Arabic-Language Antisemitism Surges Across Social Media Following Bondi Attack
Following the mass shooting at a Chanukah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Arabic-language content on major social media platforms, mainly Facebook, X, and TikTok, experienced an immediate and intense surge of antisemitic posts. Glorification of the attack and the perpetrators, dehumanizations of Jewish victims, encouragement of further violence, and promotion of false flag conspiracy theories were rampant. This pattern mirrors reactions observed after previous attacks targeting Jews, including the Manchester synagogue attack and the murder of Israeli Embassy staff in Washington, D.C.
The pattern was persistent and clear. Regular reporting through the platforms’ own processes did not result in removals. Only following direct escalation by WJC TecHRI, was action taken to remove the flagged content.
Our reports pointed to broader issues of enforcement by platforms and the need to have better crisis-management protocols following antisemitic attacks.
A significant amount of Arabic-language Facebook posts explicitly:
- Celebrated the attack; particularly as reports emerged of higher casualty numbers.
- Glorified the perpetrators by sharing their images during the attack and describing them as “hero[s]” or “lion[s].”
- Dehumanized the victims; referring to Jews as “pigs,” and in some cases as “rats” or “monkeys.”
- Called for further violence against Jews worldwide, including explicit threats such as: “There is no safety for you, sons of Zion, in this world,” and "Kill them wherever you find them."
- Promoted false-flag conspiracy theories, including claims that the perpetrators were secretly affiliated with the IDF, that the Mossad orchestrated the attack, and the circulation of AI-generated images falsely presented as “evidence” to support these narratives. Some posts also referenced the 9/11 attacks, claiming that they were plotted and executed by Israel, drawing a direct parallel to the Bondi Beach attack.
- Circulated ISIS’ al-Naba magazine (issue 526), which celebrated the Bondi Beach shooting and framed it as a successful strike against Jews, called for additional attacks against Jews, with specific references to targeting Jewish communities in Belgium, and promoted ISIS’ decentralized lone-actor attack model, encouraging supporters to absorb ISIS ideology and carry out attacks independently with minimal online guidance.
Similar content was also identified on X, where several posts achieved wide reach in a very short period of time. For example, two viral posts attempted to inspire further attacks by sharing the news alongside videos of a popular inciting figure from Gaza holding a rifle and a pistol, calling on people in the West Bank to shoot Jews, stating “a shot to the head and he (Jew) goes to Hell” and declaring “what act of worship is greater than spilling the blood of the sons of Zion.” In another video, the speaker explicitly incited the killing of Jews, specifically targeting Jewish holidays, stating: “Do not let this enemy live in security and safety.. Make their lives miserable, make their holidays miserable.” These 2 videos accumulated approximately 400,000 views in less than 48 hours.
X also hosted false-flag narratives claiming the shooter was "a Jew from the Zionist Entity," posts celebrating the attacker as a hero, and content dehumanizing Jewish victims as pigs.
While TikTok did not experience a broad wave of organic antisemitic reactions related to the Bondi Beach attack itself, ISIS propaganda connected to the incident was still observed on the platform. Specifically, segments and excerpts from ISIS’ al-Naba publication were circulated using TikTok videos paired with ISIS anthems containing explicit threats and calls for violence against Jews. Direct reporting to the platform failed to remove such content.
