TEL AVIV, Israel (Press Release) – CyberWell, a nonprofit and trusted partner of Meta (Facebook, Instagram and Threads), TikTok and YouTube working to combat online antisemitism, alerted X after identifying a new wave of antisemitic conspiracy theories falsely blaming Jews for wildfires across Europe.
CyberWell identified nearly identical narratives surrounding recent wildfires in Norway, France, and Spain, reinforcing what the organization describes as a recurring pattern of event-driven antisemitism, in which major crises are exploited to spread hate toward Jews.
The organization’s analysts identified multiple posts in English, French, and Spanish falsely claiming that Jews deliberately started the fires or orchestrated them for political or financial gain. CyberWell has documented similar antisemitic conspiracy theories during previous wildfires, including the Los Angeles wildfires in 2025 and the Patagonia wildfires earlier this year.
More broadly, the posts reflected a recurring pattern of event-driven antisemitism that CyberWell has observed following crises, including the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting and the hantavirus outbreak.
CyberWell found that bad actors and antisemites repeatedly inserted Jews into breaking news through familiar antisemitic tropes portraying them as secretly responsible for disasters or as profiting from human suffering.
CyberWell’s monitoring of antisemitic content surrounding the Norway wildfires found that one post alone surpassed 2 million views on X, helping transform an isolated conspiracy into a broader wave of antisemitic content. Another post on Spain’s wildfires reached more than 69,100 users. As the false claims spread, posts increasingly incorporated dehumanizing language, calls to expel Jews and well-known antisemitic imagery, including the “Happy Merchant” caricature.
“The same scapegoating stories, once popular in Nazi propaganda during the Third Reich, now trend on every major social media platform after a crisis. Any major event can become a vehicle for blaming Jews online,” said CyberWell CEO and Founder Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor.
“Whether the story involves a wildfire, a disease outbreak, a shooting, or another international crisis, we repeatedly see the same conspiracy theories emerge within hours.
This content reflects well-established antisemitic conspiracy frameworks recognized under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, including collective accusations against Jews and conspiratorial claims of hidden Jewish control.
“Contextual expertise and sustained partnerships with civil society organizations are crucial for any digital platform or AI company that wants to take safety and tech governance seriously,” added Cohen Montemayor.
“Platforms can only respond effectively when they understand how antisemitic narratives evolve across languages, current events and online communities. One of the most effective steps digital platforms can take right now is to recognize this hateful, event-driven anti-Jewish conspiracy narrative and begin limiting its reach at scale. The last few years have been marked by multiple incidents in which unfounded conspiracies and misinformation led to targeted violence against Jewish communities around the world. The writing is already on the wall, and it is inscribed in blood.”
CyberWell calls on platforms to strengthen detection tools targeting recurring antisemitic conspiracy tropes tied to breaking news, address policy gaps related to antisemitic scapegoating, apply enforcement consistently across comparable cases and continue expanding partnerships with organizations specializing in online hate. CyberWell said early identification of emerging trends remains essential to preventing false narratives from gaining widespread traction before they become normalized.
CyberWell is an independent, tech-based nonprofit combating the spread of antisemitism online, operating globally. Its AI-powered technologies monitor social media in English and Arabic for content promoting antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and incitement to violence against Jews and their allies based on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Its analysts review and report this content to platform moderators and index verified posts in the first-ever open database of antisemitic social media posts, cataloging it openly for transparency at app.cyberwell.org. Through partnerships, education and real-time alerts, CyberWell partners with social media platforms and digital service companies to help them enforce their policies more effectively, promoting proactive steps against online Jew-hate. For more information, visit https://cyberwell.org/.
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Preceding provided by CyberWell.