(Jewish Group) Online anti-Semitism thrives around coronavirus, even on mainstream platforms
The first Jewish coronavirus case was announced on March 3, but as early as January, Jews have been blamed online for spreading the virus, said Alex Friedfeld, an investigative researcher at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.
Jonathan Sarna, a professor of Jewish-American History at Brandeis University, said this latest public health-related conspiracy theory reflects a broader historical trend.
“You have a prior notion that Jews are to blame, you find a Jew who indeed spread it to a lot of people, and that reinforces all of your preconceived notions,” he said, referring to the New Rochelle lawyer who may have exposed hundreds of congregants at his synagogue to coronavirus.
During the Black Death, the medieval plague outbreak that decimated Europe, Jews were accused of spreading the disease. Many who survived its ravages died in massacres and pogroms.
As early reports of coronavirus circulated, people posting on texting platforms such as Telegram hypothesized that the disease was a Jewish plot, Friedfeld said. Posters also claimed that Jews were using coronavirus to manipulate the stock market to their advantage, that the coronavirus was a “partnership between Zionists and the deep state” to target President Trump during the election season and that Jewish companies patented a coronavirus vaccine years ago and intended to profit from selling it.
Recent weeks have seen the resurgence of a common anti-Semitic meme known as the “happy merchant,” in which a man with stereotypically Jewish features reveals his intent to profit off the coronavirus crisis.
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Ever notice how they (certain "concerned" individuals) always talk about how they can't be anti-Semites because they were "born of" a Jew? I have seen more than a few of those types here too! And of course, I clearly see in the definition of "anti-Semitism - discrimination or prejudice against Jews, "except those who are or are born of Jews". Oh wait, that caveat does not exist!
The March 17 tweet read, “So Israel has been working on a coronavirus vaccine for a year already? (so they knew it) Vaccines take a long time to know if they are safe and KUSHNER OSCAR is the major investor in the new vaccine that is supposedly coming here. Lives at risk for profit.”
Tablet senior writer Yair Rosenberg tweeted that Arquette’s deleted tweet was “factually untrue. This is a new coronavirus. Israelis and others have been working on vaccines for OTHER prior coronaviruses. Josh Kushner (not Jared) has a healthcare company [Oscar] that made a FREE web site for the public to help people find coronavirus tests.”
The Goebbels Gap: the amount of time between something bad happening in the world and someone figuring out a way to blame the Jews for it https://t.co/CRIqwuJpIB
— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) March 17, 2020
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