TikTok tsores: our own ideologies are being rewritten on social media before our own eyes

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This has nothing to do with your political stance or viewpoint. The kibbutznikim and hippie kids at the music festival, typified by their peacenik stance and many of them activists for an independent Palestine, have had little sympathy on social media outside the Jewish world. On the streets their posters have been ripped down, their trauma belittled. When reduced to clicks on social media, few adults, let alone kids, have been able to express any nuance. If their tribe is posting Palestinian flags most cannot bring themselves to express sympathy for these good innocent people who have been brutalised in the most unthinkable ways.

But it’s not only the kids up and down the UK who are getting lessons in Middle Eastern history via a twisted narrative on TikTok. I worry about our Jewish kids being influenced too. Or if not influenced, then silenced. In a world where the bottle is more important the formula, we have to ensure our own kids feel proud to put their Jewishness and Zionism out there. They need to know that this doesn’t mean they have to agree with every action of the Israeli government in the last 75 years. Just as they don’t have to agree with every action taken by successive Labour and Conservative governments to feel proudly British. But what they do have to know is this unquestionable truth:  Zionism is not about oppression but about freedom. We Jews have been persecuted in practically every land we’ve ever considered home, my own grandparents from Poland and Persia examples of people from myriad other places across the globe and throughout history. And our children also must know that Zionism doesn’t clash with the concept of a free Palestine. It only clashes with the concept of a free Palestine that simultaneously calls for Israel’s own destruction. We can’t allow those who want to see Israel’s demise redefine our Zionism in negative terms. So if we don’t want them to get their history lessons on TikTok then we need ensure they are getting them elsewhere. Organisations like LSJS (lsjs.ac.uk) and I-gnite (I-gnite.org)are doing a brilliant job right now of offering educational sessions (ranging from real-life courses to online talks) to help bolster our kids’ understanding of the history and politics in the region. Equipped with knowledge, they will be more confident and effective ambassadors for our community. Youth Movements too have never been more important.

Truth to power: Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg[Missing Credit]

But if ever there was a pernicious warning on this point, it came last week at a Holocaust Educational Trust reception at the House of Commons when 94-year-old survivor Manfred Goldberg took the stage. He shared some of his own experience, but also warned of the dangers of social media. He spoke of antisemitism “rearing its ugly head” primarily by “brainwashed young people indoctrinated by social websites”. The speed at which misinformation, conspiracies, antisemitic language and hostile agendas are shared and accepted without question is deeply troubling and has the potential to threaten the fabric of our democracy, he said, as he called upon MPs, of which there were many high-profile ones present, to address online hate. He’s seen pure evil in his lifetime but what he now sees online scares him.

I agree wholeheartedly with Manfred. Governments should be holding these social media giants to account. And hopefully the new Online Safety Act has created an even better framework for them to do so. But what can we be doing —and our children be doing? It’s not easy to cut through the negative noise. Our efforts can seem overwhelmed, pointless even – our numbers just don’t compare. And of course the backlash can be hard and hurtful. Our instinct is to protect our children from the hate online, not to throw them headlong into it. But at the same time, I want my children to know that they must also stand up for themselves, for Jews and also for Zionism — our version of Zionism, not our detractors’. If we become bystanders as libels against ourselves rip through social media platforms then, to paraphrase Rabbi Hillel from over 2,000 years ago, who else can we expect to be for us?

Also on my agenda is to point my kids in the direction of influencers who spread positivity about the Jewish community and about Israel, both to inspire them and to help spread that positivity. One great example is Dov Foreman, who posts about Holocaust education along with uplifting clips with his great grandmother, survivor and 100-year-old TikToker @LilyEbert. @ElizabethSavetsky is an activist mum on an Instagram mission. @HumansofJudaism is a constant source of heart-warming stories about Jewish people, often with little nuggets of history attached. Comedian @zachmargs manages to brilliantly combine parodies with advocacy on Instagram. Unlike those beauty influencers pushing Drunk Elephant products to teens, their content is worthwhile, both in in terms of the way it’s packaged and the real meaning inside.