UNHRC to debate link between COVID-19 and neo-Nazism

• Author: TOVAH LAZAROFF
• Published date: 03 October 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

"Historically, times of crisis had created fertile ground for extremism and radicalization," Israel said in its submission to a report on the glorification of Nazism that will be read out at the start of the meeting. "The COVID-19 outbreak" has "been used to disseminate racism, xenophobia and antisemitism."

Data indicates that extremist groups across the ideological spectrum capitalized "on the uncertainty created by the pandemic to scapegoat specific groups," Israel stated.

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The "rampant spread of fake news, misinformation and hate speech surrounding the novel coronavirus constituted unequivocal demonstration of the imperative need to confront online hate speech," Israel said.

It warned that there was the potential for a surge in hate crimes, noting in particular that "alternative social media platforms had become a haven for white nationalists and neo-Nazis."

Information collected by the Antisemitism Cyber Monitoring System has shown that the amount of content "glorifying Nazi ideology, denying or distorting the Holocaust, and calling for violence against Jews" seemed significantly higher on social alternative platforms, said Israel.

It was one of 30 countries that submitted material to the UNHRC for inclusion in the report by E. Tendayi Achiume. He is the council's special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

Germany said that the pandemic had further radicalized extremist groups, which "made use of the general uncertainty and doubts to disseminate...