Since then, officials have reported that the suspect shared a manifesto with the same colleague that he contacted after the attempted shooting. In it, he described himself as a ‘sociopathic white supremacist Neo Nazi filled with hatred, fantasizing about mass murder nearly every day’. He also referred to people who aren’t white as ‘subhuman’. 

This event parallels other attacks in which religious minorities were targeted at their place of worship, often also during religious holidays. There was a recent shooting at a Synagogue in Ontario, Canada on Yom Kippur, and a few months prior we saw a shooting at a Mosque in San Diego in which three people were killed. Pardeep Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka was killed at a mass shooting at a gurdwara in 2012, said that the purpose of these attacks is to instill fear within the targeted community; ‘Their belief is if you can attack people in the space they hold most sacred, it plants a deep terror in communities.’

In response to the attempted shooting in Illinois, a representative of the Coalition of Hindus of North America, Pushpita Prasad, drew a connection between the incident and the high volumes of anti-Hindu and anti-Indian hate that we see online. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a US Congressman who worships at the temple (and was there at the time when the attack was attempted) also made this connection, stating ‘We know this type of hate is coursing through social media online, it’s exploded’.

When discussing the recent attempted shooting in Illinois, Pushpita Prasad said ‘You see vitriolic posts associating Indians with dirt and creating disgust about their appearance, food and cultural practices’.

Last year, the Online Hate Prevention Institute reported on the high volumes of anti-Indian hate that we had observed on social media, and identified specific trends that could help explain the explosion of this kind of online racism. In that briefing, we too noted that much of the anti-Indian sentiment seemed to be designed to elicit feelings of disgust towards Indian people. This is important because multiple sources have connected the feeling of disgust with prejudicial beliefs. It is possible that the feelings of dehumanisation that the attempted shooter evidently felt towards Indian people had been influenced by the barrage of online content that seeks to portray them as physically repellent. If this is the case, then it constitutes another case in which online hate-speech has real world, and potentially deadly, consequences. 

OHPI has observed the online reaction to a number of attacks on racial and religious minorities. While they typically contain a majority of well-wishing and unproblematic comments, a significant minority are reliably hateful. These problematic responses typically include content that glorifies the attacks, as well as content that casts doubt on the attack by implying that it either never occurred, or did occur but was orchestrated by someone other than the attacker. We observe this same pattern of response in relation to this recent attempted shooting on the Hindu Temple. 

Below are a number of posts that were made in response to news stories about the attempted attack and which, in various ways, celebrate it. These posts constitute incitement to violence against Indians and Hindus, and are an extremely serious form of hate-speech. 

The following comments all attempt to deny or distort the facts surrounding the attempted shooting. They imply either that the attempt never really took place (and was ‘staged’), or that it was ultimately orchestrated by someone other than the actual perpetrator. This is offensive to the victims of the attempted attack because it downplays the reality of the hostility towards them. The fact that someone got so close to carrying out a mass-shooting against them, and was only foiled because their gun jammed, speaks to extreme anti-Hindu and anti-Indian sentiment in society that needs to be acknowledged and addressed. By claiming the incident was faked, commentators undermine the plight of the Hindu and Indian community.  

Note that in this context, the claim that the attack was staged makes little sense; the attack never actually took place, and there is no video footage of the events other than the CCTV of the suspect’s car at the Temple. As such, it is difficult to imagine what it could mean for this attempted shooting to have been ‘staged’. 

The following user describes the attempted shooting as ‘another psyop’ which was intended to distract the ‘goyim’. The word ‘goyim’ is a Hebrew word often used to describe non-Jews. In some online spaces, it has become associated with antisemitic conspiracies about Jews running the world and trying to subvert non-Jewish society. In this context, the commenter is not only claiming that the attack was a false-flag, but also that it was conducted by Jews. This comment is therefore deeply offensive both to the Indian community who were the target of this attempted shooting, and also to Jews who are now being unfairly blamed for it without evidence. 

Many of the problematic comments that we see in response to this incident engage in specific anti-Indian narratives that OHPI has identified previously. The user below jokes that the suspect ‘just got tired of the SMELL’, while another responds ‘No Doedorant huh’. This plays into racist tropes about Indians having bad hygiene, and which can elicit feelings of disgust from social media users exposed to this material. 

Other users took this event as an opportunity to express the view that Hindus were incompatible with Western Society. These comments engage in a persistent form of online anti-Indian hate according to which Hindus and/or Indians make for poor members of society, and should therefore be deported from the West. 

The nature and quality of racist abuse differs depending on its target. Anti-Indian racism is different from anti-black racism, which is different to antisemitism. Despite this, there are some recurring themes that we see online whenever a minority group is attacked. The recent attempted shooting against Hindus suggests that these patterns will re-occur regardless of the victims, and regardless of whether the event was thankfully botched before any physical violence could occur. There will always be those who glorify the attack, and those that seek to deny it. Responses of this kind are always deeply offensive, and can signal a lack of empathy that ultimately makes violent attacks possible. The hostility towards Hindus and Indians online is real and virulent, and this incident serves a stark reminder of how devastating its ramifications can be. IT also highlights the important need for platforms to proactively remove such hate from their systems, before it leads to violence.

The post Disturbing Responses to Attempted Hindu Temple Shooting first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

Read OHPI’s new report here: https://ohpi.org.au/analysing-the-new-normal/

Read the full article in The Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/online-antisemitism-hits-record-high-three-years-after-october-7-study-finds/

The post ‘Online antisemitism hits record high three years after October 7, study finds’ – The Times of Israel on OHPI’s new report first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

Read OHPI’s new report here: https://ohpi.org.au/analysing-the-new-normal/

Read the The Jewish Independent article here: https://thejewishindependent.com.au/traditional-antisemitism-online-spike/

The post ‘Traditional antisemitic myths dominate online antisemitism: new study’ – Article from The Jewish Independent about OHPI’s new report first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

Read OHPI’s new report here: https://ohpi.org.au/analysing-the-new-normal/

Read the full article in The Australian Jewish News here: https://www.australianjewishnews.com/online-antisemitism-at-record-high/

The post ‘Online antisemitism at record high’ – Article in The Australian Jewish News about OHPI’s new report first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

Read our new report: https://ohpi.org.au/analysing-the-new-normal/

Read the full article in J-Wire: https://www.jwire.com.au/online-antisemitism-reaches-record-levels/

The post ‘Three years after October 7, online antisemitism reaches record levels’ – Article in J-Wire covering OHPI’s new report first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

Three years after the 7 October 2023 terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, our monitoring reveals that online antisemitism remains at significantly elevated levels. No platform monitored by OHPI has returned to pre-7 October levels. The initial attacks triggered an enormous surge in antisemitic content, which has continued until today. Antisemitism across the platforms we monitor has risen significantly since the initial post October 7 spike, with the most recent three-months having the highest levels observed in any period since OHPI began monitoring.

Alongside this sustained increase in antisemitism, there have been efforts both online and offline to erase the memory of October 7 and empathy for the victims. Pro-Palestine protests on October 7 2026 were advertised online with imagery glorifying the October 7 attacks and portrayed those responsible as martyrs or honourable fallen soldiers. 

Analysing the data we see that traditional antisemitism remains dominant across most platforms (and in total). This finding is significant in the context of recurring claims that seek to deny or minimise the problem of antisemitism. These claims often suggest the rise can be explained away as a result of anti-Zionist or pro-Palestinian content being “misclassified” as antisemitism. Our data does not support this. The nature of the antisemitism is largely of an older and more traditional kind, from claims of Jewish power to the accusation of deicide.

This is not to accept the argument of misclassification. Too many who argue “anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism” are pushing for a free pass to engage in antisemitism, of whatever form, without consequences. Pro-Palestinian advocacy need not be antisemitic, yet too many seek to engage in antisemitism under the cover of calling it political advocacy, and too many stand by and allow it. Our data track antisemitism related to Israel, Israelis, Zionism and Zionists as a distinct form of antisemitism, what was once called “new antisemitism”. It is concerning that LinkedIn and Reddit together make up 15% of our data, yet account for 30% of this type of antisemitism. LinkedIn is the only platform where antisemitism related to Israel and Zionism is dominant and consistently accounts for more than 70% of the antisemitic material collected.

The nature and distribution of antisemitism also varies across platforms in other ways. Traditional antisemitism is most prevalent on almost all platforms monitored, but dominates particularly strongly on Gab and Telegram, platforms particularly popular with the far right. Surprisingly most Holocaust denial content is now on mainstream platforms. Rising levels of incitement to violence, particularly material promoting extremist ideologies such as Nazism, can be seen on YouTube and TikTok, usually in comments.

OHPI’s analysis demonstrates that since the spike in online antisemitism after October 7, 2023, there is a new normal where antisemitism is pervasive across social media. Its nature varies across platforms. Understanding the patterns is essential to identifying emerging threats, challenging antisemitic narratives, and informing effective responses. Continued monitoring is critical to ensure corrective measures, including regulation, have a meaningful impact.

Media coverage

• Zev Stub, “Online antisemitism hits record high three years after October 7, study finds“, Times of Israel, 15 October 2026 (also in the French Edition)
• “Online antisemitism at record high“, The Australia Jewish News, October 15, 2026
• “Three years after October 7, online antisemitism reaches record levels“, J-Wire, 14 October 2025
• Deborah Stone, “Traditional antisemitic myths dominate online antisemitism: new study“, The Jewish Independent, 15 October 2026
• “ONLINE ANTISEMITISM: Study Finds Anti-Jewish Content Remains At Record Levels Three Years After October 7“, The Yeshiva World, 15 October 2026
• Talia Ben-David, “Global Online Antisemitism Reaches Record Highs, Demanding Advanced Cyber Monitoring“, QDay, 15 October 2026
• “Antisemitismo en línea en un máximo histórico tras el 7 de octubre“, Enlace Judío, 15 October 2026
• Tamar stein, “Three years after October 7, online antisemitism hits a record high, and it is mostly the old Jew-hatred“, Israel365News, 20 October 2026
• Marion Rice-Oxley and Joshua Swanson, “Pentagon Preps for Renewed Iran Strikes as Netanyahu Highlights Jordan Security Wall“, Christian Broadcasting Network, 16 October 2026
• “Ny mätning bekräftar rekordnivåer av antisemitism på nätet efter 7 oktober“, Med Israel for Fred, 18 October 2026
• Alessandro Carmi, “Antisemitismo online, nuovo record a tre anni dal 7 ottobre“, SETTEOTTOBRE, 19 Ovtober 2026
• “Rekordszintre emelkedett a globális online antiszemitizmus a Hamász 2023. október 7-i terrortámadása után“, Szombat, 18 October 2026
• “Három évvel az október 7-i terrortámadás után rekordszinten az online antiszemitizmus“, Neokohen, 16 October 2026

The post Analysing the new normal first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

We have monitored and documented the sharp rise in online antisemitism following the October 7 attack. Detailed analysis can be seen in our past reports:

• Online Antisemitism Before October 7 provides a baseline before the rise.
• Online Antisemitism After October 7 reflects the sharp rise in the months that followed.
• Social Media and the Normalisation of Hate: October 7 Two Years On reflects the long term trend and the creation of a new far more antisemitic normal. 

On Thursday 15 October, we will publish our new report examining three years of trends in online antisemitism since 7 October 2023. The report draws on OHPI’s data from the past three years as we monitored antisemitism across 10 (and more recently 11) different social media platforms. The report places those findings in the context of our earlier work. Consistent with our previous reports, our newest data shows a massive and sustained increase in overall antisemitism on social media since the October 7 attacks. 

The report also examines how different forms of antisemitism have changed over time, using the major categories of antisemitism as applied in OHPI’s monitoring.

Our new report will look in more detail at trends across individual platforms and at changes in the specific forms antisemitism is taking on those platforms. Three years on, continued monitoring remains essential to understanding how online antisemitism is evolving, where it is being normalised, and how it is spread.

Today is a day for remembering the victims of the Hamas atrocities on October 7, 2023. We are dismayed at those who have sought to use today to protest, to seek to push the victims of Hamas terror out of sight and memory. Their aim is to focus media attention away from Jewish victims, and away from Hamas responsibility. Their aim is to make the false narratives they promote more dominant, and the facts and recent history less relevant. Such efforts to erase and mock Jewish suffering is also a feature of our new report and it is how hate targeting Jews is being normalised. 

The abuse of today is leaving many in the Jewish community feeling sick. October 7 denial and distortion is rising and functions in a very similar manner to Holocaust denial and distortion. Like Holocaust denial and distortion, it aims to take a horrific past and make it once again repeatable. It takes people of good will to stand up against this, and many have. Those who support the minimization and distortion of October 7 ought to be ashamed. That is not political advocacy, it is not pro-Palestinian advocacy, it is simply bigotry. Such a position asserts that some people’s lives, like the 36 children killed, are worth less and should be denied recognition. 

Our full report will be out on October 15th.

The post Up-Coming report from the Online Hate Prevention Institute: Online Antisemitism 3 Years on from October 7 first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

On the evening of Yom Kippur, 20 September 2026, in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, a gunman carried out what police described as “a deliberate attack directed at members of the Jewish community”. The attack targeted the Sons of Jacob Synagogue and resulted in an exchange of gunfire between the assailant and a police officer stationed outside, with bullets passing through the synagogue’s windows. While none of the worshippers were injured, the officer, Constable Jeff Smith, was shot and hospitalised in a critical but stable condition. The assailant, Sean Ward, was shot by police and later died in hospital.

This report examines the online response to the attack across eight online platforms. It shows glorification of the attack, disappointment Jews weren’t killed, denial the attack was real, denial it was targeted at the Jewish community, and claims it was a false flag carried out by the Jewish community, Mossad, Israel, or Canadian intelligence. This pattern of celebration and denial follows what we have seen in response to other attacks on the Jewish community around the world. 

The responses advance the normalisation of antisemitism and antisemitic violent extremism. One narrative seeks to normalise the killing of Jews, and the public acceptance of violence targeting Jews. The other seeks to undermine empathy with the Jewish victims, eroding public and political will to confront antisemitism. 

We saw these narratives erasing Jewish victimhood in the pro-Hamas disinformation campaigns after the October 7 terrorist attack, and in Iranian disinformation following multiple Iranian sponsored attacks on Jewish targets around the world. While the Belleville attack did not come from the same source, it highlights how these narratives have been normalised in online culture, particularly when Jews are the target. 

The report also shows how some people immediately asserted the attacker was Muslim, using news of the attack to promote anti-Muslim hate. In another section it explores the link between the attack and the spread of Covid conspiracy theories.

This report highlights the urgent need for greater action on online antisemitism, mis/disinformation, and extremism. When people are attacked in a place of worship on a holy day, the response online should be empathy, unity, and support. Online content that seeks to subvert that response, that justifies, excuses, or denies the violence undermines religious freedom, liberal democratic values, and society itself.

Other material

See the preliminary report into this incident

See the Jerusalem Post’s reporting on the preliminary report

The post Belleville Synagogue Shooting Report first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

OHPI spoke to The Jerusalem Post, showing that the false flag and conspiracy narratives mirror propaganda strategies observed after previous attacks.

OHPI warned that “this is not just an attack on the Jewish community, it is an attack on religious freedom and on the values Canada and Australia hold dear.”

‘Allowing such content on social media is a choice’

Andre Oboler, CEO of OHPI, condemned the responses to the attack in a statement to the Post:

“Allowing such content on social media is a choice. In January 2025, Meta made the choice to allow more of it when they turned off their automated filters for hate speech. X has been a problem since Musk took it over. It’s time governments stepped up and regulated the platforms to stop hate and toxicity from spreading in society”

Read the full article, with further statements from OHPI.

The post Watchdog reports uptick in online antisemitism, conspiracy theories after Canada synagogue attack first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.

A police officer, Constable Jeff Smith, was “providing a proactive presence in an area of the synagogue” and encountered a man armed with a shotgun. The man began shooting at the officer after he attempt to apprehend him. The officer returned fire. According to the President of the Synagogue, Norm Weddum, in an interview with CBC, the officer was in an unmarked car in the synagogue’s parking lot at the side of the building and the attacker was approaching the synagogue. The bullet holes in the synagogue windows support this. Police have not confirmed the synagogue was the target and have so far released very little information as the investigation continues.

Constable Jeff Smith was shot. The gunman, later identified by police as 29-year-old Sean Ward of Quinte West, was also shot. Constable Smith is in hospital in a critical but stable condition. Ward, who CBC have reported is a former member of the Canadian Military, is in hospital with life-threatening injuries. While the synagogue’s windows were pierced by flying bullets, no one inside was injured.

Online responses to the attack included posts supportive of violence targeting the Jewish community and regretting the lack of casualties among the Jewish worshippers.

4Chan

On 4chan’s Politically Incorrect forum /pol/ (a source of radicalisation in the 2019 Halle attack) posters self-identifying as Americans described the Belleville attack as “beautiful” and that the news “made my day”. Another self-identified American poster complained, “No Jews were killed or even injured” and suggested this meant it was a Jewish scheme. Another claimed it was a false flag, blaming Israel’s intelligence service Mossad for the attack.

X (Twitter)

On X, a user self identifying as Canadian called it a false flag, blaming Israel for the attack. Another X user, likely from the UK, called the attacker “based”, a term signifying approval and presenting the attacker as courageous, and which we previously saw used on /pol/ after the shooting of a synagogue in Poway, California, in 2019. Such glorification of extremists can lead to copycat attacks. Another user claimed Jews had faked the attack – a trend we saw after attacks on Jewish (Hatzolah) ambulances in London, attacks on synagogues in Melbourne, Australia, and the Bondi Beach attack.

Another X user claimed the attack was fake, this time using the language of “Zionists” as code for Jews. They also referenced the Dural Caravan plot in Australia as evidence that attacks on Jews weren’t real. The Dural Caravan plot was found by police to be a fabricated terrorism plot concocted by criminals, who sought to trade information on it for reduced sentences. The fear it caused in the Jewish community was quite real and police references to it as a “hoax” have had an unfortunate effect, feeding conspiracy theories.

Another post on X described it as an “obvious Zionist psyop”, again blaming Jews for an attack on synagogue using coded language and leaning into antisemitic conspiracy theories.

On Facebook there is again a claim hate crimes are faked. Another user suggests that Canada’s own intelligence service might be behind it, pushing the same form of conspiracy theory that lead to the claim 9/11 was an inside job by the CIA. A pro-Palestinian account claim Israel must be behind it, trying to falsely keep antisemitism high to ensure support. Another simply claimed Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, was behind it. These are the same claims seen after attacks on Jewish targeted in Australia (Bondi Beach and Melbourne synagogues) and London. They are particularly strong following attacks instigated by Iran, and it is likely this conspiracy narrative is part of an Iranian information warfare strategy, or echoed by those who have seen that material.

On YouTube a news report on the incident was met with the comment “The painter was right”, a reference to Hitler which glorifies the Holocaust and efforts to kill Jews. Another News report on the attack received the comment “False flag”. A third, the comment “Inside job” – blaming the Jewish community itself. A fourth news video received comments claiming it was a psyop and a false flag.

News video:

Comment on this video:

The second video:

The comment on this video:

The third news video:

And the comment on it:

The fourth video:

The comment on it:

These examples are just a fraction of the content the Online Hate Prevention Institute has collected since the attack. This is not just an attack on the Jewish community, it is an attack on religious freedom and on the values Canada, and Australia, hold dear.

The content we have documented, which seeks to celebrate the attack, glorify efforts to murder of Jews, deny that attacks on Jews are real, and blame the victims, are all part of a growing narrative positioning Jews as collectively responsible for the vilification and violence inflicted upon them.

This narrative is fed and exacerbated by social media systems that thrive on conflict and conspiracy theories, and leveraged by foreign actors. Rather than the unity and empathy we might expect, we have hate, radicalisation, and violent extremism.

Governments cannot afford to separate efforts to protect physical safety from efforts to combat growing online threats.

The post Extremism in Canada on Yom Kippur first appeared on Online Hate Prevention Institute.