A new social media trend circulating within online fitness communities is helping to spread antisemitic stereotypes under the guise of humour, according to a report published by the antisemitism monitoring organisation CyberWell, reports The Jerusalem Post.
The report warns that the trend presents Jews as greedy, dishonest, aggressive and obsessed with money, while disguising these messages as jokes and internet memes.
According to CyberWell, one of the most popular versions of the trend involves gym users placing rope attachments around their heads to imitate the sidelocks worn by some Orthodox Jewish men. Videos are often accompanied by captions such as “Promised 3,000 Years Ago,” a phrase that the organisation says promotes the antisemitic claim that Jews falsely assert ownership over property belonging to others.
In these videos, gym equipment is portrayed as something Jews supposedly claim for themselves, echoing broader anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and stereotypes. CyberWell argues that the trend repackages longstanding antisemitic narratives in a format designed to attract engagement and evade scrutiny.
The report found that the content frequently depicts Jews as hostile towards others and excessively focused on money, reinforcing prejudices that have historically been used to marginalise Jewish communities.
Researchers also highlighted the role played by comment sections, where users often expand upon the antisemitic themes presented in the videos. According to the report, comments frequently include Holocaust mockery, coded antisemitic language, and other forms of anti-Jewish abuse.
CyberWell warns that these online discussions can create echo chambers in which antisemitic ideas become normalised and increasingly accepted by wider audiences.
Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor, founder and chief executive of CyberWell, said the trend demonstrates how social media platforms continue to struggle with content moderation when hateful material is presented as comedy.
She argued that antisemitism disguised as humour can be particularly dangerous because it allows prejudice to spread while providing users with plausible deniability if challenged.
According to the report, social media companies have historically been reluctant to remove such content because it is framed as satire or entertainment rather than explicit hate speech. This has enabled antisemitic trends to grow, evolve and reach large audiences before platforms intervene.
While CyberWell acknowledged that enforcement by some platforms has improved in recent years, it said significant problems remain. The organisation noted that a greater proportion of flagged antisemitic content is now being removed than in the past, but warned that harmful trends continue to spread rapidly before action is taken.
The report argues that the migration of antisemitic content from online spaces into everyday environments such as gyms demonstrates how internet-based hostility can influence real-world behaviour and attitudes.
CyberWell cautioned that the period when hateful content is dismissed as harmless humour is often the most important moment for intervention, as this is when prejudiced ideas can become normalised among large numbers of people.
Founded in Israel in 2022, CyberWell uses technology to monitor antisemitism across social media platforms and regularly publishes research on emerging online trends. The organisation says the latest findings highlight how old antisemitic stereotypes are being repackaged for new audiences through viral content, making them more difficult to identify and challenge.
Photo credit: Yair Glazer; photographed at the Space Ono Valley gym
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