Record-high numbers of anti-Arab hate speech incidents were recorded across Israel in the past year, but the number has started to decline since the inauguration of the new government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a new study from the Berl Katznelson Foundation has found.
The foundation's hate report project was created in collaboration with the research company Vigo and is a technological platform that monitors Hebrew language hate speech on the internet.
The platform monitors over half a million items every hour from every part of social media, and includes in-depth analyses of incitement and hatred in Hebrew, and both quantitative and qualitative analysis.
The current hate report monitored hate speech from August 1 to July 15, 2020, during which an estimated 5.2 million offensive statements, curses and calls for violence were made in the Hebrew language.
This number marked an increase of 9% from the previous year.
The hate speech peaked in two months, first in October 2020 and again in February 2021, both related to former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the weekly protests that took place outside of the Prime Minister's Residence. By February, the hate speech had already expanded to include incidents related to demonstrations and violence in the Arab-Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm.
The hate speech towards Israeli Arabs continued to grow, peaking in May 2021, when an unprecedented amount of anti-Arab hate speech was recorded. This was due to increased tension between Jews and Arabs inside Israel, including riots in mixed cities from the North to the South, and the 11-day Guardian of the Walls operation in May between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
However, a downward trend has been noted since June and has continued into July. This may be attributed to the new government, which is led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and encompasses a wide range of political ideologies.
Overall, 32% of hate speech in Israel is directed at Arab-Israelis, making them the most targeted population in Israel for hate speech.
The second most targeted population, for the second year running, is the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) population, with an estimated 17% of all online hate being directed at them.Below is a detailed breakdown of the places and people where Hebrew language hate speech was directed throughout the last year: