Escalation Between Israel, Iranian Regime Sparks Vicious Antisemitic, Anti-Israel Rhetoric Online
The Bronx Anti-War Coalition, a group that has a history of endorsing violence against Zionists, expressed its “unconditional solidarity” with Iran and shared a message on Telegram, forwarded from another pro-terror channel, that read: “We want a deadly response. We want a human toll on the Zionist side.”
Unity of Fields, another radical anti-Israel group, commented, “GLORY TO IRAN GLORY TO THE AXIS OF RESISTANCE DEATH TO ZIONISM DEATH TO IMPERIALISM.”
The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) claimed the airstrikes in Iran “demonstrate clearly that Zionism and Imperialism’s war is one not against Palestine alone, but a war against the entire region. Zionism is a genocidal project that wages war against any and all who dare resist its regional domination.”
In addition to the groups, many anti-Israel and anti-Zionist individuals also weighed in shortly after the strikes to jointly condemn both Israel and the U.S.
Calla Walsh, an extreme anti-Israel activist whose activities include openly praising terrorists and vandalizing an Israeli weapons manufacturer in New Hampshire last year, wrote on X: “long live the Axis of Resistance, may US-zionist [sic] imperialism be wiped off the face of this earth.”
The conspiratorial anti-Israel X influencer Zei Squirrel rapidly received tens of thousands of likes on a post that read: “ISRAEL HAS JUST ATTACKED IRAN. IRAN HAS THE RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF. DESTROY THIS GENOCIDAL DEATH-CULT, WIPE IT OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH FOR THE SAKE OF HUMANITY.” The account, with nearly 300,000 followers, followed up with additional commentary, writing, “[Former Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah was right. ONLY YOUR WEAPONS CAN PROTECT YOU IN THIS WORLD” and “the rabid Zionist dogs must be brought to heel.”
Moataz Salim, an anti-Israel activist who frequently engages in anti-Israel demonstrations and harassment activities in the Washington, D.C., area, commented on Instagram: “I never thought this day would come, but it’s clear to any human with a shred of decency that ISRL and the ZNST project need to be put down by force.”
Some activists have relied on antisemitic comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany. Mirah Wood, a former leader of multiple subcommittees for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), wrote on X: “the world stands with iran [sic], death to the israeli [sic] nazis and all their evil allies.” Jodie Evans, co-founder of the anti-Zionist group CODEPINK, also made a Nazi comparison, writing: “Zionist fascism is fueling world war 3 [sic]! Stop Bibi - the Hitler of our time.”
Pro-terror anti-Zionist influencers affiliated with the American Communist Party (ACP) — a group that was formed in 2024 as a breakaway faction of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and which platforms a fringe ideology sometimes referred to as “MAGA communism” — shared similar commentary. Jackson Hinkle, an influencer and one of ACP’s founders, wrote on X: “WE STAND WITH IRAN” and “IRAN HAS THE RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF,” with a photo of Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Fellow ACP founder Christopher Helali commented: “I stand with my people and my homeland, Iran. Death to Imperialism and Zionism! We will be victorious!”
Anas Saleh and Fatima Mohammed, two New York-based anti-Israel activists who frequently lead protests for the radical anti-Zionist group Within Our Lifetime (WOL), both responded to the strikes with variations on the statement, “Iran has the right to defend itself.” A common refrain shared by many, the statement is meant to mock the phrase “Israel has the right to defend itself,” often used to defend Israel’s actions in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.
Butch Ware, a vocal anti-Zionist who was the Green Party’s vice presidential nominee in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, posted a statement on Bluesky, Instagram and X that denounced the U.S.’s purported role in the Israeli strikes and alleged that the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities in Los Angeles were orchestrated to distract from the strikes: “Isra*l is our client state. The US is striking Iran. Democrats and Republicans alike have been trying to engineer this since ’79. ICE escalations in LA were cover. Forever War.” Jill Stein, the Green Party’s 2024 presidential nominee and Ware’s running mate cross-posted the statement.
Antisemitic, Conspiratorial and White Supremacist Reactions
Many hardcore antisemites, white supremacists and other right-wing extremists responded to the Iran strikes by explicitly blaming “the Jews” for starting so-called WWIII and wishing violence upon Israel. Many alluded to classic antisemitic and conspiratorial tropes: accusing Jews of dual loyalty, alleging that Jews control the U.S. and global governments and that they are intentionally roping the U.S. into war for self-serving purposes and accusations of a so-called “Zionist Occupied Government” (ZOG). Some openly mocked President Donald Trump and other elected officials for allegedly backing Israel and for allowing “Jews” to supposedly manipulate foreign affairs and sacrifice American lives to advance a nefarious agenda.
Antisemite and right-wing political commentator Candace Owens criticized “Israel’s demonic actions” and stated to her nearly seven million followers on X that Israel “has a bloodlust like no other.” Owens’s statement garnered hundreds of thousands of likes and was shared by many individuals, including those with differing ideologies like anti-Israel writer and Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abunimah. Another antisemitic influencer, the “Fresh and Fit” podcast host Amrou Fudl (known professionally as Myron Gaines), wrote: “Israel has destroyed diplomacy right in the middle of a US/Iran nuclear deal, and grossly violated American foreign policy…Like they ALWAYS do…How much longer are we going to allow these parasites to wage war and drag us in?“
Antisemitic X account Gentile News Network posted: “Jews are dragging us into another war again.” Another antisemitic X influencer, Red Pill Media, commented: “Crypto is crashing because Israel struck Iran. You can blame Jews for that too.”
White Supremacist Ryan Murdough, leader of the New England White Network (NEWN), posted a series of responses to the news about the airstrikes, commenting “Jews belong in labor camps”; “Israel needs to be nuked off the face of the Earth and Jews need to be deported out of the United States”; “Iran, please do the world a favor and nuke Israel off the planet”; and “Please follow through and bomb Israel into oblivion.”
Antisemitic influencer Lucas Gage wrote on X: “NEVER FORGET THE JEWS STARTED THIS.” Gage’s post went viral, accumulating tens of thousands of likes. Another antisemitic X influencer account, TheOfficial1984, identified as Cyan Cruz of Amarillo, Texas, posted: “LET’S ROCK AND ROLL. THANKS jEWS FOR STARTING WW3! NUKE THE jEWS.
The account for $JPROOF (aka Jew Proof), a crypto token created by far-right conspiracy theorist Stew Peters, wrote: “NO MORE JEW WARS,” and posted a meme mocking President Trump that read: “AMERICA TO TRUMP: DO SOMETHING! THERE ARE RIOTS IN OUR CITIES AND WE ARE RUN BY PEDOPHILES. TRUMP GOVERNMENT: BEST I CAN DO IS JOIN ANOTHER JEW WAR.” On his personal account, Peters quoted a post from the $JPROOF account and added a caption, similarly echoing, “NO MORE JEWISH WARS.”
On the far-right online forum patriots.win, anonymous users criticized the airstrikes and the U.S.’s relationship with Israel. Examples of comments read, “Those demonic cunts will spend our blood and treasure fighting their wars”; “They are a Machiavellian tribe at heart and the deaths of White Christian men is a bonus on their way to global domination”; “Let the IDF fight Israel’s wars. No more goyim to fight for them”; and “Fuck dumb jews [sic].” On the white supremacist forum Stormfront anonymous users also commented on a thread about the airstrikes, with one user writing, “Jews love to murder gentiles.”
Holocaust revisionist Darryl Cooper stated on X: “If our government was going to be taken over by a foreign nation, why did it have to be the most paranoid and psychotic foreign nation on Earth? Why can’t we live under the rule of LOG (Luxembourg Occupied Government)?” The antisemitic account Network Radio (@Anarcho1776), run by Fadi Malkosh, posted: “jews [sic] would see America incinerated so their pedophile capital of the world (Tel Aviv) remains operating. They are a treasonous and subversive group.”
Antisemitic influencer Sam Parker posted on X: “Any jew [sic] in America openly cheering on these attacks is committing an act of treachery, as our government was engaged in diplomacy—which will now end. Take note of them, none are loyal to the United States.”
After U.S. Rep. Randy Fine posted his support for Israel’s actions, prominent antisemitic X influencer IanMalcolm84 shared a screenshot highlighting Fine’s Jewish identity and commented: “You are Jewish. If you prioritize Israel over America, doesn’t that make you a traitor?”
Islamist Reactions
Islamist extremists and propaganda accounts also expressed their support for Iran and their hopes for the eradication of Israel. The Resistance News Media channel, for example, wrote on Telegram: “No more Negotiations, Eradication of Zionist Regime is Must…VICTORY TO THE CAMP OF ALLAH.” Hamas spokesperson Abu Obaida issued a statement declaring Hamas’s “solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran in the face of this brutal Zionist aggression, which is the result of…standing with the Palestinian People and support for its honorable resistance.”
Islamist individuals and organizations appeared to believe that the United States was fully complicit in the Israeli strikes. Shajab News, an Iraqi Telegram channel that regularly posts in support of Hamas affiliates, published a map illustrating the purported locations of U.S. military bases in the Middle East and wrote: “Iran has been here for thousands of years and will be here forever. The fate of those bases is to flee.”
Al-Masirah, a news outlet of the Houthi governing body in Yemen, posted a statement on X that echoed this sentiment: “We hold the Israeli enemy entity and it’s [sic] international partners, foremost among them the United States of America, fully responsible for the dangerous implications and repercussions of this attack.”
Closer to home in the U.S., the popular Islamic speaker Omar Suleiman, president of the Yaqeen Institute and professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, wrote on X: “When Israel slaughters babies, it’s defending itself. When Israel bombs its neighbors, it’s defending itself. When Israel steals lands, it’s defending itself. When does common sense prevail over propaganda fueled by your ‘paid for by Israel’ politicians?”
The article is published courtesy of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
