burned books by Jewish authors including Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. The X user posts a screenshot of a news article with the title ‘Jews Still Angry About That Time When The “Nazis” Burned Their Gay Porn Stash in 1933’. The post distorts and downplays the actual events and reinforces a popular antisemitic narrative that characterises Jews as morally degenerate, which in turn attempts to justify Nazi’s measures against the Jews. 

1.5: Glorifying the Holocaust

The following comment on a YouTube video glorifies the Third Reich and legitimises its treatment of Jews, including the Holocaust. Commenting on a video about Israel, the user states that ’Germany was Erwacht 90 years ago’. The word ‘erwacht’ is German for ‘awake’. The statement suggests that the Nazi treatment of the Jews was the result of the Nazis’ foreshadowing the true nature of Jews through exceptional insight, wisdom and  awareness.

1.6: Inappropriate comparisons with Nazis 

The following comment was made on a Facebook news article about the US leaving the World Health Organisation. About Trump, the user writes ‘This thing is every bit as bad as Hitler’. Even if one views Trump as highly immoral, claiming that he is ‘every bit as bad as Hitler’ is inappropriate and far-fetched, effectively downplaying the seriousness of Hitler’s actions and minimising the impact of the Holocaust.

1.7: Holocaust jokes 

The following comment responded to a YouTube video about right-wing commentators Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro, the latter of whom is Jewish. This commenter writes ‘Candace 6,000,000 Ben 271,000’. On one level, the user is suggesting that Owens is ‘beating’ Shapiro in their argument. The use of these figures is an antisemitic joke in reference to a false statistic that serves to downplay the scale of the Nazi genocide by claiming that the number of Jews murdered is in fact 271,000 and not 6 million.

4.5: Comparisons of Israeli Policy To Nazism

Comparing Jews, Israel or Israelis to the Nazis is a type of Holocaust distortion known as Holocaust inversion. Holocaust inversion distorts the memory of the Holocaust by falsely equating Israel with the Nazis and uses ‘the Holocaust as a stick to beat “the Jews”’ with. 

In this example from Facebook, a user posts an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, superimposed with Hitler’s hair and moustache. The caption of the image reads ‘“We are the Chosen People!”’ The allegation here is that Jews think they are a ‘chosen people’ akin to the Nazi German ‘Aryan master race’. 

Conclusion

Despite overwhelming documented historical evidence and eyewitness testimony, Holocaust denial, distortion, and minimisation persist. These practices are dangerous because they fuel contemporary antisemitism, spread misinformation, erode historical truth and its lessons, and undermine democratic values. As documented by the Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPI) and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), such narratives are not fringe opinions but are forms of hate speech that normalise extremist ideologies and violence.

A recent OHPI report examining the aftermath of the Bondi Beach Massacre found that modern hate speech mirrors Holocaust October 7 denial. The report identifies patterns including atrocity glorification, justification, minimisation, denial, and distortion—often framed through false-flag conspiracy theories that blame Israel, Mossad, or the Australian Jewish community—demonstrating how these narratives continue to evolve while perpetuating the same harmful ideologies.

The post Holocaust Memorial Day 2026 first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

Read the article here.

Read our report on the Bondi massacre here.

The post ‘Bondi Beach massacre sparks online hate storm, report warns of normalised antisemitism’- Article in J-Wire first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

A person from Jundah in Queensland, an outback town with a population of 131 as of the 2021 census, posted:

A similar idea was expressed by another Australian user.

The meaning is not entirely clear, another user tried to push them to clarify (they this to both users) but those speaking about “pay back” declined to do so. It looks like it might be advocating violence against the Muslim community in response to Bondi, but expressed vaguely enough that they hope the can escape any consequences.

Another write more explicitly “The problem is Islam!” this is clearer but they avoided the suggestion of “payback”. This user is from Leura, New South Wales, a village in the Blue Mountains with a population of 4,503 according to the 2021 census.

Another user tries to deflect from the National Day of Mourning for those killed in the Bondi terrorist attack on the Jewish community, and the article about the antisemitism in response to the attack, by seeking to divert attention back to the Middle East. The claim that three journalists were killed is supported by media reports, which also say Israel responded that it was responding to a drone deemed to pose a risk to troops, and that it is investigating the incident. All of this is besides the point, which is that such discussion belongs in its own post, not as a deflection on a post about those killed in Australia.

All of these users had locked profiles. Another profile that was not only locked but fake (it has just 36 friends) wrote “Australian needs to ban Jewish and Islamic immigration”.

Another user, a Melbourne University graduate, calls Jews “the world’s most overrepresented minority” and “genocidal war criminals”. Even as he engages in this rather extreme antisemitism, he complains that “antisemitism is fundamental to the Zionist identity”. His argument seems to be that it is only because of antisemitism that Jews get away with it.

A user from Newcastle, New South Wales, discusses the article from the Australian Jewish News and the Online Hate Prevention Institute’s evidence based report with the words “Zionist funded organisation”. Like many of Australia’s cultural institutions, universities, and hospitals, we are a charity whose work is funded by public donations, and like them members of the Jewish community are general in funding our work, whether it is on antisemitism, Islamophobia, Racism against First Nations Australians, Misogyny, or any of the other topics we cover. Most of our Jewish donors will be Zionists, as is true for the universities, hospitals, cultural institutions, etc. There is nothing at all wrong with this.

This next post from a completely locked down profile is a classic example of the “Racist anti-Zionism” the report discusses. It refers to “filthy Zionists” (a variant on the more classic antisemitic “filthy Jew”). It also refers to “Nazi fucks” and later “putrid Nazi fucks”, and the hashtag “#FuckZionistNaziPigs”. In our description of racist anti-Zionism we describe how the far left make it ok to attack Jews by calling the Jews Zionists, and saying Zionists are like Nazis, to justify attacking then like they attack Nazis. This narrative actually has its roots in the antisemitism of the Soviet Union in the 1960s. The post shows the person stating that “everyone” is going to misuse the reporting feature of Facebook to falsely report the promoted post as “Promoting Hate, or Inciting Terrorism”. This shows the abuse of technology to try silence those they decide to attack, and specifically to silence those tackling racism.

Another example of this racist anti-Zionism is shown below. Remember this is on an article about the antisemitism following the killing of 15 Jews in a terrorist attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney. This person’s response is to justify the antisemitism, they start by saying “They should tell their thieving genocidal Zionist government” , immediately treat Australian Jews at a Jewish religious celebration as foreigners whose government is the Israeli government, not the Australian government. They define Israel’s government as by definition “thieving and genocidal”, this is the rhetoric of demonization from the far-left, and again spilling from Israel to Australian Jews. They are challenged by another user and comes back with more talking points which far from accurate, including the idea that most Israeli Jews comes from Europe and have no connection to Israel. Over half of the Jewish Israeli population comes from elsewhere in the Middle East, not the US or Europe. Around 80% of Israeli Jews today were born in Israel. The ancestors of all Jews originally come from Israel as this is where the Jewish people is originally from. All of this, however, is a distraction from the concerns in the article over antisemitism in Australia, which this person seeks to distract from, with more antisemitism!

This next example makes use of classic antisemitism mispresenting the Talmud (a topic we discuss here and here) and also refers to 271,000 which relates to Holocaust denial as AAP Fact Check explains.

Another post from a NSW user claim “it’s not anti-Semitic either because the Jews occupying Palestine aren’t Semites at all, in fact they’re Ashkenazi Jews which have no claim at all to the lands”. This is repeating what has been spread by Palestinian advocates in a deliberate campaign of disinformation, designed both to deny Jewish people their identity and history, and to contort their way into arguing their racism is ok.

There are many problems with this including:

1. Over half the Jews in Israel are Mizrahi Jews who came (or rather their parents or grandparents came) to Israel when they were kicked out of Arab lands after Israel was formed in 1948.
2. Ashkenazi Jews like Mizrahi Jews have their origins in Israel. The Jews were taken as slaves to Babylon (where modern Iran is) in 597 BCE, they were later allowed to return and many did while others stayed in Babylon. Ancient Rome came to rule the region and there were a number of smaller expulsions of parts of the Jewish population, then the major expulsion in 132-135 CE when the Jews were taken as slaves and spread right across the Roman Empire. It is from those Jews sent as slaves to Europe that the Ashkenazi Jews emerged, as well as Sephardic Jews which are those that settled in Spain and Portugal.
3. There is no such thing as a “Semitic people”. Semitic is a scientific term in linguistics and covers a family of languages that includes Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, etc. The word antisemitism was only created in 1879. It borrowed from the linguistic term to sound more scientific as Jew hate in Germany moved from being about religion to being about race due to the rise of “racial science” (now dismissed as pseudo-science). It was intentionally coined to mean “anti-Jewish” and it has only every been used in this way. It is better spelled as one word with no hyphen.

This is before we get to the racist anti-Zionism saying “so if you’re a Zionist supporting scumbag, get out of Australia for we don’t need your type here”. Not only is this racist, but the person saying this probably has no idea of the contribution of Australian Zionists to Australia. To name just one, the First President of the Zionist Federation of Australia, General Sir John Monash, Australia’s greatest military leader.

Another comment, this one from Perth, says “Fuck off communist dogs”. It’s clearly against our work highlighting antisemitism online. It associates anti-racism work with communism.

The next one says, from a user in Melbourne, says that by tackling antisemitism we are “representing foreign interests above those from Australia”, this is an example of the antisemitism that claims Jews are foreign outsiders who can’t be trusted as citizens because of “dual loyalty” to Israel or the Jewish people. This most famously occurred in the Dreyfus Affair in France 120 years ago.

The other aspect of this is that it attacks the Online Hate Prevention Institute, which is not a Jewish organisation, for “favouring a certain group of people and not all religions and backgrounds”. The current report on Bondi is because 15 people were murdered in a terrorist attack targeted at the Jewish community. It was not targeted at Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, or any other group. It was not targeted at our First Nations Australians, nor at Asian Australians, nor at Indian Australians. The demand that we don’t address antisemitism, when it is antisemitism that is occurring, is frankly racist and antisemitic.

Beyond this, we very much DO cover other forms of racism, religious vilification and bigotry. You can see some of our work on other topics on via the hate archive on our website.

Another user refers to Neturei Karta saying they “show up Zionism for its evil and that it must be ended as an ideology”. Neturei Karta are the Ultra-Orthodox Jews you see all over social media attacking Zionism and Israel. As the late Jeremy Jones, winner of Australian Human Rights Medal, put it, they are “a numerically and theologically insignificant sect of quasi-religious Jews… [that] enjoys a far higher profile amongst antisemites than Jews.” World wide there are only about 5,000 members of Neturei Karta, meaning they represent less than 0.03% of the Jewish population. Learn more.

The post Attracting the antisemites first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.