חומר רקע - גורמים חיצוניים
How AI Is Mass-Producing the
Oldest Antisemitic Lie
January 13, 2026
This analysis was authored by Ronit Hizgiaev, a Syracuse
University student and intern for the Antisemitism Research
Center (ARC) by CAM.
Antisemitic conspiracy theories — particularly the long-standing
trope of Jewish “greed” — are surging in the digital age, amplified
by social media discourse and artificial intelligence (AI).
What once circulated at the margins now appears openly,
repackaged as humor, irony, or experimentation. Online platforms
have become an efficient distribution channel for classical
antisemitic libels, stripped of social restraint and reintroduced as
entertainment.
AI has accelerated this process, making antisemitic libels easier to
generate, faster to circulate, and harder to challenge.
Centuries-old caricatures are now rendered visually, replicated,
and pushed into mainstream feeds, often without moderation,
context, or consequence. The result is the same ancient hatred —
now mass-produced.
What the Investigation Revealed
On November 21, CAM’s Antisemitic Research Center (ARC)
examined Instagram Reels generated through artificial intelligence
tools. Using only the search terms ‘Jew’ and ‘AI,’ five AI-generated
videos containing explicit antisemitic imagery surfaced within five
minutes.
Across all five videos, the same message appeared repeatedly:
Jews portrayed as obsessively greedy, driven by money, and
stripped of individuality or humanity.
In the five AI-generated videos identified by researchers, Jews
were repeatedly depicted scrambling for coins, chasing falling
money, or hoarding loose change.
One reel shows a Hasidic man sprinting to catch a tossed coin
midair. Another depicts a coin thrown toward a group of Jewish
men, with AI-generated figures multiplying as they rush toward it.
A separate video portrays a Jewish man rapidly scooping pennies
into a cup, framed as evidence of frugality taken to excess.
Another shows Jewish men staring intently at a claw machine
filled with gold coins, visibly disappointed when it fails.
Across the reels, Jews are reduced to a single caricature:
money-obsessed, grasping, and dehumanized.
How the Stereotype Is Being
Repackaged
The visuals varied, but the caricature remained constant. Jewish
men — often shown in Hasidic dress — are portrayed as frantic and
grasping whenever money appears.
Another featured an AI-generated trailer for a fake film, complete
with grotesque physical exaggerations and a soundtrack
frequently used in antisemitic online content. The protagonist
raced through tunnels and streets collecting coins, reinforcing the
image of Jews as hoarders driven by greed.
An Ancient Lie With Deadly
Consequences
The myth of Jewish greed originated in medieval Europe, where
Jews — barred from land ownership and most professions — were
forced into commerce and moneylending. Christian societies then
relied on Jewish lenders while simultaneously vilifying them for
charging interest, turning structural exclusion into a moral
indictment that endured for centuries.
As European Jewish Congress President Dr. Moshe Kantor recently
said at the CAM-organized 2025 European Mayors Summit Against
Antisemitism in Paris, France, “Artificial intelligence and deepfakes
are turning the tools of the digital age into instruments of hate and
discrimination.”
After October 7: The Collapse of
Restraint
Long before October 7, antisemitic tropes had already been
laundered through the language of anti-Israel activism. Traditional
anti-Jewish tropes did not disappear; they were repackaged,
redirected, and aimed at the collective Jew embodied in the
Jewish state. Israel became the vehicle through which
centuries-old hatreds could be expressed with social and political
cover.
The Hamas massacre sharply intensified an existing dynamic. After
October 7, the remaining restraints collapsed. Antisemitic ideas
that had circulated under coded or politicized language were
expressed more openly, more aggressively, and with little
pushback.
In this environment, antisemitic tropes are no longer treated as
socially unacceptable. They are reframed as moral clarity or
legitimate political critique. Repetition has stripped these tropes of
shock value. What once provoked outrage now drives clicks,
shares, and algorithmic promotion.
AI also provides cover: the image did it, the algorithm did it — not
the user.
Platform Negligence and Real-World
Harm
Despite years of warnings, platforms such as Instagram continue
to host and algorithmically amplify antisemitic content. Explicit
caricatures rooted in classical antisemitism circulate with little
resistance, even after being reported.
Online normalization feeds offline targeting, harassment, and
violence. When ancient myths are treated as entertainment, the
consequences show up offline.
A Technology Problem — and a Moral
One
Artificial intelligence has given new speed and cover to one of
history’s most dangerous lies. When antisemitic caricatures are
automated, gamified, and distributed, the result is not ignorance —
it is normalization. Platforms that algorithmically promote these
images are not neutral intermediaries; they are active distributors
of antisemitic mythologies that once justified persecution and
violence. Scaling hatred is not innovation — it is a failure of
responsibility, and the damage is happening now.