Monday marked Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on what would have been the civil rights leader’s 95th birthday. King devoted his life to fighting for racial equality and marched arm-in-arm to Washington before his famous “I Have a Dream” speech with Jewish leaders, including Jim Letherer and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. 

 

King was a champion in bringing Black and Jewish communities together to stand in solidarity with one another. Dr. Clarence Jones, King’s speechwriter, has continued King’s work in Black-Jewish solidarity and has said, “there’s no way … we would have achieved what we achieved without the coalition support of the American Jewish community. 

 

King was also a pro-Israel advocate who consistently affirmed Israel’s right to exist and worked to combat antisemitism. Online users celebrated King’s birthday and remembered his legacy for standing up to anti-Black racism, antisemitism, and all forms of hate. 

Ahead of the holiday, neo-Nazis gathered on an overpass in Houston Saturday, holding Nazi flags and a banner saying “Make America White Again." Demonstrations like these show that there is a long way to go in standing up against antisemitism and all forms of hate, and that King’s legacy must continue to live on.

Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters targeted Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City Monday, accusing it of genocide for “refusing to acknowledge an attack on Palestinian people.” Demonstrators pointed to young patients and their families watching through hospital room windows. Protesters also demonstrated outside a McDonald’s and a Starbucks along Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Social media users were horrified that a cancer center was targeted, and many wondered what the protesters were trying to accomplish outside the center.

 

Hundreds of thousands of protesters also gathered in Washington, D.C. Saturday for a “March for Gaza.” Several antisemitic posters were spotted, including “Hitler Would Be Proud,” along with swastikas next to the names Rothschild, Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan, and “Cleanse the Earth,” with Israeli flags drawn in a trash can. Social media users circulated photos of these posters online to spread awareness about antisemitism at anti-Israel rallies.

Supporters of Israel marked the first birthday Thursday of Kfir Bibas, an Israeli baby being held in captivity in Gaza. He was abducted by Hamas on October 7 when he was only nine months old, along with his four-year-old brother Ariel and parents Shiri and Yarden. 

 

Hundreds of people gathered with Bibas’ relatives at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, holding posters of Bibas and orange balloons with the text “The saddest birthday in the world.” Activists and Israeli government officials shared photos of Bibas and the hostages on social media and discussed their heartbreak for hostages who should be celebrating important life milestones, but instead are held captive. 

Many online also discussed the 100-day anniversary of Israeli hostages in Gaza since October 7 and demanding their return. The U.S. House of Representatives held a candlelight vigil Wednesday in support of the hostages on the 103rd day since October 7.

 

The Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza in Philadelphia was vandalized twice in the past week. The memorial was first marked Sunday with a swastika on its outside wall and two days later, a suspect dumped trash on the monument. The perpetrators are still at large and Philadelphia 76ers co-owner David Adelman brought attention to the incident on X and offered a reward to find the vandals.

The monument was the first in North America to memorialize the victims of the Holocaust. Social media users expressed shock at the two incidents and discussed the recent rise in antisemitism since October 7.

 

 

 

The U.S. State Department designated the Houthis as a global terrorist group on Wednesday. The Houthis are a Shiite political and military organization that took form in Yemen as an opposition force to the Yemeni government. In recent years, the group has been heavily backed by Iran through capital investments and acquisition of weapons. The Houthi ideology aligns with the interests of Iran and is deeply rooted in antisemitic and anti-American sentiment, as reflected by their slogan: “Allah is great, death to the USA, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam.” 

 

The Houthis have emerged as a prominent player in the Israel-Hamas war, firing ballistic missiles and suicide drones at Israel and ships traveling through the Red Sea. The Houthis have repeatedly hijacked ships and kept crew members hostages. They claim their aggression in the Red Sea is in support of the Palestinians and that they are targeting ships with ties to Israel and their allies. 

 

 

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff discussed antisemitism at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland this week. Emhoff described his experience as an American Jew after the October 7 massacre and gave a call to action: “You’ve got to speak up and speak out if you’re in a position of leadership, and this is a room full of leaders.” 

The WEF is an international organization focused on solving global economic and political issues and holds an annual conference in Davos each year with leaders around the world. It is a consistent target for antisemitic conspiracy theories, and online conversation was driven by these, namely “New World Order,” which was trending on X during the meeting. The theory claims the WEF is controlled by a secretive cabal of Jewish bankers and politicians who use the organization to further their own interests.

 

 

 

 

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