The Inter-Parliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism has unequivocally condemned the alarming rise in anti-Semitic incidents that have taken place around the world in the last few weeks.
“The recent inflammation of the conflict in the Middle East has had ripple effects everywhere,” they wrote in a May 25 statement. “Our Jewish communities in New York, London, Montreal, Melbourne, Miami, Toronto, Los Angeles and beyond have seen attacks on people and property. We are shocked and dismayed that many of our Jewish constituents are now thinking twice before doing things that previously were part of normal daily life.”
The task force, made up of parliamentarians, past and present, from Israel, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, stated that they are deeply alarmed at the increase in online anti-Semitism, especially the tepid reaction by Big Tech companies to anti-Semitic content on their platforms, which they termed “inconsistent and by and large, inadequate.”
“There is a distinct line between legitimate criticism of a country, and blatant anti-Semitism – which can lead directly or indirectly to violence, as we have seen play out in public,” they said.
Social media companies are being “flooded with explicitly anti-Semitic content that demonizes the Jewish people, advocates for the destruction of Israel, promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and extols Hitler.” They have a responsibility to remove anti-Semitic posts and improve content moderation standards.
“As a multi-partisan group of elected officials from around the world, we stand united in our efforts to fight back against anti-Semitism whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head and we call upon everyone to stand with us and loudly and publicly denounce this most pernicious form of hate.”