"Holocaust Survivor from Gaza" Branding Trivializes Holocaust, Reaches Over A Million Online in Under One Week

“HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR FROM GAZA” BRANDING TRIVIALIZES “HOLOCAUST,” REACHES OVER A MILLION ONLINE IN UNDER ONE WEEK

TEL AVIV – CyberWell, a nonprofit trusted partner of TikTok, YouTube and other major social media platforms tracking and combating online antisemitism and Holocaust denial, is warning of a rapidly escalating digital trend exploiting Holocaust memory to target Jews, Israel, and the historical record of the Holocaust. Over the last six months and more recently since the October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, antisemitic and anti-Israel users have flooded social media with terms like “Gaza Holocaust” and “Gaza Holocaust survivor” have appeared in over 525,000 posts, generated 2.6 million interactions and reached a staggering 552 million users worldwide. The latest trend which has emerged since the ceasefire’s signing, has been for users to post selfies and videos claiming to be survivors of the “Gaza Holocaust.”

According to CyberWell’s research, the term “Holocaust survivor from Gaza” first emerged on October 10, 2025, the day after the fighting stopped. In just five days, it appeared in 3,200 posts, drew 25,000 engagements and reached nearly 900,000 users. Other phrases like “I am a Holocaust survivor” and “I am a survivor of a real Holocaust” also surged, with over 20,000 posts and 93,300 engagements between October 10 and 14 alone.

“We are watching social media users blatantly trivialize the Holocaust, trying to equate its victims – the Jewish people – with its Nazi perpetrators,” said CyberWell Founder and CEO Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor. “This is not just a modern form of classical antisemitism, but a deliberate dehumanization of Jews and a purposeful distortion of the historical record of the Holocaust carried out by the Nazis and their allies against the Jewish communities of Europe.”

“In the last two years, we have seen how social media platforms were hijacked by Hamas and their supporters, weaponized into an effective tool and far-reaching tool of cognitive warfare. Now the unique historic record, industrialized and state-sponsored extermination against a civilian minority across an entire continent is in the crosshairs of this cognitive warfare effort.  In addition to this trend spreading disinformation about the record of the war against Hamas in Gaza, this purposeful distortion of history erodes the public understanding of Holocaust memory and foments hatred on a global scale,” she continued.

“While social media platform’s digital policies explicitly prohibit Holocaust denial, this trend of misappropriating Holocaust language is falling through the cracks and is currently being amplified by their engagement algorithms. When left unchecked, these narratives spread antisemitism and desensitize global audiences to dehumanization,” Cohen Montemayor added.

CyberWell argues that Holocaust symbolism and terminology being abused to vilify Jews and undermine the memory of the Holocaust is a form of antisemitism that needs an updated Trust & Safety framework, rooted in high-integrity data on online Jew-hatred, for social media platforms to utilize.

CyberWell is an independent, internationally focused, tech-rooted nonprofit combating the spread of antisemitism online. Its AI-technologies monitor social media in English and Arabic for posts that promulgate antisemitism, Holocaust denial and promote violence against Jews based on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Its analysts review and report this content to platform moderators while indexing all verified posts in the first-ever open database of antisemitic social media posts, democratically cataloging it for transparency at app.cyberwell.org. Through partnerships, education and real-time alerts, CyberWell is holding social media platforms and their moderators accountable through partnership, promoting proactive steps against online Jew-hate. For more information, visit: https://www.cyberwell.org.