Introduction
The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, led to a wave of demonstrations across Australia over nearly seven months, from March 18, 2025 (the end of the first ceasefire between Hamas and Israel) to October 12, 2025 (the day before the renewed ceasefire was officially signed). What began as small protests on university campuses and in major cities such as Melbourne and Sydney gradually grew in scale and frequency.
By July 2025, demonstrators had begun targeting symbolic locations such as the U.S. Consulate and Parliament House to heighten their visibility and political impact. Calls for the Australian government to reassess its foreign policy toward Israel intensified throughout this period, culminating on August 3, 2025, when massive protests crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Led by the Palestine Action Group, protesters framed their campaign as a “March for Humanity”, using Palestinian flags and cooking pots as symbols to demand an end to the violence in Gaza, and for Australian sanctions on Israel.
In the months that followed, activism remained strong, with public attention turning toward developments in Gaza and expectations of a lasting resolution. On October 12th, 2025, coinciding with both the implementation of a ceasefire in Gaza and the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7th attacks, renewed rallies took place across major Australian cities. Demonstrators voiced guarded optimism about the cease-fire but continued to press the need for continued accountability and sustained pressure on Israel.
Yet, whilst the physical protests largely framed themselves as opposition to Israeli military operations, the digital arena revealed a more troubling undercurrent. Across social media platforms, the surge in online discourse increasingly blurred clear boundaries between political critique and racial prejudice. What began as expressions of anti-Zionist sentiment morphed into rhetoric echoing long-standing antisemitic tropes, fundamentally eroding the distinction between opposition to Israeli state policy and open antisemitism. CyberWell identified a spike in such content both within protest-related posts and in broader antisemitic material unrelated to the protests.
What We Observed:
During this seven-month period, online antisemitic discourse was particularly prevalent in both volume and severity, peaking over the final five months (May 18-October 18, 2025). Notably, large-scale street protests concluded on October 12; significant hateful discourse persisted through October 18.
CyberWell analysed during this timeframe dozens of geo-targeted English-language posts from Australia, primarily on X, revealing how online rhetoric both mirrored and intensified real-world tensions. According to data collected through CyberWell’s social listening tools, the monitored posts collectively garnered several hundred thousand views. Considering Australia’s population of approximately 27.2 million, this indicates a disproportionate reach and impact on the online discourse relative to the country’s demographic scale.
To better understand the rise of antisemitic discourse in Australia, CyberWell’s research team also conducted keyword trend analyses. The data below, which informed several insights in this report, covers the period May 18-October 18, 2025.
Whilst examining posts related to the Israel–Hamas war, one dominant local hashtag on X was #auspol – an abbreviation of Australian politics. This tag shapes much of Australia’s online discourse on Gaza, functioning as the country’s primary digital arena for political debate, where global issues are interpreted through domestic political and ideological lenses. It serves as a key space for discussion of the most prominent national and international issues of the moment. Accordingly, #auspol was used as a primary search term in this analysis.
CyberWell’s methodology identified three keyword combinations with a high probability of indicating antisemitic content. Posts containing these combinations were tracked from May 18 to October 18, 2025, and include:
- “#auspol” and “Gaza”
- “Gaza” and “Holocaust”
- “#Israelinazis” and “#auspol”
Keyword Combination: #auspol and Gaza
Keyword combinations #auspol and “Gaza” surged following political debates, media coverage, and mass rallies. Between May 18 and Oct 18, 2025, 121.1K posts on X used this combination, representing an engagement rate of 424.7K and a potential reach of 106 million, nearly four times Australia’s total population.
By comparison, in the preceding five months (October 17, 2024-March 17, 2025), there were 56,100 posts – a 115.9% increase.
Notable spikes occurred on:
- August 3, during Australia’s largest “March for Humanity” pro-Palestinian protest.
- August 9, when 7.9K posts were recorded following the Israeli Cabinet’s approval plans to take over the Gaza Strip.
- October 8, with 3.6K posts, driven largely by the two-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks and U.S. President Trump’s announcement of the ceasefire agreement.
A major theme among posts using this keyword combination involved accusations of
political and media bias, particularly claims that Australian government and media was
“controlled by Zionists”.
Keyword Combination: Gaza and Holocaust
Between May 18 and Oct 18, 2025, 61.1K posts linking “Gaza” and “Holocaust” with an engagement rate of 465.6K and a potential reach of 95.8 million. By comparison, in the preceding five months (October 17, 2024-March 17, 2025), there were 40.6K posts – a 48.7% increase.
This phase showed intensified antisemitic rhetoric, including content that justified, trivialized, or distorted the Holocaust, marking a clear escalation in both volume and hostility of online discourse.
Keyword Combination: #Israelinazis and #auspol
Between May 18 and Oct 18, 2025, the hashtag combination #Israelinazis and #auspol generated 37.3K posts, an engagement rate of 164K, and a potential reach of 19.6 million. By comparison, in the preceding five months (October 17, 2024- March 17, 2025), there were 19.1K posts – a 93.6% increase.
The spike coincides with the end of the Gaza war and the viral “I Survived the Gaza Holocaust” trend, suggesting a broader amplification of Holocaust-related trivialization among Australian users and a normalization of extreme comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany.
So, What Does This Data Actually Mean?
The aftermath of the Israel–Hamas war has been accompanied by a worrying increase in blatant antisemitic content targeting the Jewish community in Australia. Many users conflated Israel and Jewish identity, creating a dangerous overlap between political opposition and racial or religious prejudice.
The most troubling finding from the dataset is the growing conflation of Israelis with Jews worldwide. Across many posts, the two terms were used interchangeably, reflecting a collapse in the distinction between political criticism of Israel and antisemitic hostility toward Jews as a people.
This erosion of boundaries not only distorts legitimate political discourse but also normalizes collective blame and amplifies antisemitism both online and offline.
Top Online Antisemitic Narratives in the Wake of the Pro-Palestinian Protests in Australia and Ongoing War in Gaza
1. Allegations of Jewish and Israeli Political Control in Australia
One of the prominent narratives that emerged amidst the Pro-Palestinian protests in Australia and the Israel-Hamas war was the allegation that Jews or Israelis control the Australian government.
Many users broadly accused Jews of pursuing political dominance and influence. This form of antisemitism depicts Jews as manipulative, power-driven, and inherently corrupt. This narrative echoed long-standing conspiratorial stereotypes that have historically fuelled hostility towards Jewish communities.
This rhetoric can be clearly seen in the following tweet, as the user references Jews as “Zionists”, and accuses the New South Wales Premier of “bowing to [his] Zionist masters”. Such language reinforces the antisemitic trope of Jewish control over political leaders and institutions, echoing patterns of classic antisemitic propaganda repurposed in a modern, digital context.
Another example further blurs the distinction between Jews and “Zionists,” as a user claimed that “Zionist-occupied racist white Australia” would never ban trade with Israel. This statement reflects a modern adaptation of the antisemitic conspiracy theory known as “ZOG” or Zionist Occupied Government, which falsely asserts that Jews secretly control Western governments – including Australia – through covert influence over politics, finance, and media.
Finally, in another example, the user claims that Jews “strive to obtain positions of power” and are “parasites”. In this tweet, the user refers to New South Wales Premier Chris Minns (a devout Catholic) as Jewish. This deliberate misrepresentation serves a deeper antisemitic purpose: by labelling a non-Jewish political leader as Jewish, the user implies that “Jews” secretly control or manipulate political institutions. Under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, targeting non-Jews who are perceived to be Jewish – or accused of serving “Jewish interests” – also constitutes antisemitism. This example therefore reflects not only hostility toward Jews, but also the broader conspiratorial worldview that underpins modern antisemitic rhetoric.
2. Classic Antisemitic Tropes and Hateful Generalisations Towards Jews
Whilst analysing tweets related to the pro-Palestinian protests in Australia and the ongoing war in Gaza, a recurring and troubling theme emerged: the gross use of classic antisemitic tropes. Posts frequently relied on sweeping generalisations that dehumanised Jews through recycled imagery and stereotypes that have persisted for centuries. These included depictions of Jews as pigs or devils, and portrayals casting them as greedy bankers, manipulative power brokers, or figures driven by an obsession with money and control.
A striking example of this offensive stereotyping appears in the tweet below, where the user dehumanises Israelis by combining national and religious symbols, such as the Israeli flag with derogatory emojis including pigs, demons, and faeces
Similarly, another tweet accused Jews of being “parasites,” driven by financial greed and exploitation, invoking the age-old conspiracy that Jews orchestrate or profit from wars and suffering for personal gain.
Finally, the last example features an identifiably Jewish man, and uses him to represent censorship, blaming Jews collectively for restricting free expression and reinforcing antisemitic conspiracy myths of Jews controlling the media.
Beyond its antisemitic intent, the meme also draws on pathologising stereotypes. It depicts an Orthodox Jewish man in an unflattering, candid moment, with his expression and posture exaggerated to suggest mental instability or irrational behaviour. This imagery reinforces long-standing false associations of Jews with abnormality, further dehumanising and entrenching negative stereotypes about Jews globally.
3. Holocaust Trivialisation and Justification in Contemporary Discourse
Alongside classic slurs and and claims of governmental control, two prominent forms of Holocaust-related hate speech came to the fore: trivialisation and justification. Online rhetoric increasingly framed the war in Gaza as a “modern Holocaust”, equated Israel’s policies with those of the Nazis, alleged that Israel is pursuing a “Final Solution”, and most disturbingly, attempted to justify Hitler’s actions against Jews by referencing Israel’s military operations.
The post below trivialises the Holocaust by appropriating its language and imagery to depict an alleged “Palestinian Holocaust”, falsely equating Israel’s actions with the systematic extermination of six million Jews during the second World War.
Further showing this rhetoric, is the example below. The user here not only refers to the war in Gaza as a “genocide” but also goes as far as to label Israel “the new Nazi state”. Such comparisons distort historical reality, trivialise the Holocaust, and invert victim-perpetrator roles, a tactic frequently used to demonise Israelis and Israel collectively.
Finally, and most alarmingly, monitoring over the seven-month period surfaced content that veered into Holocaust justification. The Facebook post below features an image of Adolf Hitler beside a depiction of Jesus reading the Talmud – a central Jewish text that records rabbinic discussions on law, ethics and tradition, accompanied by the caption: “Now, do you see why? It had to be done”. This depiction implies that Hitler’s actions were warranted and openly portrays the Holocaust as justified. This fundamentally signifies a dangerous progression in online antisemitism, shifting from prejudice and conspiracy to the explicit justification and normalisation of systematic genocide.
So, What Do We Do Now?
Whilst this data set focused solely on Australia and Australian users, the narratives we are seeing aren’t unique to Australia alone.
As noted, a growing concern emerging from the Australian online landscape is the increasing collapse of distinction between “Zionists”, “Israeli’s” and “Jews”. Across social media platforms, particularly in commentary surrounding the Gaza conflict and domestic protests, these terms are frequently used interchangeably. This conflation purposefully makes it nearly impossible to separate legitimate political criticism of Israel from prejudice directed toward Jewish individuals and communities.
In the Australian context, this blurring has fuelled a concerning rise in antisemitic discourse, allowing hate speech to circulate under the guise of activism and embedding prejudice within broader public debate. Philosopher George Santayana once warned, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. The emboldening of openly antisemitic discourse in Australian digital spaces must serve as a warning to policy makers, law enforcement, and community leaders everywhere: antisemitism, even when cloaked in political language, remains a direct threat to social cohesion and democratic values.
Social media platforms operating globally with powerful engagement algorithms that amplify content and hostile speech must take greater responsibility to effectively identify, contain, and remove content that normalises, encourages, or legitimises hate. Without stronger scalable intervention, this dangerous rhetoric is already poisoning a once relatively safe and Jew-hate-free democracy, and risks spilling from online spaces and onto the streets, fuelling division, intimidation, and real-world harm against Jewish communities.
