Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

#israelhates on Twitter: Fun or Offensive?

It’s like one of those catchphrase competitions, but for Israel-haters. The new craze on Twitter: #israelhates.

According to reports at one point this week the hashtag accounted for 0.15% of all Twitter traffic, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you think about the scale of Twitter’s usage, is quite remarkable.

Now, pro-Israelis have caught on, and the hash-tag has become battleground for a war of words between the two groups. You have Tweeters writing things like Israel hates “that it’s a fabricated entity with bogus history,” or that it hates “it when we don’t buy products they’ve grown on lands they’ve stolen from others.” Others Tweet statements they hope will make Israel’s case, like Israel hates “rockets being launched at it” and Israel hates “people who have never been to Israel, criticize it, and have no clue what the f**k they’re talking about.”

There are also plenty of bizarre postings, like Israel hates “the back wheels of their shopping carts. Why can’t they make them stationary??” Yes, it’s heavy on stupid comments, anger, and simplistic Israel advocacy, but it’s strangely entertaining and addictive. Check it out, here. If only all discussions about Israel were so succinct!

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.