Antisemitism Resource

Anti-LGBTQ — Antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theories increasingly overlap, falsely claiming that Jews are behind the so-called “gay agenda” or tied to child exploitation, as seen in QAnon rhetoric and neo-Nazi demonstrations blaming Jews for LGBTQ+ inclusion and rights.

In recent years, antisemitic extremists have manipulated age-old tropes about Jewish sexual deviance to align with mainstream efforts to attack the LGBTQ+ community. Believers of the QAnon conspiracy theory have spouted these falsehoods, alleging that a cabal of elites operates a child trafficking ring to harvest their blood to secure a chemical that helps them stay young. Hate groups in communities across the country distribute flyers blaming Jews for promoting the “gay agenda,” exemplifying this conspiracy. Similarly, neo-Nazis have regularly demonstrated against the LGBTQ+ community in recent years with signs wrongly asserting, for example, that “Judaism allows child rape” and “Jews run the pedo agenda.”

Holocaust revisionism and distortion serves to invalidate violence against LGBTQ+ people in Nazi Germany, erasing the existence of LGBTQ+ Jews and LGBTQ+ people. For example, anti-LGBTQ+ extremist Scott Lively’s The Pink Swastika book alleged that the Nazi party was full of gay men and that they were responsible for the Holocaust. Furthermore, in recent years a network of groups promoting anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience has used the historically loaded term “sterilization” and made explicit comparisons between gender-affirming health care and eugenics to associate trans health care with the very worst atrocities done in the name of eugenics — from the genocidal euthanasia campaigns in Nazi Germany to the mass sterilization of disabled people and people of color in the United States.

Lebensunwertes Leben, or “life unworthy of life,” was a set of eugenicist-based policies and rhetoric justifying the euthanasia (state-sanctioned murder) of disabled, sick, elderly and LGBTQ+ people preceding the Holocaust. The sinister concept was disguised as a matter of racial hygiene or Rassenhygiene. This formed a key point of the Nazi regime’s racial purity and Aryan superiority, relegating disabilities, mental illness and homosexuality as signs of racial imperfections and weakness in need of purging, paving the path to racial cleansing. This use of eugenics was foundational to the development of the Final Solution.

Pathologizing LGBTQ+ identity by protecting “conversion therapy” practices — which falsely claim to change LGBTQ+ identity using emotional and physical aversion techniques — continues eugenicist theories of racial purity by attempting to eliminate LGBTQ+ identifying people from society.

Attempting to erase the historical homophobia and transphobia within the Nazi regime from the Holocaust erases necessary context to understanding its inception and actualization.

Male Supremacy — Male supremacists often blame Jews for inventing feminism to weaken men and destroy traditional gender roles, linking their misogyny directly to antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Antisemitism and male supremacy are mutually reinforcing, working together to animate each other and escalate resentment stemming from a perceived loss of white male status and power. Misogyny often acts as a powerful pathway into antisemitism, blending personal experiences with a politicized threat framework. Once individuals internalize this idea of victimization, they easily apply this same framing to other perceived enemies, particularly Jewish people.

Male supremacists view women as genetically inferior, stupid and lazy, yet also suggest we live in a gynocentric society dominated by feminists who favor women to the detriment of men. To resolve this logical inconsistency, many adherents present feminism as an invention of the Jewish elite to emasculate men and corrupt society. For example:

Male supremacist influencer Andrew Tate references the film The Matrix to describe the perception that a hidden feminist conspiracy runs society. Tate positions himself as one of the elite few who can see the world for what it is and can guide his supporters to “escape the matrix.” He has described the matrix as “a cabal of people who have mass influence over the world” and claims Israel “controls the matrix. They control the narratives.” He downplays accusations of sexual violence by accusing this conspiracy of fabricating allegations against him and other hard-right actors to undermine their critics.

In August 2024, Tate was arrested by Romanian authorities who were investigating accusations that he had trafficked and had sexual intercourse with a minor. Almost immediately, many of his supporters suggested this was an act of retaliation by the matrix. In a tweet viewed nearly 2 million times, Nick Fuentes, a fellow male supremacist and white nationalist, claimed the arrest was retaliation for Tate speaking out about “the Jewish mafia” behind the matrix.

Anti-DEI — Right-wing leaders and media figures have recently claimed that DEI programs are antisemitic — not out of genuine concern for Jewish safety, but to discredit efforts to address systemic inequality. This narrative distorts reality by ignoring the real rise in antisemitism and instead casting equity advocates as the threat, ultimately using Jewish identity as a tool to undermine inclusion.

In recent years, right-wing political leaders and media figures have increasingly claimed that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs are antisemitic. These claims — often made in the context of debates over higher education, workplace equity, or campus protests — do not reflect a sincere concern for Jewish safety. Instead, they weaponize Jewish identity and antisemitism as rhetorical tools to discredit efforts aimed at addressing systemic racism, sexism and other forms of oppression.

This narrative works by flipping reality on its head: These figures suggest that progressive institutions are to blame for the well-documented rise in antisemitism, as opposed to white nationalist and conspiratorial movements — many of which have found support among right-wing circles. In this framing, DEI offices, social justice educators and student organizers are seen not as allies in the fight against hate but as sources of it. The result is a politicized distortion that erases threats Jews face, while attempting to dismantle initiatives designed to make institutions more inclusive and equitable for everyone.

It’s worth noting that Jewish communities are not monolithic in their beliefs or political affiliations. Many Jewish individuals and organizations actively support DEI efforts as part of a broader commitment to justice and equity — often grounded in their own histories of marginalization. By asserting that DEI is inherently antisemitic, right-wing voices obscure this diversity and silence that many Jewish people who view equity work as essential to combating antisemitism, not as its cause. 

At its core is the idea that Jewish people are either pulling the strings behind progressive movements or being used as pawns in someone else’s agenda. Either way, Jews are denied full personhood — they are never seen as autonomous participants in a multiracial democracy. Instead, their identity is reduced to a prop in a campaign against diversity.  For example:

• During congressional hearings on campus antisemitism, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., repeatedly framed DEI programs as breeding grounds for antisemitism. Her questioning of university leaders focused less on actual threats facing Jewish students and more on attacking diversity offices as inherently suspect.
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation banning DEI programs in Florida’s public universities. While the move was broadly part of his administration’s campaign against so-called “woke ideology,” DeSantis and his allies cited antisemitism as a justification — pointing to campus criticism of Israel as evidence that DEI fosters hostility toward Jews. The argument sidesteps the fact that many Jews — including Jewish students and faculty — support both DEI and the right to protest Israeli policy. 
• Christopher Rufo, a key figure behind conservative efforts to eliminate “critical race theory” and DEI, has repeatedly claimed that diversity programs ignore or enable antisemitism. In doing so, he suggests that concern for racial justice is inherently at odds with Jewish inclusion — setting up a false binary. Rufo’s framing not only isolates Jews from broader coalitions but also obscures the growing antisemitism within the very movements he champions. 
• Project 2025, a 2024 policy blueprint orchestrated by the Heritage Foundation in anticipation of Trump’s second presidential administration, calls for the elimination of DEI across federal agencies. As part of its rationale, the plan references antisemitism on college campuses, implying that the presence of DEI is somehow to blame. The report fails to acknowledge that white nationalist movements — many of which the far right has failed to condemn — remain a far more consistent source of antisemitic ideology and violence. 

Instrumentalization — The instrumentalization trope frames Jewish people not as individuals, but as tools to serve political agendas. In recent years, some right-wing figures have exploited Jewish identity and history to silence critics of Israel, often equating support for Jewish safety with unwavering support for Israeli policy. This approach erases nuance, pits marginalized groups against one another, and ultimately fuels real antisemitism rather than confronting it.

The antisemitic trope of instrumentalization refers to viewing Jewish people not as individuals but as tools for political or economic purposes. This idea has deep roots in Western civilization, from medieval Crusaders using Jewish people as money lenders to modern right-wing tactics offering disingenuous support for Israel as a means to an end.

The instrumentalization of antisemitism refers to the political exploitation of Jewish identity, history and trauma as a tool to serve external agendas — often by individuals or institutions that simultaneously enable or perpetuate antisemitic ideas. Rather than engaging with antisemitism as a serious and complex threat to Jewish safety, instrumentalization uses Jews and their historical suffering to justify unrelated political goals: stifling dissent, deflecting criticism, or enforcing ideological conformity. In contemporary U.S. politics, this is most frequently seen in the way certain right-wing figures leverage antisemitism to shield Israel from critique, equating support for Israeli state policy with support for Jewish people, and labeling any opposition as inherently antisemitic. The antisemitic label is often lobbed against Arabs and Muslims, which has the effect of pitting two often-marginalized groups against one another.

Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, this dynamic has dramatically intensified. Political actors have increasingly deployed accusations of antisemitism to silence pro-Palestinian voices, especially on college campuses, while pushing laws and investigations that chill free speech. These efforts are rooted in dangerous conflations: of Judaism with Zionism, of all Jews with the state of Israel, and of Palestinians with Hamas. This erasure of complexity not only fails to protect Jews — it also fuels real antisemitism by reinforcing harmful myths, like Jewish “dual loyalty” or an alleged plan for global control.

This phenomenon is not hypothetical — it is actively shaping U.S. policy through the words and actions of senior figures in the Trump administration. This exploitation endangers Jewish communities by politicizing their identity, erasing internal diversity, and reinforcing the very stereotypes that antisemitism thrives on. It does not protect Jews — it uses them.  For example:

• Mike Huckabee, U.S. ambassador to Israel, has made statements denying the existence of Palestinians, calling it “a term that was co-opted by Yasser Arafat in 1962.” He also compared Hamas’ actions unfavorably to Nazi atrocities, emphasizing the role of social media in amplifying Hamas’ violence. These remarks reflect a framing that minimizes Palestinian identity and shifts focus away from broader conflict dynamics.
• Mike Johnson, speaker of the House, described antisemitism as a “virus” spreading due to inaction by the Biden administration and “woke university presidents.” His language politicizes antisemitism by linking it directly to criticism of the government and progressive institutions.
• President Donald Trumphas made repeated claims accusing Jewish voters who support Democrats of hating their religion and Israel, stating, “Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion. They hate everything about Israel.” Trump has warned “liberal Jews” who voted Democrat to “Wake Up Sheep.” These comments weaponize Jewish identity to delegitimize political opposition and promote divisive antisemitic narratives.