Coronavirus And The Black Plague

CORONAVIRUS AND THE BLACK PLAGUE

The Old-New Anti-Semitism of The Far-Right and the Anti-Israel Left

White supremacists and anti-Israel organizations are both proclaiming that Jews are spreading coronavirus. If this sounds familiar, it is because the conspiracy that Jews spread disease has deep historical roots.

THE BLACK PLAGUE

During the 14th century, a mysterious plague erupted throughout the world. The Black Death killed over 50 million people within a decade. The populace looked for a convenient scapegoat, and they found one.

False tales of Jews poisoning wells and streams were circulated across Europe. This resulted in horrific massacres of many Jewish communities.

MEDIEVAL RUMORS REVIVED

In 2020, strikingly similar propaganda is once again being spread. This time, it's Covid-19, or according to the far-right — the “Jewflu”

White supremacist Andrew Anglin, founder of the Neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer, has proclaimed that “This whole ‘Chinese Virus’ thing seems to at least partially be the Jews trying to deflect blame for the spread of this virus... We should be calling this a ‘Jew Virus.’ It’s always the same story with these rats.”

Mike Peinovich, founder of the far-right media network The Right Stuff, openly invoked the medieval Black Death conspiracy theory when he declared, “Jews were accused of poisoning wells and spreading the black plague by people in the middle ages. My question is what did they see, and why do we so readily dismiss the words of our ancestors?...”

He also dispensed some public health advice: “If you live in the Eastern United States, you would be more advised to avoid Jews than Chinese. It looks like Jews are the Typhoid Moshes of America.”

THE ANTI-ISRAEL LEFT

A common and malicious conspiracy theory circulating the anti-Israel world today is that Israel is intentionally spreading Covid-19 to Palestinians. Just like white supremacists, anti-Israel activists claim that Jews are spreading disease in order to harm a non-Jewish population

On March 27, 2020, Lamis Deek, a Boycott Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) leader, tweeted that: “Israel sees #CoronavirusOutbreak as ally and tool for ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians.” In the same tweet, she also claimed that Israeli “soldiers are spitting on Palestinian car doors.”

In an April 19, 2020 Zoom seminar, attended by BDS activists from multiple anti-Israel organizations, Charlotte Kates, an activist with Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun), wondered aloud [00:52:22]: “[The] Zionist regime… is it attempting to have the prisoners purposely infected with COVID-19?”

Hadeel Shatara, also of Samidoun, then claimed [00:54:23]: “They [Jews] are doing it on purpose... It’s been happening all over history.” She then went on to say [00:57:27] that Israeli settlers were “walking into Palestinian neighborhoods spitting everywhere, spreading Corona…”

So there you have it. Anti-Israel leaders and white supremacists find their common ground through their hatred of Jews. Although, perhaps that isn’t a new phenomenon either.

ANOTHER RECENT HISTORICAL CONNECTION

In 1941, the Mufti of Jerusalem had an infamous meeting with Adolf Hitler. During this meeting, the Mufti offered support for Hitler’s plan to kill all of world Jewry, stating that his followers were “prepared to cooperate with Germany with all their hearts.” Hitler, for his part, declared that “Germany stood for uncompromising war against the Jews. That naturally included active opposition to the Jewish national home in Palestine.” The Mufti replied that “He was fully reassured and satisfied by the words which he had heard.”

Today, there is no formal alliance between the far-right and the anti-Israel community. However, their shared rhetoric and conspiracies is another stark reminder of the importance of learning history and being determined to call out anti-Semitism on both the far-right and the anti-Israel left.