The
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today issued its top 10 list of manifestations of antisemitism
that have afflicted Jewish communities across the United States and around the
world in 2016.
The
past year saw the volume of antisemitic cyberhate elevated to unprecedented
levels. The ADL list included Jewish social media users being targeted because
of their faith, anti-Jewish internet memes going viral and consuming the web,
the swastika remaining a hate symbol of choice, conspiracy theories in the
presidential race, continuing Iranian and Palestinian incitement, and the
threat to European Jewry.
“The various manifestations of antisemitism in
2016 served as a stark and sobering reminder that hatred of Jews is not
history, it is a current event,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “The
reality of the threat to Jewish communities around the world and to the State
of Israel was reinforced time and again by rhetoric, incidents and violent
assaults.”
The
following is ADL’s list of the worst manifestations of antisemitism at home and
abroad:
(1)
Jewish Journalists Harassed and Threatened
(2)
Antisemitic Incidents Rise Post-Election; Swastika Remains Symbol of Choice
(3)
Echoes Symbol Targets Jews on Twitter
(4)
The Rise of the “Alt-Right”
(5)
European and Latin American Jewish Communities Confront Antisemitism
(6)
Campus Antisemitism Remains a Concern
(7)
Antisemitic Incitement from Palestinian Leadership
(8)
Iran: World’s Leading State Sponsor of Antisemitism
(9)
Terror Groups Continue to Promote Antisemitic Narratives
(10)
Antisemitism Remains a Staple Across Arabic Media
Jewish
Journalists Harassed and Threatened in Election-Year Onslaught
Journalists,
especially Jewish journalists, received thousands of harassing messages and
even death threats as they covered the presidential campaign. The abuse included
antisemitic graphics, pictures of journalists with their photos superimposed on
Holocaust victims, and other disturbing memes. After a four-month
investigation, an ADL data analysis found that Twitter was awash with antisemitic
rhetoric, with more than 2.6 million tweets containing
language frequently found in antisemitic speech. ADL’s Task Force on
the Harassment of Journalists identified 800 journalists who had been targeted
with more than 19,000 antisemitic tweets on Twitter.
Antisemitic
Incidents Rise Post-Election; Swastika Remains Hate Symbol of Choice
A
disturbing trend of antisemitic and other bias attacks took place in
communities across the country following the 2016 presidential race. From
Philadelphia to Los Angeles, the use of the swastika,
including racist and other antisemitic graffiti, vandalism and reports of
assaults and harassment proliferated. The wave of swastika vandalism was
particularly prevalent in New York State. College campuses,
religious facilities and homes were particular targets nationwide.
Echoes
Symbol Targets Jews on Twitter
The triple parentheses – or stylized
(((echo))) symbol – was a new tactic used by white supremacists
and antisemites to identify and target Jews on Twitter and other social media
platforms. This was a serious manifestation of online hate that
allowed extremists and haters to highlight names perceived as Jewish and single
them out for harassment both online and off. Google subsequently removed an app
that was enabling the echo campaign: an antisemitic “Coincidence Detector”
browser extension. It was removed after ADL and others notified Google that the
app was in violation of the company’s terms of service. In the intervening
months, many Jewish and non-Jewish journalists and others around the world co-opted
the symbol by using it around their own names on Twitter.
The
Rise of the Antisemitic “alt-right”
The
“alt right,” a loose network of white nationalists actively
engaged themselves and moved from the fringes into mainstream consciousness.
The term “alt right” came into more general use over the
last year as white supremacists became more a focus of media
during the 2016 presidential campaign. Extremists and their online supporters,
including those associated with the alt right were emboldened by the notion
that their antisemitic and racist views were becoming part of mainstream
society. A number of white supremacists on the alt right publicly voiced
support for major presidential candidates, with some endorsing Donald Trump.
European
and Latin American Jewish Communities Confront Violent Antisemitism
Murderous antisemitic attacks continued
around the world in 2016. In Uruguay, David Fremd, a 54 year-old Jewish businessman,
was stabbed to death by a man shouting “Allah Akbar.” The
assailant later told authorities that he “killed a Jew following Allah’s
order.” Jews were also stabbed or threatened with knives or axes in France, The
Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. In Germany, a man was pushed onto a subway
track, but escaped before the train arrived. His assailant said, “I did it
because he is Jewish. Next time I’ll do it right.” Additionally, reports have
indicated that over 100 Jews were physically assaulted around the world this
year. A local Jewish club in Santa Fe, Argentina was threatened with a bomb. A
bottle with cement inside and a message in Arabic that read “This is a warning,
the next one explodes” was sent through the closed windows of the institution,
which at the time was empty.
Campus
Antisemitism Remains a Concern
The
tenor on many university campuses remained an issue of concern for Jewish and
pro-Israel students in 2016, particularly when anti-Israel bias crossed the
line into antisemitism. At UNC Charlotte, a student displayed a Nazi
Flag from his residence hall window, and the campus community’s reaction was
swift and supportive of those affected. Several college campuses across the
country suffered a wave of antisemitic fliers that
began printing from their network-connected printers. In
addition, dozens of white supremacist fliers were posted at colleges across the
country after the presidential election. In New York, several swastikas were
found over a few month period at a community college. A best-selling author
canceled her talk following pressure from the Students for
Justice in Palestine (SJP) campus group to reject the
invitation due to Brown University Hillel’s involvement in the event. After the
talk was canceled, antisemitic graffiti was found scrawled in a dorm hallway.
These are just a few examples of how antisemitism surfaced in an academic
setting this past year. While the majority of Jewish students feel comfortable
and unthreatened across the country, the issue of antisemitism and anti-Israel
bias on campus remained a very real concern in 2016.
Antisemitic
Incitement from Palestinian Leadership
Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas made conspiratorial anti-Israel allegations
in a speech before the European Parliament that were reminiscent of age-old antisemitic
stereotypes. Abbas propagated a false and malicious story of
“certain rabbis in Israel have said very clearly to their government that our
water should be poisoned in order to have Palestinians killed,” and further
alleged that Israel is the cause of all global terrorism, claiming, “Once the
occupation ends, terrorism will disappear, there will be no more terrorism in
the Middle East, or anywhere else in the world.”
Iran:
World’s Leading State Sponsor of Antisemitism
July
2016 marked the first anniversary of the Iranian
nuclear agreement with the international community. In the wake
of the deal, however, the regime did not tamp down its antisemitic and
anti-Israel rhetoric. The regime remains a belligerent actor that continues to
further its support for global terror and promote antisemitism and Holocaust
denial. In front of the world’s largest global stage at the United
Nations, President Hassan Rouhani made a series of accusations including blaming
“Zionist pressure groups” for “having” Congress recently pass legislation to
the detriment of Iran. A gallery in Tehran held a Holocaust cartoon contest with
support from government ministries. For years, Iranian leaders have lodged accusations of
Jewish control over the U.S. government, financial institutions and media. This
past year was no different.
Terror
Groups Continue to Promote Antisemitic Narratives
Terrorist
groups across the globe continued to push antisemitic narratives as part of
their attempts to incite violence. ISIS videos from this past summer
demonstrated how the terrorist group exploits anti-Israel and antisemitic
sentiments to encourage violent attacks in the West. For example, a propaganda
video released by ISIS showed images of alleged brutality by Israeli soldiers,
while a narrator criticizes other religious leaders who have argued against the
killing of Jewish civilians, and contrasted those moderate views with ISIS’s
assertion that all non-Muslims who are not subordinated by ISIS can be killed.
As is often the case in Islamic extremist
propaganda, most of the reactions of media groups
associated with terrorist organizations to the results of the U.S. presidential
election included antisemitic stereotypes, alleging Jewish
control of U.S. politics, saying that the president is a “mule for the Jews”
and referred to the American People as “slaves of the Jews.” Domestically, the
arrest of an Arizona resident served as a reminder of the link between terror
and antisemitism. Mahin Khan, who was arrested on July 1 for
allegedly plotting to bomb a DMV on behalf of ISIS and the Pakistani Taliban,
planned to attack a local Jewish Community Center.
Antisemitism
Remains a Staple Across Arabic Media
Whether
on traditional or social media, antisemitic expressions infecting the Arab
public discourse around various issues were chillingly observed. A review of
the Arabic language social media in 2016 revealed a continuing pattern of
demonization of Jews and conspiratorial accusations about a Jewish
responsibility behind the violence and carnage in many parts of the Arab world
including in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Libya. Along with such antisemitic
statements over social media, there was a torrent of offensive images of Jews
and Judaism found in the print media with in caricatures depicting Jews in a
highly offensive manner. Various opinion pieces also went as far as to claim that the
Jews poisoned Islam’s prophet.
