Israeli high school students have joined the ISCA program, lowering the
average age of those combating antisemitism on the internet. The initiative, advanced by the Rishon
LeZiyon municipality, will act as a pilot to integrate more teenagers in the
project, and allow for more people to act against the vile hate speech
circulating online.
The concept was born following the May 2015 Global Forum For Combating
Antisemitism, where groups from all over the world came together to think of
ways to more effectively move and stop antisemitic content from being published
on various online platforms. Representatives of the municipality who were
present at the discussion suggested creating a framework for the city’s
educational institutions to join the fight against offensive content.
As a first step, a select group of high school volunteers will work
together under the guidance of university students, monitoring and reporting
antisemtic posts on social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. In
the future, the municipality hopes more students and more schools will take
part in the project, which is both educational and contributes to society. The
municipality hopes the initiative will act as a beacon for other cities and
councils in Israel, harnessing the youth’s technical know-how and passion
toward making the internet a safer, less offensive place.
