Antisemitic conspiracies about flydubai attack spread quickly across social media, watchdogs find

Antisemitic conspiracy theories blaming Israel and Jews for yesterday’s attempted crash of an Israel-bound flydubai flight spread online within minutes of the incident, according to two separate reports.

Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM)’s Antisemitism Research Center says it identified 2,963 posts on X attributing the incident to Israel, the Mossad, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Zionists or Jews during a 12-hour monitoring period. The first such accusation appeared 67 minutes after the aircraft transmitted its initial distress signal.

The CAM report finds that about 72% of 4,136 posts containing the phrase “false flag” promoted conspiracy claims blaming Israel or Jews. That figure rose to 81% and 82% in the final two hourly monitoring periods.

“What’s striking here isn’t just the volume, it’s the speed,” says ARC Research Associate Oliver Marks. He adds that the incident appeared to become “fodder for antisemitic conspiracy theorists” within an hour.

CyberWell, a nonprofit fighting antisemitism on social media, similarly reports that “false flag” claims quickly emerged alleging that Israelis had hijacked or staged the attack. The organization said the claims reflected a broader antisemitic conspiracy theory portraying Jews or Israelis as orchestrating attacks against themselves.

Such narratives “recast victims as perpetrators” and can fuel hatred and further violence against Jews, says CyberWell CEO Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor.