There is a new way to think about the people who relentlessly incite hatred of Jews and Israel: “gain-of-function antisemitism.” The phrase borrows from the COVID-19 pandemic; specifically, former chief medical advisor to the president Anthony Fauci’s misguided funding of gain-of-function transmissibility and virulence research at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Fauci has been accused of facilitating a process that enhanced existing biological characteristics of a virus, making it more powerful and dangerous. Similarly, with the rise in antisemitism, old prejudices have been opportunistically amplified, repackaged, given a new language and spread through powerful new channels. Like a deadly re-engineered contagion, the new Jew-hate is released to a wider audience until what was once fringe becomes dangerously normalized.
This is where the “gain-of-function” metaphor becomes useful. An inflammatory podcaster or politician does not necessarily invent hatred from scratch. Instead, he or she takes an existing grievance, strips away nuance, adds sensational accusations, and with the power of AI bots, repeats them relentlessly.
Thus, Israel becomes not merely a country whose government can be criticized, but the hyperbolic embodiment of everything supposedly evil in the world. Jews thousands of miles away may then be treated as responsible for the actions of a government they neither control nor represent.
Like a virus, antisemitism has always mutated into various forms. In the past, antisemites accused Jews of controlling finance, governments, the press and world events. Today, some of those same ideas have been repackaged using words and phrases like “Zionists,” “globalists,” “colonialists” or “Jewish power.”
The vocabulary changes, but the underlying accusation can remain remarkably familiar: Jews are uniquely powerful, uniquely evil, collectively guilty and secretly responsible for society’s problems. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism specifically identifies conspiracy theories, collective blame, demonization and claims of Jewish control as the foundations of hatred and bigotry.
Wealthy individuals, foundations, charities, media ventures and state-linked networks from several countries have heavily invested in antisemitic advocacy, campus programming, lobbying and digital messaging. They promote narratives that erase Jewish history, excuse terrorism and portray Israel as uniquely illegitimate. For decades, Qatar and other Islamic nations have funneled billions into American educational institutions, amplifying hatred while concealing their sources. Funds from far-leftists like George Soros further enhance the spread of the disease.
At the same time, a long list of Hollywood A-listers, such as actor Mark Ruffalo, have expressed their hypercritical opinions of Israel for years. We wish they had to maintain a six-foot distance and cover their faces with masks, but the bright lights of the entertainment industry give them an unrivaled platform.
In American politics, critics often talk about a “Red-Green Alliance” between far-left activists and Islamists, who otherwise disagree on many issues. Indeed, the likes of “The Squad,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani are the Typhoid Marys of the disease of antisemitism. When the Democratic leadership turns a blind eye, it becomes a carrier of the contagion.
In this alliance, revolutionary rhetoric about capitalism, colonialism or race can merge with Islamist narratives that demonize Jews and deny Israel’s legitimacy. Its influence can be seen in protests, social media campaigns, campus coalitions and electoral politics. At the same time, critics wrongly question AIPAC’s constitutional right to lobby and support congressional candidates.
Examples of people and organizations accused by researchers, journalists and Jewish communal groups of amplifying antisemitic narratives include David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader; Nick Fuentes, whose “Groyper” movement promotes white-nationalist and antisemitic conspiracy theories; and political commentators and podcasters Hasan Piker on the left, and Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens on the right, who have made widely condemned antisemitic statements.
Extremist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, the National Socialist Movement, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Nation of Islam have also been associated with rhetoric that demonizes Jews or promotes conspiracy theories about Jewish power.
Online networks, including Der Stürmer, Stormfront and certain anonymous social-media channels, have helped circulate Holocaust denial, antisemitic libels and incitement to violence.
New York City Zohran Mamdani, Michigan Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) are just a few of the noisiest haters on the left.
To those who intentionally foster Jew-hatred: Recognize the impact of your actions. Words have consequences. When you label Jews or Israelis genocidal, parasites, conspirators, Nazis or otherwise uniquely evil, you are not just sharing an opinion. You are contributing to a moral climate in which discrimination, intimidation and ultimately violence become more likely. Dehumanization can turn hatred from something shameful into something its adherents see as virtuous.
“Gain-of-function” antisemitism is hatred that has been engineered to spread, mutate and strengthen. The remedy must be equally deliberate: expose the old myths hiding behind new slogans, follow the money poisoning entire communities, distinguish legitimate criticism from collective demonization, challenge conspiracy theories and refuse to let hatred masquerade as courage.
The lesson is simple: When hatred is the pathogen, silence and ignorance are not a cure. Ambivalent or apathetic Jews won’t be protected from the threat. The infection can spread anywhere. Truth, context and moral clarity are the antidotes.
