Watchdog group Canary Mission report reveals white supremacists are blaming Jews for creating, spreading and profiting from the coronavirus pandemic.
By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel
The watchdog group Canary Mission reported this week that white supremacists are responsible for a large proportion of the online anti-Semitism that blames Jews for the coronavirus pandemic.
The 38-page report details what lies are being spread and who and how they are spreading them.
Canary Mission found that the same people in the report who are posting coronavirus related anti-Semitism have a long history of inciting hatred and violence against Jews.
It is not a total shock that the same anti-Semites responsible for the coronavirus anti-Semitism are also spreading the conspiracy theory that Jews are the organizing force behind the rioting in response to the killing of George Floyd.
The report found that the most prevalent form of coronavirus anti-Semitism is the conspiracy theory that the “Jewish-controlled government” is exploiting the virus to serve Jewish interests, while all those involved were also spreading classic anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
Although they use their own far-right platforms, a lot of the coronavirus anti-Semitic material is making its way on to YouTube. This is despite many of the larger social media platforms finally putting more effort into combating extremists and removing inciting content. As a result, the far-right anti-Semites have moved to alternative channels like Gab, BitChute, Dlive, vk as well as group channels on Telegram.
However, Canary Mission found that podcasts have become the preferred medium, with the majority of extremists using their own platforms to send the podcasts or using a single extremist’s website or channel to get their messages across.
The online incitement runs across five main themes: The “Jewish-Controlled Government” is exploiting the virus to serve Jewish interests; Jews are taking advantage of the virus; Jews created and/or planned the coronavirus; Jews are purposely spreading the coronavirus; and using coronavirus as an excise to harass or threaten Jews with violence.
The report concluded that although anti-Semitism was already on the rise, the coronavirus pandemic has given more material to white supremacists, far-right conspiracy theory spreaders and their networks.
“Those groups have exploited a global tragedy in order to incite hatred against Jews. Some of their ideas have broken out of the far-right bubble and been echoed by the far-left, anti-Israel activists and conspiracists,” the report said.