Palestinians in Gaza are also traumatized: Hamas, the terrorist group that rules over them, pounded their homes and communities with hundreds of misfired rockets, and turned their civilian areas into giant, urban rocket-launching pads. This conflict, as previous ones, will probably leave a scar on Palestinian citizens forever.
What the mainstream media, certain celebrities and “keyboard warriors” fail to understand is that there are humans who are suffering from this conflict who will carry the scars of it long after the stories are no longer trending. But Israelis and Palestinians have to deal with both the decisions of our leaders (I still flinch when I hear the sound of a boom or a car siren), and it seems that Jews all over the world (not just Israelis) have to face the vicious antisemitism perpetrated by social media warriors.
Social media these past couple of weeks is like nothing I’ve ever seen. The vile racism against Jews that we are witnessing and the sheer ease of how individuals can publish a simple antisemitic propaganda meme, unchecked, and followed by massive viral distribution, surprises even me. I have worked in social media for years and have seen the power it has to affect change, for better or worse, so I have always felt a moral responsibility to be careful when I speak about these sensitive political issues.
Yet, individuals who had never traveled to the Middle East, who have probably never met an Israeli or Palestinian, felt that all of sudden they could speak freely and with authority about this conflict. Celebrities and talk-show hosts deigned to simplify the conflict down to “who’s dead and who isn’t.” In one day alone, the words “Hitler was right” were tweeted more than 17,000 times. This is not “criticism of Israeli policies” as antisemites so often claim; it is antisemitism in its purest and most vicious form.
What was the result? The videos that were circulated speak for themselves (but are still painful to watch).
DEMONSTRATORS IN the UK chanted “Rape their daughters” and hosted anti-Israel rallies featuring keynote speakers who are Hamas and Hezbollah supporters. (We haven’t forgotten Jeremy Corbyn.) In South Africa, an Israeli flag was burned as protesters called for the death of Jews and for the bombing of Tel Aviv. Jews all over the United States were targeted and assaulted in their neighborhoods with firecrackers, knives and other weapons, as well as straightforward beatings. Some protesters called themselves “anti-Zionists,’’ but they were attacking Jews, for the moral offense of simply being Jewish. Jews in certain neighborhoods received warnings of planned lynchings and were chased down as protesters threw tear gas. This is just the shortlist. The full list goes on and on, and is still growing even at the time of writing this.
What’s even more disturbing is the deafening silence from all the “social justice/progressive” communities. The same people who condemned George Floyd’s murder, who called out the hate crimes against Asians, who stand up for women and LGBTQ rights, have largely remained absolutely silent against the vicious and targeted attacks against Jews.
To those social justice warriors, all I say is that if you choose to remain silent against antisemitism, then at least sit down and hear this. Our words matter, and the last several weeks can’t demonstrate that strongly enough. The terrible remarks published against Jews online have resulted in a 438% increase in antisemitic acts in the last two weeks alone.
We have a moral obligation to choose our words carefully when we speak about complex issues. We have to understand that what we publish online leaves an impact on entire communities. When we publish words thoughtlessly, we create serious consequences equally thoughtlessly.
Israelis and Jews in the Diaspora will begin the long slow process of healing from this trauma. But the hate many have created will live on and grow until we stop it. Unfortunately, unjustified hatred toward our community isn’t new, and we have survived much worse over the centuries. Yet we have also seen the dire, irreparable damage that such hate can cause to ourselves, to our communities and to our world.
So just one last reminder. Your words matter. What you publish online matters. When you remain silent or choose to share fabricated or one-sided information, Jews are the ones to suffer the consequences.
The writer is the co-founder and COO of Social Lite Creative, a digital marketing firm that specializes in geopolitics.