Swastikas in NYC and Irvine; anti-Semitic trolls upend meetings: This week in extremism
Online hate has surged in the days since Hamas launched brutal terrorist attacks against Israel, and social media companies are once again under fire for failing to quell the chaos. Meanwhile, swastikas are on display in New York and California, and hate speech invades Bay Area city council meetings.
It’s the week in extremism.
Hate speech surging online since Hamas attack
Hateful and extremist speech on social media platforms has surged in the days since Hamas launched its brutal terrorist attacks on Israel on Saturday, USA TODAY reported Wednesday. In response, civil rights organizations are calling on tech companies to get much better at enforcing their terms of service and quelling hateful content.
Organizations who monitor hate speech online registered a significant surge in such content since Saturday’s invasion. The posts primarily target the Jewish population and Israel, but an organization that monitors anti-Palestinian hate has also seen increases.
The large tech companies who run the major social media platforms appear overwhelmed by what is happening. But they have also worsened the situation by laying off hundreds, if not thousands, of trust and safety employees, experts said. This has created an environment where hate speech and disinformation is thriving.
“Social media platforms are putting the burden of monitoring hate speech, incitement and violent speech on civil society organizations with limited resources and this is not OK,” said Mona Shtaya, a nonresident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.
Swastikas waved in NYC, California
The conflict in Gaza has brought out American anti-Semites. In addition to the online hate, there have been at least two incidents of people displaying swastika flags in the last week, at either end of the country.
In Times Square, New York City, a protester held up a phone displaying an image of a Nazi swastika on Sunday drawing condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League, which reported on the rally: “Rally-goers cast Zionists as fascists and bigots and referred to Zionists as ‘colonizers’ who should be removed from American cities.”
In Irvine, California, a man was seen waving a large swastika flag on a freeway overpass on Tuesday. Multiple witnesses posted about the sighting on social media.
The swastikas were just one facet of protests around the country with anti-Semitic themes, according to the ADL.
Hate speech in California city council meetings
Several California cities have had to pause or cancel remote public comment sessions in recent days and weeks after meetings were hijacked by trolls shouting racist or anti-Semitic slurs.
The Bay Area cities of Concord, San Ramon, Walnut Creek, Sonoma County, Redwood City and Fremont have all put an end to remote public comment after far-right extremist trolls hijacked meetings, NBC Bay Area reported this week.
Concord City Councilmember Edi Birsan told NBC on Sunday that callers have been spouting anti-LGBTQ, white supremacist and anti-Semitic hate. "It is a matter of appropriateness to the arena of a city council and the disruption of it. The name of our city is Concord, not Discord,” he said.
The moves in California come amid a national increase in hate speech – particularly anti-Semitism during public comment sessions of city council meetings, according to an August report from the ADL.
Statistic of the week: A quarter-century
That’s how long Professor Brian Levin led Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism before his retirement this week.
Levin is one of the foremost experts on hate and extremism in the country, if not the world. CSUSB’s hate crime reports are a bellwether used by academics and reporters alike. He will be missed!
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: After Hamas attack, swastikas surface in US cities: Week in extremism
