Holocough | #TranslateHate
Holocough
meme \ hälə ‘käf \
: a call by the far-right to spread coronavirus to Jews to infect and kill them
WHY IT’S ANTISEMITIC:
“Holocough” first emerged on white supremacist and neo- Nazi channels on alternative social media platforms as news of COVID-19 spread in the U.S. Far-right personality Milo Yiannopoulos used “Holocough” in a Telegram poll, and the term further spread to Gab, a messaging platform with a large far-right and extremist base, after user Bjundabare created an image with the text, “If you have the bug, give a hug. Spread the flu to every Jew.”
The “Holocough” finds its roots in the historic practice of connecting Jews to sickness, providing antisemites with familiar tropes. In the 14th century, Jews in Europe were blamed for poisoning wells and causing the Bubonic plague, and thousands of Jews were murdered in response; in the 1890s, Jewish Americans were blamed for the tuberculosis outbreak in the U.S.; in the 1930s, Adolf Hitler compared Jews to bacteria and disease; and today we are again witnessing Jews being blamed for COVID-19 (see poisoning the well).
Ironically, the same people invoking the term #Holocough are often the same ones denying the scope and veracity of the Holocaust.
