Since the Hamas attacks on Israel, antisemitic comments have proliferated on China’s severely controlled online platforms and on the Chinese social media accounts of the Israeli government.
Following the start of the Hamas strikes on October 7, a large number of Chinese internet pundits and netizens swiftly supported Gaza, claiming that Israel was deserving of the violence because it had been persecuting Palestinians for decades.
“You were oppressed by Germany in the past. You’re persecuting Palestinians now. Do not push them to the edge of this world since doing so would only lead to your own demise, advocated Ziwu Xiashi, a prominent nationalist pundit with one million followers on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.
Beijing has consistently supported the Palestinian cause, despite calls from the Chinese government for a halt to hostilities and condemnation of “all violence and attacks on civilians.”
Before establishing full diplomatic ties with the Palestinian Authority in 1989, Israel recognised the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in 1964 and Palestinian sovereignty in 1988. Additionally, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed dissatisfaction with the “historical injustice” that the Palestinian people have to endure and China’s support for the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 boundaries, with East Jerusalem as its capital, during a state visit to Saudi Arabia in 2022.
At the Riyadh-Gulf-Chinese Summit for Cooperation and Development in Saudi Arabia, the Chinese president declared, “It is not possible to continue the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people.”
Following the attacks, the official state media in China has placed the responsibility on the United States for not doing enough to help ease tensions.
“Although the Biden administration cautioned any group against capitalising on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the US military-industrial complex is likely to be the group with the greatest opportunity to do so and profit from the violence,” the Global Times stated on X.
However, nationalist bloggers and netizens in China have taken to criticising Jews on the internet rather than the United States. Many netizens believe this is a signal from the Chinese government about where it really stands on the conflict. Alternatively, as one commenter put it, “Now that I see how this trending topic was organised, I can really see where our country stands.”
“Jews frequently discuss how poorly they were treated historically and during World War II. But it is not for you to inquire. In a Weibo post with more than 2,000 likes, Rabbit head senior Zhang Tiegen wrote under the username “If not, you are called a racist or that you envy their money.” Actually, the reputation of Jews in the ghetto was low prior to the Holocaust during World War II.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., referred VOA Mandarin to statements made by a representative for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday in response to questions over antisemitic postings on Chinese social media.
“I’d like to reiterate that to end the cycle of conflict between Palestine and Israel, it is essential to restart the peace talks, implement the two-state solution and seek a comprehensive and proper settlement of the Palestine question through political means at an early date, so that the parties’ legitimate concerns can be taken care of,” spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during the daily briefing.
VOA Mandarin was told by Wang Yaqiu, research director for Freedom House in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, “We can’t blame the Chinese government for all of the antisemitism on the Chinese internet, but the government contributed to it by actively promoting stereotypes and false narratives.”
The founder and executive director of an Israeli think organisation called Academic Leadership and the Sino-Israel Global Network, Carice Witte, told VOA Mandarin, “It results from a lack of quality information access. It is neither true antisemitism or a hate of Israel or the Jews, at least not in China, in my opinion. It is a form of brainwashing that takes place when you are only given one side of the story and don’t truly know what’s going on. That makes sense.”
Additionally, the Israeli Embassy in China’s Weibo account was forced to remove the comment section after a barrage of criticism and attacks from internet users flooded it after one of its posts.
Netizens accused the Israeli consulate in Guangzhou of attempting to sow discord between Chinese and Palestinian people after the consulate shared a story about a Chinese Israeli woman being kidnapped by Hamas militants.
“Powerful polarising strategy,” a well-liked comment said. “Is that girl even Chinese?”
A remark that received over 10,000 likes under a different news article about the woman posed the question, “If she believes she is Israeli, this is unrelated to us. “Why even publish it on the internet of China?”
The remarks contradicted a post made by the Chinese Embassy in Israel, which stated: “Noa was abducted by terrorists from Hamas while she was visiting a music festival for peace in southern Israel. From Israel, she was hauled to Gaza. She is a friend, a sister, and a daughter.”
A number of pundits and well-known narratives brought up the murder of Du Zhaoyu, a Chinese military officer who was killed in an Israeli Air Force bombing in 2006 while serving with the UN in Lebanon.
According to ThisIsWenhao, the X account identified as that of VOA Mandarin correspondent Wenhao Ma, many Chinese people refer to Germany’s Adolf Hitler, who was responsible for the murder of millions of Jews during World War II. Other comments applauded “Little Moustache.”
It’s actually Little Mustache’s fault,” a netizen commented. “If he had burned all of them (Jews), we wouldn’t have this much trouble.”
Antisemitism on the internet in China is not a recent development. Conspiracy theories concerning Jews have been rife on China’s internet for years, alleging that they have surreptitiously influenced the world and controlled the U.S. government through groups like Freemasonry.
According to a Weibo account maintained by China’s state-owned CCTV, the Jewish community controls American politics and money, and the state of Israel frequently influences the outcome of US elections. Since then, the post has been removed.
The hashtag “the 3% Jewish population in the U.S. controls over 70% of American wealth” was used at one time following the Hamas attacks.