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Antisemitic Conspiracies Blame Jews for French Unrest, Report Finds

A report by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) has revealed a surge of antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media blaming Jews and Israel for recent civil unrest in France. Researchers documented 1,384 posts on the platform X, formerly Twitter, from 816 unique accounts between October 16 and 18, during a period when anti-government protesters clashed with police and vandalized buildings, including a synagogue.

3 newsrooms · 2 languages · since 19 Oct, 17:50

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What happened

01A Combat Antisemitism Movement report documented 1,384 antisemitic posts on X blaming Jews and Israel for recent unrest in France.
02The analyzed posts from October 16 to 18 falsely accused Jewish elites, Israel, the Mossad, and Zionists of organizing the riots.
03Seven of the documented social media messages contained direct calls for the violence, expulsion, or extermination of Jews.
04Islamist accounts made up 30% of the sources, while far-right and white nationalist accounts accounted for 21%.
05Some antisemitic posts from verified accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers garnered millions of views, according to N12.
06The online surge occurred as French anti-government rioters clashed with police, vandalizing buildings including a synagogue.
07French authorities have arrested over 2,500 people nationwide and imposed curfews to quell the ongoing civil unrest.
08Protest groups in France have already announced plans for further demonstrations next Saturday.

The online posts frequently alleged that Jewish elites, Israel, the Mossad, or Zionists organized the riots. Recurring themes included conspiracy theories involving the Rothschild family, French President Emmanuel Macron, and the white nationalist "Great Replacement" theory. Seven of the analyzed messages contained direct calls for violence against Jews, their expulsion, or their extermination. According to N12, some of these messages were posted by verified accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers, gaining millions of views.

CAM's analysis found that 30% of the posts originated from Islamist accounts, 21% from far-right and white nationalist accounts, and 14% from conspiracy theory-focused accounts. CAM CEO Sacha Roytman and Chief Editor Barney Brin-Portnoy noted that this is the fourth time in under three months that major global events have been exploited to spread antisemitic theories, urging French authorities and social media platforms to act against online incitement.

Meanwhile, France has imposed curfews to quell the unrest, which has resulted in over 2,500 arrests nationwide and several severe injuries. Although the country experienced a calmer night due to the curfews, protest groups have announced plans for further demonstrations next Saturday.

Summarized by baba from the reports of 3 newsrooms. Updated 14:09

Latest report: The Times of Israel. Read The Times of Israel’s original