Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of
the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.
Antisemitism is personal. Like snowflakes—no wokeness
intended—no two Jews experience antisemitism the same way. Even the same Jew
will experience antisemitism differently when there are multiple incidents or when
exposure to antisemitism is ongoing.
Social media antisemitism is probably the safest kind of
antisemitism, because the antisemite hides behind a keyboard. An ugly comment,
it must be acknowledged, is not the same as being beaten by gangs. Still, there
is always the possibility that the online antisemite will doxx you, or
use what you write to identify you to people who could do you real harm IRL (in
real life).
The comments themselves range from brainless to so ugly that
you gasp out loud from the shock of it. One particular antisemitic barb will
make you giggle for its stupidity, while another will make you tremble, and
your eyes well up with tears. Sometimes you feel a wry sense of the familiar.
This is what it is. This is our lived experience, to be hated for false reasons
or for no reasons at all.
Sometimes the hurt is compounded by the attitude of the people
at the top. People like Mark Zuckerberg who has made his community standards
such that horrific antisemitic comments and memes are left up, while our
innocent pro-Israel memes and comments are removed when reported by Arabs and
their supporters.
A pattern has developed wherein I report the offensive,
antisemitic post and Facebook says no, it doesn’t violate its community
standards. I then appeal where they allow it, and they say no again, and the vile
antisemitic post stays up.
Here are some antisemitic comments and memes that I have
reported over the past several weeks. Facebook has refused to take action:
In my personal experience of social media however, the worst offender
in allowing antisemitic comments and online calls for genocide, is Quora. It’s all
anti-Israel, antisemitic lies and propaganda posed as questions. Sure, you can
report antisemitic questions and comments and they’ll be collapsed or deleted, but
repeat offenders are never banned. I think about leaving or even muting Quora all
the time, but I stay, mostly to encourage those still interested in learning
the truth about the Jewish people and Israel.
Here’s a selection of 26 antisemitic Quora questions that
have accumulated over the past 12 days and are awaiting my attention—for me to either
reply or pass:
1.
With the utmost respect
intended, how is it possible for so many average Israelis on sites as this to
defend their state's ongoing assault on Gaza, when even such mainstream "
Western " sources like Oxfam attest to its singular level of brutality?
2.
Why did Hamas commit
terrorism against Israel which can annihilate itself entirely?
3.
Does Satan support Israel
victory over the people of Palestine?
4.
Has Trump asked Netanyahu
to cause maximum embarrassment for Biden, with Israel's assault on Gaza, by
completely ignoring Biden's pleas for restraint?
5.
Would there have been more
outcry against Israel's actions if any major Fortune 100 companies had been
headquartered in Gaza?
6.
Would people who oppose
Yemen's blockade of Israel-linked ships also have opposed the partisans who
blew up Nazi train lines?
7.
Why is Palestine more
pro-American and trustworthy than Israel?
8.
Are Israelis going to give
the stolen land back to the Palestinians and stop their thieving ways?
9.
Why doesn't Israel just
give back the land it won and pretend the war never happened and we get a 2
state solution?
10.
Why are Israelis basically
flat out admitting to genocidal intent by calling approximately 1.15 million
minors (including children) terrorists and "the enemy" when asked why
Israel was withholding water, food and medicine from them if not genocide?
11.
It’s only a matter of time
until our generation is elected to office, and the rogue terrorist state of
Israel will cease to exist, but what can we do in the meantime to stop Israel's
bloodbath?
12.
What is the reasoning
behind Israel refusing to embed journalists to show the world Hamas is still
aggressive and leaving the world to only see civilian suffering? [untrue]
13.
It was just last year that
Israel was funding Hamas millions of dollars in cash and weapons. What happened
that made Hamas attack the people that support them?
14.
Do you think Israel will
rebuild Gaza for the Palestinians, or do you think they will just steal the
land?
15.
Why does Africa love Hamas
so much, should Israel start a war with them?
16.
Why do the Zionists in the
social media persistently seek to dehumanize the Palestinians, despite having
themselves been subjected to similar dehumanization tactics by Hitler that led
to genocide against them?
17.
Why does America seem
unable to influence or control Israel, while other countries supporting
Palestine exert more control over the situation?
18.
Is Israel’s attack on Gaza
legitimate?
19.
Why am I seeing so many
Israeli propaganda posts in my feed?
20.
Polls show Israel has
completely lost younger Americans with 74% or more disapproving of how it has
handled the Hamas-Israel war. Has Netanyahu and his right wing government
permanently damaged the US - Israel relationship or can it come back? [false]
21.
Why was the USA disturbed
by the disruption of navigation in the Red Sea and not disturbed by genocidal
crimes committed by Israel in Gaza, but rather supported it in that?
22.
Is the only way of stopping
Israel's slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza for ten [sic] USA to
withdraw all support from Israel? If so, isn't it morally incumbent on them to
do so?
23.
Why is Western media
calling the Palestinian genocide a war, and censoring people in support of
Palestine?
24.
Is Israel using artificial
intelligence to deny humanity and wage war?
25.
Is someone who supports
both Israel in Gaza and Russia in Ukraine a pawn of the Likud?
26. Is it true that the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th was relatively hilarious?
That last query was actually older, from early December 2023.
I leave it in my inbox as a future reminder of a time when the world was once again overrun
by masses of people rejoicing at Jewish suffering while too many watched on,
indifferent. Atrocities are never hilarious. Good people know this. Yet Quora,
as powerful as it is, with its 400
million active monthly users, leaves this question up on its website where
it has sat now for seven weeks. Is Quora’s indifference to antisemitism evidence
of malfeasance? Is Mark Zuckerberg’s refusal to ban evil antisemitic memes and
comments, evidence of his malfeasance?
Which leads to another question: Are antisemitic evil, hate,
and depravity still real if they exist only in the virtual halls of Quora and Facebook?
The answer depends on your personal experience of antisemitism. One Jew will laugh
off an antisemitic comment, or block it from their consciousness, while others
may feel hurt or anger. But no matter how a Jew experiences antisemitism, some
damage is done, even if the “damage” consists of absorbing the bitter lesson that not all, or even most people are good.
It’s a lesson that Jews have been forced to learn and relearn over millennia, a lesson that perhaps even Anne Frank was forced to learn in the end. We’ll never know, because Anne Frank was murdered before she could tell us, because she was a Jew.
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