The Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) by Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) tracked a staggering 619 reports of antisemitic incidents globally in April, amounting to a daily average of 20.6 – a 321% increase compared to the same month last year. This disturbing surge is directly correlated with the rise in antisemitism triggered by the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel.
In its monthly antisemitism report, CAM classifies incidents of Jew-hatred, including physical assault, verbal harassment, vandalism, and hate speech, into the following categories: Holocaust denial, minimization, and distortion; classical; Israel-related; Islamist; and unattributable.
An overwhelming 75.9% (470) of the April incidents were Israel-related, while 5.8% (36) were classified as classical antisemitism, and 1.3% (8) involved Holocaust denial, minimization, and distortion. The remaining incidents fell into the Islamist category at 10.4% (64) and unattributable at 6.6% (41).
One prominent tweet included a picture of Hitler alongside an image of Holocaust victims at the Buchenwald extermination camp, the same image used by President Herzog in his speech at the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem. "This is an inherent Jewish psychology," read the antisemitic tweet posted on Twitter on December 28, 2023. "Time has shown that Hitler was right. May Allah give the world another Hitler. Amen."
Since October 7, there was a 590% rise in Holocaust denialism on X. Holocaust trivialization and denial accounted for only 13% and Holocaust distortion accounted for 87%. The 18-34 age group accounted for more than 68% of the content posted. The top five countries in which this was found were: the United States (58%), Germany (5%), the UK (5%), Canada (5%), and France (4%).
"Israel is the new Nazi Germany 2.0. There is no doubt anymore." The social media platform did not remove the above content.
During COVID-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we saw a significant rise in efforts to minimize the Holocaust. COVID-19 containment measures implemented by governments around the globe have been compared to Nazi measures.
The report documented 43 incidents of antisemitic vandalism and 61 physical threats against Jews (6.2% of all incidents), including assaults on female Jewish students at Yale and UCLA. Alarmingly, a total of 183 incidents of on-campus antisemitism were recorded by the ARC in April, marking an 815% increase from the same month the previous year.
In a positive development, the Muslim American Leadership Alliance (MALA) and the Federal Court of Criminal Cassation in Argentina adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism in April.
