Iran, Incitement, and the Internet | How Geopolitical Conflict Reflects Online Antisemitism

Part 1: Initial Findings

Part 2: A retrospective of expanded insights following the conclusion of the war

In the wake of the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, a troubling but familiar pattern has re-emerged online. Across platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and X, users are once using digital spaces to post antisemitic rhetoric, incitement to violence, and coded hate speech — at times under the guise of political commentary or religious solidarity.

But this isn’t a new phenomenon. It’s a continuation of what CyberWell has been documenting for the past several years: a persistent overlap between moments of geopolitical crisis and waves of online antisemitism. Each new flashpoint acts as a trigger for dangerous digital discourse that can quickly spill into real-world harm.

From Tehran to TikTok: Antisemitism Disguised as Political Discourse

As with previous escalations, some social media users are taking advantage of the current conflict to promote antisemitic hate speech masked as Iran-related political critique. CyberWell’s preliminary monitoring shows posts in Arabic, Farsi, and English that:

• Call for violence against all Israelis, regardless of identity or affiliation
• Target Jewish communities globally, portraying Jews as collectively responsible for Israel’s actions
• Use coded language, such as substituting “Zionists” in clear contexts of antisemitic incitement — a violation of both TikTok’s and Meta’s community standards

Unlike in the past where CyberWell’s research team detected a fair amount of content generated by inauthentic networks or bots, our monitoring efforts thus far indicate that a higher amount than usual of this content is being posted by ordinary users — many of them using real identities — illustrating that the online hate is real.

A Recurring Symbol of Incitement: The “Khaybar” Chant

One particularly persistent element in antisemitic content is the chant: “Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews.” (“Khaybar, Khaybar, Ya Yahud.”)

The chant “Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews” refers to a 7th-century battle in Khaybar, a Jewish town in what is now Saudi Arabia, where Muslim forces defeated and massacred the Jewish population. Though rooted in history, the chant has been used for decades as a call for violence against Jews — and in today’s context, it’s widely used by antisemites to glorify that violence and call for its repetition.

The chant is often heard at rallies and circulates on social media, frequently paired with content glorifying attacks or calling for further aggression.

Once again, prompted by the latest escalation involving Iran, this antisemitic chant has reemerged online—often alongside explicit encouragement of the violence, as seen in the example below.

This is not new—it’s a long-standing form of incitement that resurfaces during periods of conflict. Today, its reappearance online serves as a clear warning sign of rising antisemitic threat, making proactive platform enforcement urgent.

CyberWell has documented the chant being used to:

• Celebrate recent acts of terror
• Promote religiously framed violence
• Signal ideological approval of further escalation

“Khaybar” Chants: Significant Online Growth Amid the War

The recent bump in use of the “Khaybar, Khaybar Ya Zion” slogan – which is the Farsi version of “Khaybar, Khaybar Ya Yahud” – on social media is part of a broader pattern of online escalation during moments of geopolitical conflict. Over the past 13 months, this version of the chant—widely recognized as a call for violence against Jews—averaged just 15 tweets per day on X (formerly Twitter). However, on the first day of the current military operation between Israel and Iran, that number jumped to 480 tweets—a 3,100% increase. By June 18, six days into the conflict, it reached a new high of 1,061 tweets in a single day, marking a 6,973% increase. In total, since the operation began and through June 18, 2025, the slogan has appeared in 3,276 tweets, generated 25,500 engagements, and had a potential reach of 2.9 million accounts. This means that nearly 20% of the slogan’s total reach over the past year occurred in just under a week.

For comparison, the more commonly used Arabic version, “Khaybar, Khaybar Ya Yahud,” averaged 74 posts per day over the past year. During the first three days of the current operation, daily use surged to 599, 607, and 326 posts respectively, before gradually declining back toward the average. Overall, this slogan in Arabic appeared in 29,400 posts over the past 13 months, generating 221,800 engagements and a potential reach of 27.4 million. In the first week of the current conflict alone, it was used in 1,897 posts, with 6,000 engagements and a reach of 2.5 million.

For the first time, CyberWell observed that the Farsi version of the chant surpassed the Arabic version in terms of reach. Our analysts also noted significant overlap in the audiences engaging with both versions. The last comparable spike in use of “Khaybar, Khaybar Ya Zion” occurred on October 4, 2024, following a speech by Iran’s Supreme Leader calling for the destruction of Israel.

Glorifying Violence Against Civilians

Since the recent escalation between Iran and Israel, CyberWell has also documented online content that directly glorifies violence against civilians. Across multiple platforms, users have celebrated attacks targeting non-combatants—sometimes with graphic imagery, praise for the attackers, and calls for more bloodshed. This content is shared publicly, without anonymity. In many cases, it frames the killing of civilians as heroic or divinely sanctioned, turning acts of terror into material for viral content. This normalization of violence is especially dangerous during wartime, as it reduces empathy, incites further aggression, and increases the risk of real-world attacks against Jewish and Israeli individuals around the world.

From Online Extremism to Real-World Attacks

CyberWell’s work is grounded in the understanding that online hate does not stay online. It influences, legitimizes, and sometimes directly inspires real-world violence. This has become tragically clear in recent weeks.

• In Washington, D.C., two Israeli embassy staff were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum on May 21. The assailant reportedly shouted “Free Palestine” during the attack. (You can view that our alert here: https://cyberwell.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Antisemitic-Incitement-Hate-Online-_-Aftermath-of-the-Capital-Jewish-Museum-Shooting-in-Washington.pdf)
• Less than two weeks later, in Boulder, Colorado, a group participating in a Jewish solidarity walk was attacked with Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower. Multiple people were injured in what investigators confirmed was an antisemitic hate crime.

These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a dangerous, recurring cycle that CyberWell has repeatedly warned about: inflammatory content spreads online, fueling real-world hate and violence. Each act of violence or hate speech online reinforces the next, creating a self-perpetuating loop. This pattern must be recognized and addressed not as a series of separate events, but as a systemic threat.

Platform Action Is Improving — But the Threat Persists

Platforms like Meta, TikTok, and X have taken down much of the content flagged by CyberWell, and we commend their responsiveness; but the adaptability and sheer volume of this content require a more proactive approach.

We recommend:

• Flagging the “Khaybar” chant and variations as a high-risk incitement marker
• Contextual moderation for coded antisemitic terms like “Zionists” when used to call for violence or dehumanization
• Prioritizing protection of vulnerable communities during geopolitical crises

Jewish Communities Bear the Burden

What’s most disturbing is how normalized this content has become. Jewish communities around the world are enduring heightened tension, fear, and violence — not just during major conflicts, but consistently over the past two years. The current escalation has simply intensified a pressure that was already mounting.

What We Can Do

CyberWell exists to help platforms respond more quickly, more accurately, and more effectively to online antisemitism. We offer real-time alerts, multilingual monitoring, and deep contextual expertise that tech companies often lack internally.

As the situation continues to unfold, we will be on the alert, monitoring our online spaces and working to keep violent incitement and virulent Jew-hatred off our most used platforms and apps.

But this problem is bigger than any one platform. It requires a coordinated response — from tech companies, civil society, and everyday users — to push back against the normalization of hate.

The internet doesn’t just reflect what’s happening in the world. It accelerates it. And right now, it’s accelerating a rising tide of hate that has proven to be extremely dangerous.

Part 2: Updated July 7, 2025

The Israel–Iran War, also known as the “Twelve-Day War,” lasted from June 13 to June 24, 2025. In the aftermath, CyberWell provided additional, more comprehensive insights into online antisemitism, which are included below.

What Happened After the Sirens

On June 13, 2025, open conflict erupted between Israel and Iran. During this period, Iran sent hundreds of missiles and thousands of drones to Israel, many of which were targeted at civilian areas. The missile barrages resulted in the deaths of 28 victims.

Amid the war, CyberWell documented a chilling rise in antisemitic content online. While various forms of antisemitism were observed, one pattern stood out clearly: some users showed no hesitation in explicitly calling for the death of Jews. Others went further by celebrating the attacks and attempting to justify them. Religious chants in Farsi, long associated with calls for the extermination of Jews, were also widely amplified. 

CyberWell did not find this targeting unexpected. Similar patterns have emerged during past moments of heightened tension, including the unprecedented Iranian attack on Israel in April 2024, and more severely, during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war following the atrocities of October 7, 2023. 

At the heart of this is a need to expose how quickly conflict gives way to open antisemitism — and how visible that became online.

Here’s What We Found

Between June 13-24 of this year (the time period of this conflict), CyberWell analyzed dozens of antisemitic posts in Arabic, English, and Farsi relating to the Israel-Iran conflict from several social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube.

And these posts weren’t just isolated or ignored. According to social listening tools used by CyberWell, the posts collectively garnered over 4.1 million views^[1] while reaching an engagement rate of 439,101.^[2]

Main Narratives

Some users didn’t hide behind vague threats or innuendos, they said it outright — that Jews should be “wiped off the map”, that Iran should “finish them”, that it was time to destroy Jews. These aren’t political takes on a war between two nations. The target isn’t Israel as a state. These posts target Jews, explicitly and unapologetically.

In the tweet below, a well-known Jewish and Israeli influencer shares a photo of himself in a bomb shelter as ballistic missiles rain down across Israel. He’s trying to raise awareness about what’s happening on the ground. In response, another user replies with a chilling message: a wish for Iran to “wipe out all the Jews”. No subtlety, just raw hatred, posted in plain sight.

In this next tweet, the user makes their intent brutally clear. They urge Iran not just to kill Jews, but to kill “more Jews”. 

Glorifying Iran’s Strikes

Plenty of users didn’t just support Iran’s missile attacks — they glorified them. Posts expressing joy, approval, and outright celebration of strikes against Israeli civilians flooded social media in the days following the assault. In many cases, this glorification was paired with justification and even encouragement for further violence, which we’ll explore more in the next section.
Take the Facebook post below. The user praises Iran’s actions and urges them to “crush zoinists and hit them hard”. At first glance, “zoinists” might look like a simple typo. However, CyberWell has documented this spelling being used intentionally to bypass moderation filters as Meta has a clear policy prohibiting the use of “Zionist” as a proxy for Jews and Israelis in hate speech content. In this case it is clear to see that the word “Zionist” indeed functions as a proxy term for Jews and Israelis and is therefore prohibited by the platform, which is why the strange misspelling is significant. The message is clear: “Zionists”, Jews, and Israelis are being framed as a “threat to humanity” and therefore deserving of being “crushed”.

This TikTok video is a clear example of glorification of violence. The user visibly laughs and celebrates Iran’s ballistic missile attack, treating it like a joke. The caption reads “Oy vey!”— a Yiddish phrase often used to express distress or frustration — now twisted into mockery, ridiculing Jewish suffering. To make it worse, the background music is the traditional Jewish song Hava Nagila, repurposed here not in celebration, but as a tool for dehumanization.

This isn’t just glorification of violence – it is far more insidious. This is the weaponization of Jewish culture and language to amplify Jew-hatred. And no — laughing at missile strikes isn’t a flex.

The Justification Narrative 

We’ve already gone over the incitement and the glorification. Now let’s look at how some users tried to justify Iran’s missile attacks. In many cases, the language was far from measured. Some posts included vulgar curses and emotionally charged accusations aimed at Jews and Israel.

In the example below, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres calls for calm and a halt to escalation. A user responds by cursing him out, accusing Israel of killing civilians, and then takes it further — arguing that “Iran should not stop” until every Jew is “erased”. And yes, their username is just as aggressive as their message.

This isn’t thoughtful criticism or debate. It’s a disturbing attempt to rationalize violence against Jews under the guise of political outrage.

“Boom, Boom, Tel Aviv” | When Music Becomes Hate

Amid the conflict, X user Lucas Gage released a song titled “Boom, Boom, Tel Aviv” using the AI music platform Suno. Gage is a repeat offender when it comes to spreading antisemitic content online, including content that promotes Holocaust denial. In March, Gage posted a video using Suno on X, scapegoating Jews for former U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s (JFK) assassination, called “Kennedy Killers”. The song also included offensive generalizations as well as dehumanizing comments towards Jews. 

“Boom, Boom, Tel Aviv” doesn’t just flirt with controversy. The lyrics promote violent speech, which directly violates X’s own platform policies. It also attempts to justify Iran’s missile attacks by framing them as a rightful response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The lyrics are as follows:

“[…] Boom, boom Tel Aviv. This is what you get, for all your evil deeds […] Now you feel terror like the Palestinians, how does it feel to have bombs drop on your civilians? You could have avoided all this if you wanted to […] You brought this upon yourself; it’s your time to bleed […] The whole world sees that your lies are retarded […] Humanity never expected good behavior from you Jews […]” [00:08-00:55]

This latest track quickly gained traction and garnered millions of views within a few days across social media and music platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify. As for X, between June 19 (the song’s release date) and June 25, the song appeared in 250,757 posts, generated 2.4 million engagements, and gained a potential reach of 224.5 million. The song was initially released through Gage’s account on X, where it ultimately gained the highest level of traction.

Offensive Generalizations Fuel Hate

Antisemitism is often called the oldest hatred — and one of its most persistent forms is dehumanization through offensive generalizations. This includes cases where antisemitic rhetoric and general slurs toward Jews are present, yet do not invoke a specific, well-known antisemitic trope (e.g., economic control, media control, etc.). 

In the example below, an X user refers to Jews as “cowards” and “terrorists,” then goes on to call for Iran to “finish them” — another way of expressing a desire for the death of Jews.

Religious Antisemitism | Chants, Scripture, & Hate

Religious antisemitism — also old and deeply harmful.

Synagogue of Satan

In this TikTok post, the user quotes Revelation 3:9 from the New Testament and invokes the “Synagogue of Satan” trope. This phrase is often weaponized in religiously motivated antisemitism to portray Jews as spiritually corrupt or evil. And yes, the caption includes a Star of David emoji — there’s no subtlety about Jews as the target. 

The video shows two slides. The first displays the flag of Iran’s Islamic regime alongside the words “Alhamdulillah” and “Jesus”, likely meant to glorify Iran’s attacks as divinely supported. The second slide presents a side-by-side comparison: a traditionally dressed Black man labeled as a “bloodline Judaen descendant,” next to an Ashkenazi Orthodox Jew labeled as an “Ashkenazi Khazarian converted in 7th century”. The terms “Jew” and “Jew-ish” are used to suggest that Ashkenazi Jews are frauds — a nod to the widely debunked and antisemitic Khazar theory, which falsely claims that European Jews have no real ancestral connection to ancient Israelites.

In short, the user isn’t just promoting hate – they’re using religion to justify it.

What “Khaybar” Really Means — & Why It’s Antisemitic

“Khaybar, Khaybar, ya yahud! Jaish Muhammad soufa yaʿoud!”

The phrase, used in both Arabic and Farsi, translates to “Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews”. This religious chant invokes the 7th-century Battle of Khaybar (located in modern day Saudi Arabia), where Muslims slaughtered and expelled Jewish communities. It is often used in antisemitic discourse to call for hostility against Jews, weaponizing historical violence as a threat. Additionally, it’s important to note that this phrase generally is revived during times of escalation with Iran, per CyberWell’s analysis.

In the Facebook post below, the user shares an image of Tel Aviv under attack from Iranian missiles — and includes the same chant in Arabic. Through this poetic incitement, the user glorifies martyrdom, dehumanizes Jews by calling them “oppressors” and “haters”, and presents violence not only as justified, but as sacred.

In this tweet, the chant appears transliterated in English, accompanied by a photo of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — likely meant to glorify him and portray his decision to attack Israel as heroic or divinely sanctioned.

“Khaybar, Khaybar, ya Yahoud”, more commonly used in Arabic, gained traction during this war. Within the timeframe of June 13-24, 2025, this slogan has appeared on X in 3.4K posts, generated 13.9K engagements, and reached a Potential Reach of 3.5 million. In the 12 months leading up to the conflict, the daily average was just 72 posts. Since the start of the conflict, that number rose to a daily average of 296 posts, reflecting a 311% increase. The peak occurred on June 21, with 751 posts, marking a 943% increase from the daily average. Aside from two days during the conflict when usage dropped to dozens of posts, every other day saw hundreds of posts, consistently far above the previous yearly average. 

While there was an increase in the use of this Arabic slogan, the Farsi version, “Khaybar, Khaybar, ya Sahyoun” (oh Zionists), was much more striking. During the war, from June 13-24, 2025, the slogan has appeared on X in 7.2K posts, generated 62.8K engagements, and gained a potential reach of 9.3 million. In the 12 months prior to the conflict, the daily average for posts using this slogan was just 7.5. Since the beginning of the conflict, the daily average jumped to 602 posts, representing a 7,926% increase. The highest peak occurred on June 19, with 3,081 posts — a 40,980% increase compared to the prior daily average. Except for two days during the conflict where there were only dozens of such posts, every other day saw hundreds to thousands of posts, far exceeding the yearly average. All in all, while the Arabic version of the slogan is typically more widespread in general, the Farsi version gained significantly more traction during the escalation with Iran. 

The U.S. Political Control Trope

On June 22 the U.S. launched airstrikes on three nuclear sites in Iran. In response, antisemitic social media users quickly seized the moment to revive a familiar narrative that Jews control the U.S. government.

The Facebook post below reflects this claim. The user accuses President Donald Trump of being controlled by Jews, referencing the “Sanhedrin” and “Talmudic” behavior to suggest religious and political subservience amid the conflict.

The War Ended, Antisemitism Didn’t

When Iran launched its missiles at civilians and residential areas, Israel went into lockdown. Families ran to shelters. Lives were lost. But as the real-world violence unfolded, another kind of assault spread rapidly online. From open calls for the death of Jews to religious incitement, glorification of the attacks, and centuries-old conspiracy theories repackaged in social media posts, the digital space became a breeding ground for antisemitism around the world.

CyberWell’s analysts observed rhetoric where Jews were dehumanized, blamed for geopolitical decisions, mocked through culture, and reduced to a single, hateful stereotype. These weren’t subtle moments. These were loud, intentional messages that called for violence, justified attacks, and celebrated trauma. And as our team at CyberWell documented, the reach and engagement of this content made one thing painfully clear: antisemitism doesn’t just ride the coattails of conflict. It feeds on it.

Conflict in the Middle East is unlikely to disappear tomorrow. And yes, people are going to have strong opinions about it. But that does not mean it’s ever acceptable to use war as an excuse to target the entire Jewish people. There is no justification for calling for their deaths, promoting centuries-old hate, or turning moments of tragedy into rallying cries for violence. 

Because here’s the thing: 

These conflicts aren’t going anywhere — and if we don’t draw a line now, the cycle of digital hate will keep growing long after the last missile falls. 

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CyberWell is an independent nonprofit dedicated to tracking and combating online antisemitism in real time. As a Trusted Partner to major platforms, we provide frontline research and strategic support to help enforce community guidelines and protect vulnerable users.