FCAS ran an anti-hate Super Bowl commercial on Sunday featuring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s advisor and draft speechwriter Dr. Clarence B. Jones. The ad, titled “Silence,” connected different forms of hate and emphasized how Americans must come together and speak up against injustice. 

 

The hashtags #StandUpToJewishHate, #StandUpToAllHate, and #🟦 were posted over 37,000 times since the commercial aired, and FCAS received increased website traffic, social media engagement, and Blue Square Pin requests as a result. Celebrities such as David Schwimmer, Van Jones, and Debra Messing shared the ad and posted the Blue Square to show their support. 

 

Anti-Israel users online accused the commercial of being “Israeli propaganda” or “Zionist propaganda.” While the State of Israel produced two commercials that were available on streaming devices, these are separate from the #StandUpToJewishHate campaign created by FCAS.

 

Other antisemitic users attempted to combat the ad’s unifying message and instead spread the hashtag #HitlerWasRight, which was featured as an example of antisemitic behavior in the commercial. Despite the targeted hate towards the #StandUpToJewishHate campaign, many users noticed the antisemitic comments and pointed to them as examples of why combating antisemitism is still necessary today. Countless social media users expressed their gratitude for the ad and how everyone must stand up to antisemitism and all forms of hate.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) rescued two Israeli hostages, Fernando Marman and Louis Har, following Sunday night’s operation into Rafah. The beginning of the operation coincided with Super Bowl LVIII, and anti-Israel conspiracy theorists spread the idea that Israel intentionally chose to carry out its attack while the world was distracted. Anti-Israel social media users called for other users to pay attention to the Rafah operation instead of blindly watching the football game. 

Many users ignored the rescue of the hostages and instead pushed rhetoric accusing Israel of committing genocide. Users also argued that Israel’s sponsored commercials in the Super Bowl are propaganda that will convince more Americans to support Israel and keep supporters from paying attention to Israel’s alleged war crimes. Meanwhile, others celebrated the news that Marman and Har returned home after over four months of captivity.

Several antisemitic attacks occurred over the past week, many of which did not receive significant attention on social media. An assailant stabbed a Jewish man six times after mumbling antisemitic phrases at the victim in Paris on Monday. Meanwhile in New York, an individual hit a Jewish man on the head with a baseball bat and called him a “dirty Jew" in Staten Island, and another perpetrator slapped a Jewish man unprompted in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

 

A shooting wounded two people on Sunday at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas before the shooter, Genesee Ivonne Moreno, was apprehended. The authorities discovered the word “Palestine" on the her gun and found her antisemitic and anti-Israel Telegram channel where she spread conspiracy theories. 

A man in Indiana was arrested Tuesday for threatening to murder the entire Jewish population in Fort Wayne and any government officials who support Israel. Dallas Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn’s home was vandalized with antisemitic rhetoric and the phrase “baby killer” on Saturday. She shared her story in light of the FCAS ad “Tony,” which aired in the Super Bowl pregame show and spotlights these kinds of incidents. Users online gave her support and thanked her for sharing the experience.

 

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday with a vote of 214-213. During the vote, several representatives invoked the Great Replacement Theory in their argument that Mayorkas, who is Jewish, is mismanaging the U.S.-Mexico border crisis and is intentionally letting more immigrants into the country. Several users online are condemning the representatives peddling the conspiracy theory for political gain.

The House also voted to condemn Hamas’ sexual violence on October 7, with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) as the only representative to vote present. Instead, Tlaib accused the IDF of sexually violating Palestinians in a speech on the House floor. Social media users condemned Tlaib for failing to acknowledge the victims of Hamas’ sexual violence while thanking the House for passing the resolution.

 

Over 500 anti-Israel protesters organized a sit-in at the Museum of Metropolitan Art (MoMA) in New York on Saturday, causing the museum to shut down. They organized at MoMA because of its trustees' alleged ties to the Israeli military. 13 anti-Israel protesters were arrested for blocking traffic at another part of the city on Monday. In addition, an anti-Israel rally took place in Philadelphia on Tuesday. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned a group of anti-Israel protesters for protesting outside a Jewish hospital, deeming it antisemitic and potentially disruptive to patients’ treatment. This follows a similar pattern of anti-Israel protesters targeting hospitals, namely last month’s protest outside a children’s cancer hospital in New York. Many users online condemned these demonstrations as antisemitic, while others praised them for standing up for Palestinians.

 

 

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) released its annual report on the state of antisemitism in America in 2023 on Tuesday. Among the information shared:

 

 

A ski resort near Davos, Switzerland received severe backlash Monday for putting up a sign in Hebrew refusing to rent gear to Jewish people due to a series of “very annoying incidents” including the theft of a sled. The next day, Jay Peak Ski Resort in Vermont fired five employees for wearing Nazi armbands and performing the Nazi salute during a costume party. These incidents did not gain significant traction on social media, but news outlets extensively covered them.

 

 

 

 

 

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