This text was produced as a part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teenagers world wide to report on points that have an effect on their lives.
Earlier this 12 months Roberto, a highschool pupil in Chicago, appreciated an Instagram publish that referred to as somebody “low-key spiritually Israeli.”
Roberto, who isn’t Jewish, had seen many movies utilizing the phrase and seen it as an strange meme. He understood that the phrase wasn’t a praise, nevertheless it wasn’t till a Jewish pal identified that the phrase “spiritually Israeli” is supposed as an insult to Israeli and Jewish tradition that he regretted his actions. (Roberto requested to not have his full title printed to maintain his private info personal.)
In recent times, “spiritually Israeli,” a means of indicating that one thing is culturally hole or inauthentic, joined a rising listing of canine whistles, or phrases designed to avoid censors and subversively unfold antisemitism.
For teenagers energetic on social media, it’s arduous to flee such coded language, which can be utilized to explain individuals and issues not even related to Israel or Palestinians. As criticism of Israel exploded after the Oct. 7 assaults and the conflict that adopted, these canine whistles multiplied.
Based on a 2025 Pew Analysis Middle Research, nearly half of younger adults get their information off of TikTok. Furthermore, a 2023 American Jewish Committee survey evaluation discovered that “62% of American Jews reported seeing or listening to antisemitism on-line or on social media up to now 12 months.”
TikTok and Instagram posts unfold and validate antisemitism to thousands and thousands, with coded language that usually escapes the eye of content material moderators.
“With out further context, no social media platform goes to maneuver towards [coded language] at scale,” mentioned Tal-Or Montemayor, CEO of Cyberwell, an organization that works with social media platforms to assist them implement their insurance policies towards anti-semitism.
Right here’s a glossary of a number of the extra widespread social media phrases and tendencies that many customers and Jewish watchdog teams take into account antisemitic.
Coded Phrases
“109 international locations”
The phrase “109 international locations” is a reference to the false declare that Jews have been expelled from 109 international locations, and a suggestion that they deserved it.
In one typical use of this phrase, a creator says, “If an individual will get banned from 109 bars, is it the particular person’s fault, or is it the bar’s fault?”
Raphael Jankelovics, a Jewish teen from Chicago, usually hears such jokes on-line.
The phrase, he mentioned, “removes nuance from a scenario and it frames it in a means that places the blame on the Jews. That’s clearly hateful.’”
“3,000 years in the past”
“Promised 3,000 years in the past” is a sarcastic reference to the Jewish connection to Israel, mocking the Jewish declare that their attachment to the Holy Land is as outdated because the Torah.
It’s meant to ridicule the concept somebody deserves one thing as a result of it was “promised [to them] 3,000 years in the past.”
The phrase does double responsibility: It questions the Jewish connection to Israel, and it means that Jews use historical past to create a false sense of entitlement. That message is compounded when the phrase is utilized in movies that mimic Jewish tradition by that includes characters carrying pretend payes or mockingly taking part in “Hava Nagila” within the background.
The phrase “3,000 years in the past” was unfold by customers who leveraged the generative-AI mannequin Veo3 to remodel the antisemitic trope into video and different content material, mentioned Cyberwell’s Montemayor. “The guardrails across the particular generative AI device weren’t in place with a purpose to establish that that is really selling antisemitism,” she mentioned.
“Solely 271,000”
“Solely 271,000” is a well-liked meme meant to disclaim the Holocaust. It claims that solely 271,000 Jews have been killed within the Holocaust, supposedly primarily based on loss of life certificates issued by the Nazi focus camps, as a substitute of the true 6 million.
Some use the phrase unironically to disclaim the extent of the Holocaust; others drop it right into a remark to taunt a Jewish publish or account. Based on the Blue Sq. Alliance, from 2022 to 2024, using the phrase “271,000” elevated by 1250% on social media.
Creators use this quantity in both textual content on prime of a video or in a hashtag within the captions of the video. The numbers appear random, nevertheless it signifies their hateful intention to different customers who perceive the which means.
“Loads of coded language that Cyberwell has detected has been round Holocaust denial,” Montemayor mentioned. “Why individuals psychologically get behind numbers or expressions with out numerous context is linked to AI slop of phrases that turn out to be catchy, straightforward to throw out, and are usually not meant to truly produce dialogue. They’re meant to provide mockery, rejection and dehumanization.”
“7k” or “$7,000”
In October, the Quincy Institute for Accountable Statecraft alleged {that a} pro-Israel, “influencer marketing campaign” initiated by the Israeli authorities was paying creators as much as $7,000 per publish to advertise Israel on social media. Critics of the report acknowledged that Israel had a finances for a pro-Israel advertising marketing campaign, however denied that direct funds have been being made to influencers.
However, “$7,000” turned a technique to discredit something optimistic posted about Israel, or any Jewish movies on the whole. Remark sections of Jewish posts on social media are flooded with “+7k.”
“When individuals in any type of means criticize antisemitism, individuals remark ‘+7k’,” mentioned Carlos Munoz, a pupil at Chicago’s Northside School Prep Excessive College.
“It looks as if a dismissive and antisemitic means to answer any statements” about Jews, mentioned Renee Rakowitz, a pupil at Northside School Prep.
Visible Canine Whistles
A brand new TikTok photograph commenting mode now permits customers to touch upon posts with pictures, enabling unchecked antisemitism by giving customers an opportunity to bypass group pointers.
Montemayor defined that after the Bondi Seaside assault, social media noticed “repeat photos and GIFs evaluating Jews to pigs.”
In response to antisemitic GIFs, CyberWell alerted the oversight board at Meta — Fb and Instagram’s father or mother firm — noting how customers have been utilizing rat, monkey and pig emojis to make coded reference to Jews, mentioned Montemayor.
Based on the Anti Defamation League, “The prevalence of hateful content material in Picture Mode means that TikTok enforces its insurance policies extra successfully in movies.” Listed below are some trending pictures and phrases which have taken over numerous remark sections:
“🧃🧃🧃”
The juice field emoji is a continuously used means of substituting the phrase Jew with out being filtered out by moderation pointers. It’s because the phrase “juice” sounds much like the phrase “Jews.”
“It’s only a technique to get round a video being taken down for explicitly utilizing the actual phrase,” mentioned Jankelovic from Chicago.
For Aviva Rubenfel, a Jewish teen from Chicago, these canine whistles are only a new iteration of a relentless battle for Jews.
“The way in which that I used to be taught to consider these items,” she mentioned, “is that antisemitism is at all times going to be there, and that ought to really feel hurtful, nevertheless it’s extra a power as a result of they’ll’t break us down.”
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