"The death cult showed up at the ballot box": A wave of anti-Semitic incitement worldwide following the elections in Israel
An analysis by the Anti-Defamation League reveals a global wave of anti-Semitic incitement following the elections in Israel. Among the expressions: the Iranian embassy in Ghana called voters a 'death cult', an Egyptian newspaper compared Israelis to Nazis, and media outlets from Iran and Lebanon spread violent imagery. In the US, conspiracy theories about a 'false flag' were circulated.
A preliminary analysis by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reveals a wave of anti-Semitic incitement around the world following the elections in Israel on October 27, 2026. The analysis documents extreme statements from media outlets and actors in the Middle East, Turkey, the United States, and the American left. The Iranian embassy in Ghana called Israeli voters a 'death cult'. A columnist for the Egyptian newspaper Yom7 described Israeli society as 'animals in Nazi style'. The Qatari newspaper Al-Sharq claimed ballot boxes were designed from the skulls of Palestinians. The Iranian news agency Tasnim described the elections as a 'competition in genocide'. The Lebanese media outlet Al-Akhbar spread an image of a bleeding skull as a ballot box. In Turkey, a protest took place in front of the ambassador's residence in Ankara, and in the US, far-right influencers spread conspiracy theories about a 'false flag'. Anti-Zionist left-wing organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), also rejected the legitimacy of the elections. The ADL emphasizes that the hostility is not limited to one political camp, and that the line between criticism of Israeli policy and anti-Semitic incitement has blurred.