Coinciding with commemorations of the 25th anniversary of September 11th, CAM's Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) tracked a surge of antisemitic conspiracy theories blaming the attacks on Jews and Israel.
Between Sept. 11-13, the ARC examined 174 high-reach social media posts that together generated at least 56.5 million views, 1.2 million likes, 122,000 shares, and 46,000 comments.
The posts advanced two reinforcing notions. Antisemitic tropes were used to portray Jews and Israel as the hidden architects of 9/11, with a focus on Jewish American real estate developer Larry Silverstein, the World Trade Center leaseholder. At the same time, anti-American narratives expanded that framing, accusing U.S. officials of complicity in steering the country toward Middle East wars on behalf of the Jewish state.
A separate ARC analysis found that 9/11 antisemitic conspiracy theories were often fused with unrelated libels targeting Jews.
Meanwhile, the ARC revealed that a guide published by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) for Muslim K-12 students ahead of the new school year allocated more than a quarter of its text to the situation in Gaza and Palestinian advocacy, but omitted any references to Hamas or October 7th.
