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Whether it’s in the comments on an Instagram post, the replies to a post on X, or the depths of a Reddit thread, there has been a surge of antisemitic code words, memes, and conspiracies popping up.
Here is a handy guide on how to identify them:
Emojis and Alternate Spellings
While some social media sites will block or bury overt antisemitic words and phrases,users have learned to subvert those filters by using emojis and misspellings.
The juice box, or just simply writing “Juice” is a stand-in for the word “Jews.”
Two lightning bolt emojis next to each other are often used as a reference to the SS bolts worn by Nazi soldiers.
The nose emoji is a reference to derogatory caricatures of Jewish noses and used in the same way.
These animal emojis are an assortment of dehumanizing comparisons that have been made about Jews and are often left in the comments of Jewish creators.
Holocaust Denial and Minimization
“271,000"
- A number often used by Holocaust deniers to claim Jews exaggerated the Holocaust death toll. It is based on a bad faith reading of Holocaust scholarship and record keeping
“6 GORILLION”
- Meant to call into question the total number of 6 million Jews killed during the Holocaust.
- The spelling harkens to children exaggerating numbers, implying Jews are doing the same
Identifying and Othering Jews
“Early Life Check”
- This is a reference to the “early life” section of Wikipedia, where it will often mention if someone was raised Jewish.
- Interestingly, a similar version of this is used by Jewish and LGBTQ+ circles to identify which celebrities come from their own communities. But among antisemites, it’s a way of confirming negative stereotypes.
“Every Time” or “Every. Single. Time.”
- A phrase deployed by antisemites that uses confirmation bias to imply that every time something negative happens (a new policy, a court decision, a crime), it’s perpetrated by a Jew or was done to benefit Jews.
109 Countries
- A reference to the 109 countries alleged to have expelled Jews from their borders in history.
- It’s used to either imply there must be something wrong with Jews to be expelled so often OR to say that 109 “wasn’t enough” and that more countries, including the US, should do the same.
When anti-Israel/anti-Zionist memes become a stand-in for dismissing Jewish culture
Some content is not – or did not originate as – inherently antisemitic. BUT, when deployed in contexts that aren’t about Israel, they are clearly meant to attack Jewish culture and identity. And regardless of intent, these are often an on-ramp to deeper antisemitic conspiracies and many accounts that use these memes also use other examples in this list that are more explicitly antisemitic.
$7,000
- A reference to a report of an alleged influencecampaign, paid for by the Israeli government, that gave content creators as much as $7,000for pro-Israel posts.
- This also plays on the antisemitic trope that Jews use money to control the world. While the Israeli government does finance Hasbara campaigns, the $7000 figure itself is disputed and this meme is being used by antisemites to spread the conspiracy of Jewish control.
“Spiritually Israeli”
- This relatively new meme is used to refer to something as culturally vapid, capitalist, colonialist, or just a synonym for “bad” or “cringe”
- It’s not inherently antisemitic, but has been shown to be a vessel for genuine antisemitism
While some memes about Israel are notexplicitly antisemitic, there are others thatare almost exclusively used for Jew hatred. Take this example:
“Promised 3000 years ago”
- This meme regularly pops up in posts about Jewish people. It’s a spin on a traditional Jewish belief that their ancestors werepromised the land of Israel. It’s used sarcastically to say anything a Jewish person posesses or desires was promised to them3000 years ago.
- It has many implications, but the most predominant use of the phrase is an insinuation that Jews feel entitled to everything and are prone to covet things they don’t already own.
Explicitly Antisemitic Phrases
The Goyim Know/Shut it Down
- Used to point out supposed evidence of antisemitic conspiracies. The phrase (often written as “da Goyim know”) is meant to represent a caricature of a Jew calling for a plot to be “shut down” because non-Jews have figured it out.
Noticing
- This is used by antisemites who claim they “notice” evidence and alleged impacts of Jewish conspiracies and want to highlight their supposed higher understanding of Jewish control of the world to like-minded bigots.
Thanks for reading!
This guide was compiled and created by The Nexus Project, an organization working to combat antisemitism while protecting our pluralistic democracy.
Note that this list is non-exhaustive. If there are other terms you’d like us to include in future guides, let us know.
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