When Hatred Is Tolerated, It Spreads

I regularly post on a large pro Israel Facebook page. What I see there shocks me to the core. Under posts defending Israel, explaining Israeli democracy, or simply expressing support for the Jewish state, the comment sections often turn into a sewer of hatred. Not criticism. Not debate. Hatred.

Vile comments about Jews. Conspiracy theories about Jewish power. Comparisons between Israel and the worst regimes in history. Language that would have made the propagandists of Adolf Hitler proud.

The question is simple. Why is this tolerated?

Why do people who claim to support Israel allow antisemitism to flourish under their own posts? Why give Jew haters a stage? Why allow lies to be repeated again and again until they start to sound like truth?

History already showed us how dangerous that can be.

One of the central principles of propaganda is simple repetition. When a lie is repeated often enough, it begins to feel familiar. And when something feels familiar, many people start believing it. The propaganda machine of Nazi Germany used this method relentlessly. Newspapers, radio broadcasts, posters, schoolbooks and films all repeated the same poisonous messages about Jews until millions of people began to accept them as normal.

Propaganda rarely begins with extreme statements. It starts slowly. First with suspicion. Then with stereotypes. Then with accusations. Eventually hatred becomes normalized.

Antisemitic propaganda works through several very specific mechanisms.

The first is repetition. A small set of accusations is repeated endlessly. Claims about Jewish conspiracies. Claims about Jewish control. Claims that Israel is uniquely evil. The same slogans appear again and again in memes, videos, comments and viral posts. Social media has amplified this technique on a global scale.

The second mechanism is emotional manipulation. Propaganda rarely relies on facts. Instead it triggers anger, fear and moral outrage. Images of conflict are presented without context. Complex wars are reduced to a simple narrative of good versus evil. Once people are emotionally triggered, they are far less likely to verify information.

A third mechanism is dehumanization. Throughout history antisemitic propaganda has portrayed Jews as dangerous, immoral or less human. In the twentieth century this reached its most extreme form during the Holocaust. Modern propaganda may use different language, but the pattern often remains the same. Jews or Israelis are portrayed as collectively guilty or inherently malicious.

Another powerful propaganda tool is conspiracy theory. Complex world problems are reduced to a single hidden enemy. One of the most infamous examples is the fabricated text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This forgery claimed that Jews were secretly plotting world domination. It was exposed as a fraud more than a century ago, yet it still circulates today in parts of the world.

Propaganda also relies heavily on selective information. Only part of the story is shown. Historical context disappears. Jewish history in the land of Israel is ignored or denied. Events such as the destruction of Jerusalem during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE are erased from the narrative so that Jews can be falsely portrayed as foreign colonizers in their own ancestral homeland.

Another technique is the inversion of victim and aggressor. Jews become the oppressors while those attacking them are portrayed as victims. In extreme cases Israel is even compared to the very regime that attempted to annihilate the Jewish people during the Holocaust. It is historically absurd, but emotionally powerful propaganda.

Double standards also play a major role. Actions considered legitimate self defense for other nations are condemned as immoral when Israel does the same. No other country on earth is judged by such a distorted set of rules.

Delegitimization is perhaps the most dangerous tactic of all. The argument shifts from criticizing policies to denying the Jewish state’s right to exist entirely. It is not about policy anymore. It is about erasing Jewish self determination.

These propaganda techniques work because they appeal to emotion, identity and moral instincts. Once people internalize a narrative, they often reject facts that contradict it.

This is exactly why allowing antisemitic propaganda to spread unchecked is so dangerous.

Every hateful comment left standing under a pro Israel post becomes part of that repetition machine. Every conspiracy theory that goes unanswered feeds the narrative. Every lie that is tolerated moves the needle of public perception just a little further.

Silence gives propaganda oxygen.

Organizations like Time To Stand Up for Israel understand that fighting misinformation requires more than simply arguing over individual claims. People must understand the mechanisms of propaganda itself. Once someone recognizes the pattern, manipulation becomes much harder.

But the first step is refusing to normalize hatred.

If a page claims to support Israel while allowing antisemitic propaganda to flourish in its comments, something is deeply wrong.

Jew hatred has already shown the world where it leads.

The question is simple and unavoidable.

Why give it a stage again?

Time To Stand Up for Israel

Time To Stand Up for Israel is an independent foundation dedicated to fighting misinformation, countering antisemitism, and providing clear, fact-based education about Israel. We do not engage in internal Israeli politics. We stand on two core principles: Israel has the right to exist. Israel has the duty to defend itself.

Support our work: Donate and/or subscribe at: www.timetostandupforisrael.com

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)