When History Gets Flattened: The Social Media Life of Khazar Theory
Earlier this year, a cluster of high-profile influencers began using terms such as “Khazarian mafia” and referring to all Jews as “Khazars.” This language that quickly spread across X draws on a fringe conspiracy theory rooted in a much older historical debate about the origins of Ashkenazi Jews. The Khazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry is the historically debated idea that a substantial portion of Ashkenazi Jews descend not from ancient Israelites of the Levant, but from the […]
From Counterterror to Conspiracy: How Joe Kent’s Resignation Has Sparked Antisemitic Theories Online
The former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, announced his resignation publicly on Tuesday, March 17th, by posting a letter on X addressed to President Donald Trump. In this letter, Kent criticized the war between Iran and the joint operation between the United States and Israel, writing “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, […]
“False Flag” Conspiracy Posts Reach Record Levels Amid U.S.-Iran War and Michigan Synagogue Attack
Social media posts framing Jewish institutions and the Israeli government as orchestrators of staged attacks — known as “false flag” conspiracy theories — have reached their highest recorded volumes during a two-week period spanning the U.S.-Israel military campaign against Iran and the March 12 vehicle-ramming attack on Temple Israel Synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, according to Blue […]
Antisemitic Themes Surge Online In Response to Israel/U.S.–Iran War
As news of Operation Epic Fury — the military engagement involving Israel, the United States, and Iran — spread across social media platforms, antisemitic themes spiked sharply in online conversation. Analyzing the period from Feb. 28 to March 3, 2026, the BSA Command Center recorded a 264% increase in overall tracked conversation, alongside a significant surge in […]