On Tuesday night, Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot Grok praised Hitler on its X account.Dado Ruvic/Reuters
By the time you read this, someone, somewhere on social media, will have altered the headline, crossing out “antisemitism” to replace it with “Gaza.” And then: “Fixed it for you.”
We do need to talk about Gaza, and we are. We will continue to; the horrific death toll and destruction will fill history books.
But we also need to talk about antisemitism. I wish I could call what is happening now unprecedented, but it’s the same old hatred, featuring the same old tropes: big noses, fat wallets, power and control – now being pushed through the lens of the Israel-Hamas war, fuelled by the engine of social media.
Case in point: Grok. In a string of ugly posts Tuesday night, Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot went on a hateful, antisemitic tirade, praising Hitler on its X account.
It’s easy to blame Mr. Musk, with his inauguration day Nazi salute and hate-filled X platform. Grok itself also stated that Mr. Musk recently “dialled down the woke filters.”
But AI is an information scraper. Grok is just picking up what the world is putting out: grotesque, pervasive antisemitism.
A recent New York Times editorial called antisemitism an “urgent problem” and questioned why society tolerates this hatred when racism in general is abhorred.
The list of examples extends from microaggressions to murders.
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In Washington, two Jews were gunned down outside a Jewish museum. The man charged reportedly said “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza.”
In Boulder, Colo., a man yelling “Free Palestine” firebombed a peaceful weekly march for the hostages still being held in Gaza. One participant, an 82-year-old woman, has now died.
These are the most egregious cases, the ones that make Jewish people worry about their physical safety.
But this unfriendly environment extends to public schools, universities, hospitals, restaurants and live performances. From social-media posts to IRL experiences, there is a plethora of antisemitism for Grok to choose from.
In its annual audit, B’nai Brith Canada reported more than 6,200 incidents of hatred targeting Jews in 2024, the highest number since the audit’s inception in 1982. “The scourge of antisemitism brought on by the [Israel/Hamas] conflict has continued to remain an existential threat to Jews across Canada,” it stated.
Physician Ted Rosenberg, who resigned from UBC’s Faculty of Medicine last year due to what he calls normalized and toxic antisemitism, writes in his new, self-published memoir of Jewish physicians feeling “increasingly besieged.”
Alberta-born performer Melanie Gall has filed human-rights complaints over what she says was antisemitic treatment at some Canadian Fringe festivals.
The beloved Quebec children’s author Elise Gravel, who had shared an erroneous blood-libelish post about Israel hosting “the largest skin bank in the world, harvested from Palestinians” (which she later, after outrage, walked back), was recently named to the Order of Canada, praised for “developing and sharpening young people’s critical thinking skills.”
An Israeli report released this week found that Hamas used sexual violence as a “tactical weapon of war” on Oct. 7, 2023. Progressive feminist circles have stayed loudly silent on the sexual violence of that day. Or worse, have cast doubt. Or offered justifications.
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At the Glastonbury festival, a musical act called for “death, death to the IDF.” The massive crowd chanted along. Israelis are conscripted into the IDF as teenagers; they continue compulsory reserve duty for years.
Applicable to many Canadian universities, The New York Times op-ed pointed out the double-standard on college campuses, with a “fixation” on Israel’s human-rights record. Where are the protest encampments against China, Russia or Sudan?
Meanwhile, the President of the United States, in a recent speech, called unscrupulous bankers “Shylocks” – a widely understood antisemitic slur.
It’s one thing to support Palestinians, as we all should. It’s another to hate on the Jews. Or Israelis in general.
Or Holocaust survivors.
A now-former lawyer for the City of Ottawa has been charged with defacing the National Holocaust Monument.
I wrote an obituary for Holocaust survivor David Schaffer. One comment, since removed, called it “pro genocide propaganda” and accused Israel of conducting its own Holocaust.
What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic. But comparisons to the Holocaust are inaccurate, unnecessary and damaging. And, arguably, antisemitic.
Would any of this be okay if it was directed at any other minority group?
One could argue it’s Zionists being targeted, not Jews. But most Jews are Zionists, believing a State of Israel has a right to exist. Further, too often, “Zionist” is a convenient substitute for “Jew.”
Criticism of the Israeli government is absolutely fair. But veering into antisemitism does nothing for the worthy Palestinian cause. If anything, it taints it. It is distracting, divisive and counterproductive.
The same “fixed it” social-media crowd might write, about this column, “I’m not reading all that. Free Palestine.”
Yes, Palestinians deserve to be free. And Jews in Canada deserve to feel safe in their own country.