Jews as Creators of the COVID-19 Pandemic

As the coronavirus surged globally, virus-related conspiracy myths proliferated online, and demonstrations were used to spread antisemitic, xenophobic, and other hateful messages. While some of these bigoted messages appeared new, they were repackaged antisemitic tropes.

The antisemitic conspiracies related to coronavirus can be classified into two broad categories. The first blames Jews or Israel for the spread or creation of the coronavirus to achieve financial or political gain. The claim that Israel invented a coronavirus vaccine is often cited as proof, and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is mentioned as proof of the plans of the Jews to control the world. Another example used to back this claim is that the conspiracy to spread the coronavirus pandemic was taken at the Davos forum by members of the Rothschild and Gates families to increase acceptance of vaccinations among the world’s population.

The second conspiracy category assumes that the disease is either fake or not as dangerous as reported, and that it is instead being used as an excuse to control the population and restrict civil rights. While these myths do not all necessarily directly blame Jews, they include antisemitic dog whistles, such as, ”secret Cabals,”  the “NWO (New World Order),” or ”financial and/or Hollywood elites,“ referring to Jewish people.

Others have maintained that in addition to Jews being responsible for the creation and engineering of the coronavirus, they are also “dirty,” “subhuman,” and infecting others. This had led to calls by white nationalist groups to deliberately infect Jews and other minority populations.

Some conspiracists maintain that the current situation is the final stage in the implementation of the NWO aiming to enslave humanity by way of mass vaccination, removal of paper money, and the violation of personal liberties. While this myth is not always antisemitic, in many cases the claim is that either Jews or Israel (or both) are secretly to blame for the loss of personal liberties.

For instance, demonstrations in Europe promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories and imagery espoused by right-wing populists, often citing specific actors such as George Soros or the Rothschild family and blaming Jews (or “Zionists”) and Israel for manufacturing or spreading the coronavirus to advance their global agenda.

According to a March 2020 report by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Germany is third on the list of countries with the most online content on antisemitic conspiracy myths in relation to the coronavirus crisis. A May 2020 survey by Oxford University found that one in five Britons believe that Jews created the virus to ruin the economy for their own financial gain.

Others used the coronavirus as an excuse to distort or trivialize the Holocaust by claiming that their rights were being curtailed and that they were being treated in much the same way as Jews were during the Nazi regime. They made comparisons between Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Josef Mengele. The terms “Nazi vaccines” and “needle Nazis” have been echoed by elected politicians.  

Supporters of the movement have often trivialized the Holocaust, including by wearing yellow stars marked with the label “unvaccinated” and arguing that “the old enemy was the Jew; the new enemy is the virus” or “once people were accused for not doing the Hitler salute; today they are criticized for not wearing the mask properly.”