The Rothschild-OceanGate Conspiracy Theory

The tragic OceanGate submersible implosion proved to be an irresistible opportunity for conspiracy theorists, according to CyberWell’s latest findings.  With a name uncannily similar to that of another infamous scandal, the OceanGate Titan submersible embarked on June 16th to visit the underwater wreck of the Titanic with five passengers on board.  While descending to the wreck, communications suddenly failed.  The submersible never returned to the surface.

After days of media speculation and public intrigue, officials announced that all the passengers had sadly perished when the submersible imploded. Antisemitic conspiracy theorists were quick to exploit the tragedy. Once again, they raised the ludicrous antisemitic conspiracy theory that the Rothschild family was behind the sinking of the Titanic. This time, they added a plot twist: the Rothschilds deliberately thwarted the Titan expedition because it was about to uncover the truth behind the shipwreck.

So how are the Rothschilds related to the OceanGate tragedy? The conspiracy theory highlights that the entrepreneur David de Rothschild was appointed 10 years ago to the OceanGate Board of Directors.  Therefore, the “Rothschild dynasty” financed the submarine and supposedly influenced its implosion. Beyond that unfounded claim, conspiracy theorists ignore the fact that multiple dives to the Titanic have been carried out successfully.

The Rothschild-OceanGate conspiracy theory spread across social media. Far-right American personalities like Stew Peters posted about it on his Twitter page and discussed it in an interview with the QAnon conspiracy theorist Zach Vorhies.  As you can see below, Peters’ posts gained hundreds of thousands of views.

Over the past week, CyberWell detected the Rothschild-OceanGate conspiracy theory on all of the social media platforms we monitor: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. 

The following post links the Rothschilds to Isidor Straus.  According to the Rothschild-Titanic conspiracy theory, Straus opposed the Rothschilds’ plan to establish the Federal Reserve Bank and ultimately take over the world economy. 

This TikTok video earned 31.3K views.

Transcription: “[…] This project was funded by Rothschild, number one.  Number two, Titanic, they don’t want you to go near it.  They don’t want you to explore Titanic, I’ll tell you why.  That’s number three.  The third reason is because the Titanic did not sink because of the glacier or because of the iceberg. It was, it was sunk on purpose […]” [00:23]

Modern Scapegoating, Age-old Pattern

Conspiracy theories involving the Rothschild family — a well-established Jewish family used as a symbol of economic success — are frequently coded accusations against Jews for dominating global political and economic spheres.

The Rothschild-OceanGate conspiracy theory is part of a long pattern of scapegoating Jews and blaming them for major disasters. Incidentally, we see this same narrative in this week’s Torah portion.  We meet the prophet Balaam – the “Voldemort” of ancient times. Balak, King of Moab, has hired Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balak falsely claims to Balaam that the Israelites were an existential threat to his people,[1] even though they were specifically commanded to not disturb or wage war against the Moabites.[2]  According to the Talmud, Balaam was the only person who knew the specific moment of the day when God was angry. Balaam’s plan was to curse the Israelites at that moment. In the end, his plan failed. In an unusual turn of events, God was not angry at the expected time.[3]  All of Balaam’s curses turned into blessings.[4]

Today, thanks to social media, spreading hate to huge audiences is easier, simpler, and more dangerous than ever.  You don’t have to be an evil prophet to hurt the masses with harmful content. Hate speech that starts in the online space quickly moves to real life and endangers lives.

CyberWell works to combat online Jew-hatred and urges you to take action. Report antisemitic content through our platform at app.cyberwell.org.

[1] Bamidbar (Numbers) 22:5-6.

[2] Devarim (Deuteronomy) 2:9.

[3] Talmud Bavli, berakhot 7a.

[4] Devarim (Deuteronomy) 23:6.