OUR COMMUNITY
I
f you have supported Israel
on your social media chan-
nels by posting an Israeli
flag in your profile picture only
to receive a barrage of unsolic-
ited hateful messages in your
Facebook inbox or Twitter feed,
or if you have been ousted or
silenced in online professional
forum groups after offering
counterpoints to anti-Israel or
antisemitic posts, you are not
alone.
Following the 11-day conflict
between Israel and Hamas, acts
of hatred toward American
Jews — mainly online but also
with physical attacks — have
risen globally by 438%, accord-
ing to the British Jewish agency
Community Security Trust.
The Anti-Defamation League
in May documented “disturbing
antisemitism” on multiple social
media platforms, including
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
and TikTok. The group said its
analysis of Twitter posts from
May 7-14 found more than
17,000 tweets used variations
of the phrase, “Hitler was
right.
” The ADL responded
to the hatred by launching
its #ActAgainstAntiSemitism
online campaign and held an
online rally May 27 to provide
the public with information.
Carolyn Normandin, director
of ADL Michigan region, said
in the 10 days of the 11-day
conflict, 14 incidents of hatred
against Jews were filed to her
local office. They include:
• At a May 22 anti-Israel
protest in Flint, a demonstrator
held a sign demonizing Zionists
that read, in part, “being pro-Zi-
onist makes you pro-genocide
& pro-apartheid.
”
• At a May 18 anti-Israel
protest in Dearborn, a protester
at a rally held a sign reading,
“Zionists r modern-day Nazis.
”
• Restaurateur Jeremy Sasson
was targeted by pro-Palestinian
activists who flooded Yelp with
negative reviews. (See the story
in the June 3 issue of the JN).
Normandin said it is the
ADL
’s position to support Israel
and a two-state solution. She
labels as “extremely disturbing”
the calls she’s receiving about
Jewish people being blamed
for the actions of the Israeli
government and making state-
ments like “Hitler was right” as
a rationale to call for the end
of the existence of the Jewish
state. She urges anyone who
has received or viewed hateful
online messages about Jews or
any minority group to contact
the ADL and file a report.
“It’s this vicious kind of ubiq-
uitous blame that right now is
troubling,
” Normandin said.
“We have seen tremendous
blame of Jews for all Israel’s
policies. They are getting violent
responses because they posted a
statement in support of Israel or
have been asked to leave online
groups because they are Jewish.
”
Locally, Jews say they have
seen an increase of anti-Is-
rael and anti-Jewish posts
on Facebook, Instagram and
TikTok. The hateful rhetoric
against Jews and Israel support-
ers lately has inundated every
facet of life and is impacting all
generations.
ANTI-ISRAEL ACTION
IN ANN ARBOR
At the University of Michigan,
student Ben Moss of Bloomfield
Hills serves on the
Michigan Hillel
governing board
as communica-
tions officer and
is charged with
coordinating pro-
gramming between
Hillel and other student organi-
zations across campus.
On May 11, the U-M Central
Student Government released a
Fighting
Back
continued on page 16
Benjamin
Moss
14 | JUNE 10 • 2021
How to combat misinformation
about the Israel-Hamas confl
ict
on social media.
STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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