Anti-Druze incitement doubles after Israeli elections, pushed by stolen vote conspiracists - report
Online hate speech against the Druze increased by 106% from Oct. 27 until Oct. 30, when activity peaked because some Right-wing conspiracists began claiming that the election was stolen.
Since Israel's recent elections, the Druze community has experienced an alarming surge in violent and inciting rhetoric on Israeli social media platforms, according to a recent report by FakeReporter. The study uncovered a 106% spike in online hate speech targeting the Druze from Election Day until October 30, when the incidents peaked. The majority of the inflammatory content was disseminated by accounts associated with current coalition parties on the social media platform X.
FakeReporter identified 952 posts mentioning the Druze community within the accounts classified as part of the "poison machine" between October 27 and October 31. The discourse against the Druze escalated after Likud received a 5% increase in Druze votes compared to the 2022 elections. Despite Druze voters primarily backing Yashar and Yisrael Beiteinu, support for Likud among Druze increased by 5%.
The hate-filled comments portrayed the Druze community as ungrateful and traitors to Israel, some even calling for their expulsion from the country. The most notorious comment read, "I spit on you," which garnered 64,400 views. Other comments compared the Druze to Hamas, suggesting they should also be expelled from Israel. Most of the comments demanding expulsion received a few dozen views, indicating a small minority of the online population agreed with such extreme sentiments.
FakeReporter CEO Nir Rosen emphasized that this discourse goes beyond targeting the Druze community, as it is part of a broader campaign of delegitimization of the election results and vilification of populations that voted against political expectations. Several accounts leading the vitriolic attacks against the Druze had tens of thousands of followers, including some closely related to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, such as his son Yair.
Rosen warned that this dangerous discourse not only deepens hatred and division but also risks violating Israel's democratic foundations, potentially leading to violent confrontations.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
