Introduction
The massacre committed by Hamas on 7 October 2023 caused profound shock and distress across the world. Such significant and emotionally charged incidents are ripe for exploitation, and malevolent actors quickly capitalised on them across social media to spread antisemitism and Islamophobia. So-called “parody” accounts on X (formerly Twitter) are no exception. Although parody accounts on X are not a new phenomenon, some are actively exploiting the Israel-Hamas war and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict more generally. Created shortly after 7/10, “parody” accounts have impersonated, amongst others, governments and state officials. This Insight explores how such accounts weaponise a deceptive pseudo-concern for Palestinians and attempt to trigger a mixture of negative and positive emotions to mainstream antisemitism and potentially incite violent action. To do so, it discusses the themes and narratives that emerge from the disseminated content.
The content disseminated by these accounts is eclectic. It includes memes, AI-generated memes, GIFs, videos, images, and news extracts. The accounts in question have been experimenting with their content. Initially, they relied primarily on videos depicting violence against Gazans and Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as Instagram posts sharing conspiracy theories. Gradually, they introduced a variety of other content, eventually focusing mainly on memes. This comes as no surprise: researchers have shown that far-right milieus weaponise memes and humour by “immersing individuals into extremist ideologies”. The reach and appeal of memes are sharply increased through the combination of extreme far-right narratives and humour. Yet, what is the impact of memes that specifically trigger a mixture of contradictory emotions, ranging from humour to contempt, disgust, and anger? This might be employed deliberately: disgust can trigger potent and dangerous (re)actions.
Pinpointing an exact ideology is difficult. The content on these accounts is unmistakably antisemitic and frequently incorporates alt-right imagery. Simultaneously, anti-government, anti-institutional, conspiracy, anti-LGBTQI+, misogynistic, and Hamas-supporting memes are also disseminated, suggesting a case of salad bar ideology (or MUU). Yet, a recent publication shows how far-right groups are exploiting the Israel-Hamas war to “target and red pill centre-left and white conservative users on X”. Emphasising the themes and narratives that emerge from the disseminated content thus appears more pertinent than attempting to discern any clear ideology.
The “Israeli Culture” Narrative
These accounts target both newcomers and those with pre-existing connections to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before 7/10. The content disseminated implies a pre-existing awareness of particular occurrences and incidents. In addition, these memes seem designed to provoke a spectrum of contradictory emotions. They capitalise on possible grievances associated with the settlements: particularly noteworthy are the memes referencing a 2021 event where a man named Jacob was caught on camera asserting, “If I don’t do it [steal your home], someone else will.”
This occurrence is then repeatedly associated with alleged incidents of Israelis spitting on Christian pilgrims. Memes, captions, and comments frequently refer to these two instances as representative of a so-called “Israeli culture” or as exemplifying the “typical Israeli citizen”: Israelis are processually demonised as a homogenous group and depicted as aggressive and hateful individuals.
The “Israeli culture” narrative appears to be central: these accounts repeatedly reference and link it to other narratives.
Figure 1: sample of “Israeli culture” memes
Double Standards
The protests and pro-Palestinian encampment movements on US campuses are also referenced. These memes gained traction as the student movement grew and attracted increased media attention. They exploit perceived double standards, promoting the narrative that student “occupiers” face unjustified police violence, all the while pro-Israel protesters allegedly engage in hateful chants, and Israel conducts airstrikes on Gazan universities without consequences.
These ‘US encampments’ memes further exploit the narrative mentioned above, portraying pro-Israel protesters allegedly expressing violent slogans, and as such, representative of the “typical Israelis”, or embodying the “Israeli culture”. This illustrates how these memes attempt to trigger a combination of humour and contempt, anger, and disgust by integrating various events into a unified narrative.
The narrative also weaponises controversies surrounding the definition of antisemitism, claiming that any criticism of Israeli policies is met with accusations of antisemitism. Some captions assert that “the truth is antisemitic” or that “protesting genocide is antisemitic”.
Figure 2: sample of “US encampments” memes
The (all-controlling) Jews, Anti-Elitism, and Anti-Government Sentiments
The memes circulated on these accounts subtly shift the focus from “Israelis” to “Jews”. Individuals are no longer distinguished; instead, a homogeneous group emerges: the Jews. Borderline memes are mixed with blatantly antisemitic and racist ones.
Users propagate antisemitic conspiracy theories of a “Jewish-dominated world” and a “New World Order” allegedly designed to grant global control to “the Jews”, that “the Jews” killed Jesus, and that they divide Arab countries and pit Muslims against Christians. Concurrently, this content may provoke – or capitalise on – anti-government sentiments and further suggest that elites serve the interests of “the Jews” or act as their puppets.
Particularly notable in this regard is that Western criticisms of Russia and China are framed as mere distractions orchestrated by “the Jews”. This discourse, in addition to spreading antisemitism, fosters deep mistrust and scepticism towards government and media, aiming to provoke disbelief in established truths and further provoke emotions of anger, contempt, and disgust.
“Parody” accounts also exploit grievances against Arab leaders portrayed as betraying the Palestinian cause and insinuating that if these leaders are not directly manipulated by “the Jews,” they are willingly collaborating with them.
Figure 3: sample of memes promoting narratives of the “all-controlling Jew”, conspiracy theories, and anti-government sentiments
Support of Hamas, the IDF, and the Dehumanisation of the Israeli Hostages
Memes promoting the “Israeli Diaper Force” and the “Israel Diabete Force” narratives aim to dehumanise the Israeli hostages and the IDF. Users do so by employing homophobic and misogynistic tropes alongside body-shaming implications. Violence against these individuals is mocked, tolerated, and even encouraged.
A number of other memes promote explicit support for Hamas. The difference in tone here becomes palpable. The content that targets Jews and Israelis makes use of aggressive humour, attempting to trigger anger, disgust, and contempt. The content that promotes Hamas, however, makes use of lighter humour, and the Hamas fighters are represented in a positive light. Mention of the massacre committed on 7/10 is nonexistent, and according to the narrative, Hamas fighters are heroes and accusations of rape are fake: “everything else is a lie”.
A dichotomy emerges: whilst the narrative implies that Hamas fighters target only Israeli soldiers, a number of users condone, and cheer, violence. One user comments: “Israelis should be triangled”. Memes also make allusions to the killing of the Israeli-Canadian businessman in Alexandria in May 2024, and the shooter who, can allegedly be heard in the video shouting “Shalom from Gaza’s children” before murdering his victim. This is even more worrying as calls for violent action are embedded in some of the memes themselves, and users are encouraged to save the memes as quickly as possible before the creator(s) delete them to avoid a suspension of the account by X. Later, the users are encouraged to join a newly created Telegram channel because of lax moderation policies on the messaging app.
Figure 4: sample of memes showing support for Hamas, dehumanising IDF soldiers and Israeli hostages, and calling to action
Discursive practices
The content spread on these so-called “parody” accounts allows for “discursive practices” to take place, namely the combination resulting from user interactions with the disseminated content. These further normalise hate speech and extremism. User interactions can reproduce, amplify, and complement the content; they can also guide, provide “reading instructions” for users, and share links that lead to other material or accounts. In addition to the calls to action mentioned above, users are encouraged to “share [the memes] wide and far, let’s spread awareness!”.
The so-called “parody” accounts themselves can be seen commenting on other publications, including the X account of the Israeli government. Finally, a number of memes have been directly shared, screenshotted and re-shared, or translated into foreign languages and used on several alt-right, extreme-right, and neo-nazi accounts, on X and beyond.
Figure 5: extracts from an AI-generated, animated meme
Implications and recommendations
These so-called “parody” accounts actively attempt to mainstream antisemitism and trigger a mixture of contradictory emotions, ranging from humour to contempt, disgust, and anger, whilst eroding public trust in institutions. This type of content might represent a threat to Jewish communities, Israelis, and increase grievances against, and erode trust in, democratic institutions. With no end to the war in sight and shocking reports of the number of killed, grievances will undoubtedly grow further.
These accounts are just one example of how events are being exploited by malevolent actors to target Jews and Muslims. This highlights the urgent need for effective counter-narrative strategies to prevent polarisation, radicalisation, and violent extremism.
In regards to counter-narratives, an important observation emerges from this Insight: the aforementioned accounts narrowcast content to both newcomers and those with pre-existing connections to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before 7/10. They target individuals with pro-Palestine views as well as those harbouring antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments. These two terms being particularly loaded, it can be argued that while anti-Israel sentiment can be motivated by antisemitic views, this is not necessarily the case for pro-Palestine sentiments that are rather sensitive to some Israeli government policies, particularly those related to the settlements, and by extension the occupation. It is essential to make this distinction independent of political or security-related debates. It underscores that the design of effective counter-narrative strategies may necessitate approaches tailored to each specific group.
This Insight focussed on X, a platform that currently shows a bleak future in regards to content moderation. Yet, calls to join Telegram chats content found migrating to other platforms indicate the need for a multi- or cross-platform approach, with TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. This can help mitigate current limitations in preventing and countering extremism on X.
The average social media user uses at least six to seven platforms each month, and short-form videos appear to currently be the most engaging type of content. Spreading counter-narratives in the form of short-form videos following a cross- or multi-platform strategy might bear fruit, eventually. This type of strategy is even more urgent given that a multi-platform presence is adopted as a strategy by extremists.
Moreover, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is notoriously divisive, and space for empathy and dialogue is visibly shrinking, hand in hand with societies that are becoming increasingly polarised and their trust in institutions dwindling. Inducing empathy has been proven effective in curbing hate speech and could prove successful in this case as well. These alternative voices can provide firsthand experiences and diverse viewpoints to mitigate antisemitism and other harmful ideologies. Strategies can draw inspiration from campaigns like #UseYourVote, leveraging its emotive appeal to engage users and encourage openness to diverse perspectives, and adapt them into short-video formats.
Counter-narrative initiatives that adopt a multi- or cross-platform strategy should also incorporate a restorative perspective. Using a “restorative language” and viewpoint, these initiatives can offer counter-narratives that “give victims’ narratives an important place, restoring their voice, sense of self, and sense of future”. Concurrently, this would offer the opportunity to collaborate with alternative voices addressing the conflict far from “maximalist” viewpoints.
However, for tech companies cooperating on initiatives to implement cross- or multi-platform strategies, this might be too resource-intensive. Nevertheless, this could be the opportunity to extend collaboration to users and cities, thereby integrating online and offline P/CVE strategies. Collaborating with cities that are part of the Strong Cities Network could be particularly fruitful. These cities, in partnership with tech companies and willing citizens (also anonymous), can work together on these efforts. This collaboration can also be extended to CSOs.
For instance, tech companies, cities, and CSOs can also establish art competition initiatives for the youth and older generations to produce these types of videos. There are numerous CSOs in Israel and beyond that tackle these problems, and this would encourage users to creatively engage with these issues while simultaneously involving their followers. For instance, some influencers on TikTok have showcased impressive “homemade” video skills, ranging from advertisement videos to other types of content. These videos are then easily adaptable to platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. Encouraging such initiatives can simultaneously foster community engagement and counter harmful narratives effectively.
Sabrina Tripodi holds a BA in Russian Studies and Arabic Studies from the University of Geneva and is in the process of completing a MA in International Security Studies at the Charles University of Prague.