Representatives from Columbia University testified Wednesday in front of the House of Representative Committee on Education and the Workforce. Columbia president Minouche Shafik was joined by the co-chair of the antisemitism task force Professor Schizer and co-chairs of the board of trustees Claire Shipman and David Greenwald. Although the representatives from Columbia were praised online and by members of the committee for providing better answers than some of their colleagues from other universities last year, many concerns around pervasive antisemitism at Columbia were brought up during the hearing. For example,  people pointed to the employment of a number of faculty members who expressed support of the Hamas attack and shared concerns that Columbia is not enforcing the rules and policies the university outlines effectively enough. 

However, social media conversation was dominated by the anti-Israel demonstration that took place on Columbia’s campus while the congressional hearing was in progress. On Wednesday morning, a group of students erected tents on one of the main lawns on campus and created the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” Despite numerous attempts to ask them to leave, student protestors stayed in the area for over 24 hours, resulting in the arrest of over 100 people and the suspension of many students. Commenters on social media pointed out that this protest, which ended up involving the NYPD, was a prime example of the pervasive antisemitism at Columbia and underscored why the congressional hearing was necessary.

The Anti-Defamation League recorded 8,873 antisemitic incidents across the United States in 2023 according to the latest version of their annual audit released Tuesday. The new number represented a 140% increase from 2022, the highest number of antisemitic incidents recorded since the ADL began tracking incidents in 1979. The key findings of the audit include:

To read the full report click here.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard launched an attack on Israel Saturday by firing over 300 drones and missiles from mainland Iran toward the Jewish state. Israeli Defense Forces reported that 99% of the missiles were shot down before entering Israel. On Friday reports came out that Israel responded with a small-scale missile attack on an Iranian air base near the city of Isfahan.

 

The Iranian attack caused an over 200% increase in conversation around the Israel-Hamas war on social media with the peak being at six p.m. ET on Saturday according to FCAS’ Command Center. Much of the conversation, and the posts with the highest reach, condemned Iran’s attack and affirmed support for Israel to defend itself. Many of these posts were made by influential individuals and world leaders. However, many of the posts that garnered the most reposts were anti-Israel and anti-Zionist in nature, praising Iran’s attack and affirming that authentic supporters of Palestine must support the Iranian attack. The phrase “f*** Israel” was commonly used during this time and was posted over 83,000 times on social media. 

Videos of protests across the country cheering the Iranian attack on Israel were also widely shared on social media during the attack. In Chicago, a group of activists were filmed cheering the news of the attack and chanting “hands of Iran.” Many social media users called out the hypocrisy of protestors calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas but celebrating the attack on Israel.

 

Mentions of the phrase “From the river to the sea” increased by 170% on Wednesday after the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution condemning the slogan as antisemitic by a vote of 377 to 44. The resolution, which was celebrated by many Jewish people and organizations, led to a spike in mentions of the phrase on social media as people invoked it in demonstration against Congress’ decision.

 

The resolution said the slogan is an antisemitic “call to arms with the goal of the eradication of the State of Israel,” which seeks to deny Jewish people the right to self determination and calls for the removal of Jews from their ancestral homeland. In November, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) was censured by the House for promoting a video which called the slogan “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence.”

On social media, those who disagreed with the resolution took to social media to invoke the phrase, ridiculing congress and deeming it not to be antisemitic. Others celebrated the passing of the resolution, noting the important step in recognizing antisemitism and called out the representatives who voted against the resolution. 

 

 

The phrase “JK Rowling is a Holocaust denier” trended on X this week after British reporter Rivkah Brown apologized to Rowling for posting that she is a Holocaust denier, saying the allegation was “false and offensive.” The original post Brown is referring to was made on March 13 following Rowling’s comments claiming transgender people were not targeted by the Nazi party during the Holocaust, which was widely criticized at the time, including by the European Union. 

 

Following Brown’s post, thousands of people repeated the phrase “JK Rowling is a Holocaust denier” after speculating that Brown’s apology was made under the threat of legal action. Many of these comments were shared by Americans, knowing that they enjoy broader freedom of speech, in contrast with the UK’s restrictive defamation laws. 

 

The phrase was posted over 120,000 times according to FCAS’ Command Center, with a peak of over 65,000 mentions on Tuesday.

 

 

 

 

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