Is COVID-19 Mutating into Antisemitism?

 By Michael Freund   JANUARY 28, 2021

It’s a tale nearly as old as the Jewish people, one that stretches back to the dawn of our existence as a nation. Targeted by unimaginable hatred, singled out for bizarre and often self-contradictory conspiracy theories, Jews have time and again seen antisemitism flare up throughout history. 

Sadly, in this regard, the coronavirus crisis is proving to be no different, as the dreaded illness wasted little time before mutating into yet another classical and deadly variant: the fear and loathing of Jews.

In its annual report on global antisemitism published earlier this week ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was marked on January 27, the Diaspora Affairs Ministry highlighted the increasing exploitation of COVID-19 by anti-Israel and antisemitic extremists around the world to stir up malice toward Jews.

Using themes taken straight out of the medieval playbook of European antisemites, various extremist groups on both the far Left and the far Right, as well as rogue regimes such as the one in Tehran, have been blaming the Jews and Israel for the virus. 

Reading through the report is a sobering experience if only because it demonstrates just how pervasive and extensive antisemitism can be – cutting across social, religious and ethnic lines as well as national borders. 

 “Jews, Zionists, and Israel are accused of having created, spread, financed and used the virus to expand their global domination, impose a New World Order, but also as a means for profit,” the study notes, adding that some have gone so far as to allege that COVID-19 is a biological weapon funded by Jews.

Anti-Israel activists have even created and sought to popularize the hashtag #COVID1948 to compare Zionism and the creation of the state of Israel with the spread of the pandemic. 

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