Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories Blame Jews for French Unrest Online
Translated & summarized from Jüdische Allgemeine by baba
Antisemitic conspiracy theories blaming Jews and Israel for recent violent unrest in France spread widely on social media, according to a study by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM). The analysis documented nearly 1,400 posts on X within two days, with some calling for violence against Jews. The theories, which resurfaced during the protests from October 16-18, were predominantly in English and French and were attributed to various ideological groups, including Islamist and far-right accounts. CAM noted this is a recurring pattern of exploiting current events to spread anti-Jewish narratives.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Antisemitic conspiracy theories blaming Jews and Israel for French unrest spread on X, with 1,384 posts documented.
- The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) study covered posts from October 16-18, finding 816 unique user accounts.
- Some posts escalated to calls for violence against Jews or their extermination, according to the CAM report.
- The majority of the antisemitic posts were in English (69%) and French (21%).
- Islamist and far-right accounts were among those spreading the conspiracy theories, the study found.
- CAM's Editor-in-Chief called this a recurring pattern of exploiting events to spread anti-Jewish narratives.
Amidst violent protests in France, antisemitic conspiracy theories blaming Jews, Israel, the Mossad, and alleged "Zionist networks" for the unrest spread rapidly across social media. A study by the American Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) documented 1,384 posts on the platform X within two days, originating from 816 different user accounts, that propagated these theories under the title "The Jews did this to France." The analysis, conducted by CAM's Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) from October 16-18, found that as demonstrators attacked police and damaged buildings, including a synagogue, online users sought scapegoats. These users invoked classic antisemitic tropes, such as the supposed power of Jewish elites, alleged control by Israel or the Mossad, and the idea that Jews profit from political crises. Myths surrounding the Rothschild family and the "Great Replacement" theory also resurfaced.
Alarmingly, seven of the documented posts called for violence against Jews or advocated for their expulsion or extermination, according to the ARC. The study, which collected 18,381 posts in seven languages using 25 search queries, with 4,922 potentially relevant texts manually reviewed, indicates the online campaign escalated beyond baseless accusations to incitement. Posts were classified as antisemitic if they linked the unrest to Jews, Israel, "Zionists," or the Mossad.
The language distribution revealed the issue's international reach: 69% of posts were in English, 21% in French, 5% in Arabic, and 3% in Spanish. The ARC attributed 30% of the analyzed posts to Islamist accounts, 21% to far-right and racist-nationalist accounts, and 14% to conspiracy theory-focused users, with 4% linked to the far-left. The ideological affiliation of the remaining 31% was unclear, though the researchers noted limitations in automated classification.
Barney Breen-Portnoy, CAM's Editor-in-Chief, described this as a recurring pattern where current events are systematically exploited by antisemites to spread conspiracy theories against Jews and Israel. He stated that old antisemitic stereotypes are repackaged for a large digital audience. CAM has observed similar attempts to blame Jews and Israel for other crises, including events in Ceuta and a foiled attempt to hijack a flydubai flight to Israel. The current study highlights how quickly such claims can proliferate during periods of political tension and violence, with users constructing alleged Jewish or Israeli conspiracies instead of analyzing the root causes of the French riots.
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