The Potomac River Mid-Air Collision: How Jews Became the Unwarranted Scapegoats Online

In the evening of January 29, 2025, a mid-air collision took place over the Potomac River between an American Eagle commercial aircraft and a Black Hawk military helicopter as the airplane approached Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA), just a few miles from Washington, D.C. The crash unfortunately resulted in the death of 67 individuals—64 passengers and crew on the plane and three soldiers in the helicopter.

As families grieved the loss of their loved ones, social media users quickly turned to pointing fingers and assigning blame. Could it be the fault of the pilots, shoddy manufacturing, a technical error, air traffic control or overcrowded skies, perhaps? No, of course not. Instead, CyberWell detected users scapegoating a rather predictable target.

It was the Jews, of course… again.

Almost immediately, antisemitic posts began circulating, falsely claiming that Jews were the ones to blame for this crash. CyberWell anticipated a surge in such rhetoric, given the already long-standing pattern of blaming Jews for similar real-world events. A recent example of this trend was seen after the New Orleans terror attack on January 1, where several antisemitic conspiracies quickly surfaced on social media.

CyberWell researched and analyzed 24 posts in English from Facebook and X, which claimed Jews were behind the Potomac River mid-air collision, garnering over 700k views. The recurring theme? Blaming Jews for the tragedy. Many of these posts included general scapegoating and conspiracy theories that “the Jews did it”, with some falsely claiming a more specific narrative that a transgender Jew was the helicopter pilot. Other users claimed that Jews intentionally caused the crash for a blood sacrifice ritual, portraying them as evil and Satanic.

Below, we examine a few of the top narratives and call on social media platforms to better monitor for hateful accusations which can lead to real-world harm.

Claiming that the Jews “Did” It

On the same day as the crash, social media users were quick to point fingers at Jews. Take this X user, for example, who bluntly stated their antisemitic accusation in plain terms. It is important to note that CyberWell has been tracking a significant increase in overt antisemitic rhetoric over the last two years, whereas previously Jew-hatred was often implied with coded terms.

Now, let’s examine this rather colorful image. Important warning – this illustration is graphic. Unfortunately, it’s also nothing new – social media users often go to great lengths to create hateful images to back up and illustrate their claims. In the era of generative AI CyberWell has further noticed graphic and hateful imagery created at speed and with increasingly gory detail. In this case, this X user once again scapegoats Jews. The disturbing caricature depicts what appears to be a stereotypical, religious Jew consuming Uncle Sam like a cannibal. As such, the post links Jews to the alleged orchestration of the plane crash, while also reinforcing harmful conspiracy theories about Jewish control and manipulation of the U.S.

Next in this antisemitic lineup, we bring you a Facebook user that promotes the “false flag” conspiracy theory in their post. This particular antisemitic theory alleging that Jews stage their own victimhood to garner sympathy has been popular in other significant global incidents as well and appears to be on the rise.

Claiming the Black Hawk Pilot was a Transgender Jew

CyberWell came across several posts falsely accusing Jo Ellis, a transgender National Guard pilot, of flying the helicopter and intentionally crashing into the commercial airplane. Many social media users repeatedly highlighted Ellis’s transgender identity and Jewish background and/or Jewish conversion in an attempt to paint her in a negative light. However, these claims were quickly dismissed when Ellis posted a video confirming she was alive and not the pilot of the helicopter.

This X post gained over 627k views! Such engagement was bound to amplify this antisemitic trope on the platform.

The following image, likely generated by AI, portrays highly exaggerated and offensive features of both a Jewish and transgender individual.

Claims that Jews Caused the Crash for Satanic Sacrifice

Lastly, CyberWell identified several social media posts implying that Jews are evil or Satanic, and suggesting that they deliberately caused the crash for a sacrificial ritual. These harmful claims fuel the stereotype that Jews are malicious or out to cause harm. This narrative often ties into the age-old blood libel canard.

This X user accuses Ellis of flying the helicopter with the intent to claim the lives of those who are not Jewish, while also utilizing the antisemitic trope of the “Synagogue of Satan“, a phrase originating from the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. Unfortunately, it has been twisted by antisemites to refer to modern Jews as “imposters” that are supposedly attempting to usher in the Antichrist. As such, this distorted narrative falsely depicts Jews as evil, deceptive, and aligned with Satan.

In a now-deleted post, a Facebook user goes the extra mile by not only accusing Jews of the Potomac River crash, but also of the helicopter crash that notably killed Kobe Bryant and other individuals in California in 2020. The user refers to Jews as “satanic” and suggests that the crash was part of a blood sacrifice.

A Pattern That Just Won’t Fade

Ultimately, the ideal emphasis surrounding this incident should have been on the victims who sadly lost their lives, investigating the causes behind the mid-air collision, and identifying measures to prevent similar aviation tragedies. However, many social media users instead chose to assign blame to the Jews. At CyberWell, we have noticed a growing trend of scapegoating Jews for global incidents, as seen in the New Orleans terror attack and the TikTok ban – both occurring in January 2025. Indeed, the rate at which Jews are being blamed for global incidences has picked up speed.

In that light, we anticipate that the unjust scapegoating of Jews for such incidents will continue to persist. In fact, we expect such antisemitic narratives to surface on social media whenever a major real-world event occurs, particularly those involving casualties. This was evident in the recent school shooting in Orebro, Sweden on February 4, where CyberWell identified multiple antisemitic posts that blamed Jews and were posted within hours of the attack.

While eradicating such behavior will not happen overnight, CyberWell has identified a number of ways to improve the situation. As always, we call on all social media platforms to recognize the prevalence and rise of antisemitic content online and commit to addressing such content. More importantly, we urge them to maintain vigilance against antisemitic posts that specifically scapegoat Jews in the wake of major tragedies. Generally, online antisemites blame Jews for a myriad of events; however, we strongly encourage content moderators to pay attention to this recurring pattern of Jews being falsely accused for current events and incidents that they did not orchestrate.

While social media platforms have hate speech policies, there is a clear gap in addressing the recurring issue of scapegoating Jews during significant global events. This may be due to the absence of clear rules specifically targeting this antisemitic narrative, in which case CyberWell urges platforms to identify a method for implementing real-time responses to global events. It could also be due to the lack of enforcement of existing hate speech policies, in which case CyberWell calls on platforms to allocate additional resources to content moderation. In either case, platforms must take stronger action to step it up and make it crystal clear that blaming the Jews whenever something bad happens simply won’t fly on these platforms.

At the end of the day, scapegoating Jews isn’t just harmful to Jewish people, it’s harmful to everyone. So let’s not sugarcoat it: falsely assigning hate-based blame has no place in our digital public square. Jews have been carrying the scars of the world’s oldest form of hate for centuries – this resurgence of scapegoating is disturbing and must not be allowed to continue.