(Jewish Group) COVID-19 and the people the world loves to hate - Jews
The coronavirus pandemic, now in its sixth month, has prompted a resurgence in antisemitic sentiment reminiscent of the Middle Ages, when Jews were blamed for spreading the Black Death plague.
That is the gist of reports by several groups tracking antisemitism, including the Brussels-based European Jewish Congress (EJC) and America’s Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
“Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant rise in accusations that Jews, as individuals and as a collective, are behind the spread of the virus or are directly profiting from it,” EJC President Moshe Kantor said in April.
“The language and imagery used clearly identifies a revival of the medieval ‘blood libels’ when Jews were accused of spreading disease, poisoning wells or controlling economies.”
Virus-related conspiracy theories, including antisemitic tropes, have proliferated online, according to the ADL. “In recent weeks, there has been a surge in messaging that Jews and/or Israel manufactured or spread the coronavirus to advance their global control,” the ADL wrote in late April, detailing antisemitic social media messages blaming Jews for the pandemic.
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