Just days after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, CyberWell — an organization that monitors and combats antisemitism online — has issued a warning about a troubling trend: the cynical use of the term “Holocaust survivors” by Gazan and anti-Israel social media users.
According to CyberWell data, since October 10 there has been a sharp increase in the use of expressions that trivialize the Holocaust of European Jewry, including “Gaza Holocaust survivor” and “I am a survivor of a real Holocaust.”
For many years, and especially since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, one of the most common antisemitic accusations on social media has been the comparison of Israeli policy in Gaza to that of the Nazis during the Holocaust. Throughout the war, Israel was repeatedly accused of committing a “Holocaust” or “genocide” in Gaza.
Over the past six months, the term “Gaza Holocaust” appeared in more than 525,000 posts on X (formerly Twitter), generating 2.6 million interactions and reaching a potential audience of 552 million users worldwide.
With the end of the war, the phenomenon took a new turn. Gazan and pro-Palestinian users began posting selfies and videos in which they portrayed themselves as “Gaza Holocaust survivors” — a narrative that had not been seen before. One user even shared a photo of himself holding a cat.
According to CyberWell’s findings, the phrase “Gaza Holocaust survivor” first appeared on October 10. Between October 10 and 14, it appeared in 3,200 posts on X, generating 25,000 engagements and reaching nearly 893,000 users.
The phrase “I am a survivor of a real Holocaust” appeared 523 times between October 10 and 12, generating 6,700 engagements and reaching 184,700 users.
The broader phrase “I am a Holocaust survivor” saw a significant surge, appearing in 20,200 posts between October 10 and 14 — with 93,300 engagements and a potential reach of 17.1 million users. For comparison, during the six months preceding the end of the war, the daily average was 2,854 posts; since the ceasefire took effect, that number rose to 4,040 posts per day — a 42 percent increase.
Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor, CEO of CyberWell, said:
“We are witnessing a cynical and blatant exploitation of Holocaust-related concepts — one of the greatest traumas in human history — to equate Israel with its persecutors. This is not only antisemitism but also a deliberate dehumanization of Israelis and Jews in the digital space.
Although Holocaust denial is explicitly prohibited under the community standards of every major social media platform, this offensive trend slips through the cracks. Beyond the clear distortion of Holocaust terminology, these posts are being amplified by social media algorithms around the world.
Social media companies must take responsibility. They cannot continue to serve as tools for historical distortion and the spread of falsehoods that harm not only the Jewish people, but also the moral force and universal lessons of the Holocaust itself.”