Cyberwall: A wave of conspiracies blames Jews for fires in Europe

Repeated lies in different languages

Cyberwall’s analysts located numerous posts in English, French and Spanish, which fraudulently claimed that Jews deliberately initiated the fires or planned them for political or economic gain.

Similar conspiracy theories have also been documented by the organization following previous fires, including the giant fires in Los Angeles in 2025 and the Patagonia fires earlier this year.

This phenomenon is not limited to fires only. These posts fit into a larger pattern that Cyberwall has been documenting following various crises, including events such as the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and the hantavirus outbreak.

Dangerous virality and language of dehumanization

One of the monitored posts surrounding the massive fires in Norway alone crossed two million views on X, turning a fringe conspiracy theory into a wave of hateful content. Another post dealing with fires in Spain reached more than 69,100 users.

As the false claims spread, the contents were gradually combined with the language of dehumanization, calls to expel Jews and classic anti-Semitic images – including the “Happy Merchant” cartoon.

“Whether the story involves a fire, an outbreak of disease, a shooting, or another international crisis, we repeatedly see the same conspiracies crop up within a few hours. The details change, but the message remains the same: Jews are maliciously portrayed as those who secretly organize disasters or profit from human suffering. This pattern proves how well anti-Semitism adapts to the news cycle, while recycling myths that are centuries old.”

A call to action from the tech giants

The identified content precisely meets the anti-Semitic conspiracy frameworks defined in the working definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which include collective accusations against Jews and conspiratorial claims of hidden Jewish control.

“Contextual expertise and ongoing partnerships with civil society organizations are essential for any digital platform or AI company that wants to take safety and technology governance seriously,” added Cohen Montemayor.

According to her, early identification of developing trends is essential to prevent the establishment of false narratives before they become normative.

Cyberwall calls on the technology platforms to strengthen the detection tools focused on recurring motifs of anti-Semitic conspiracies, to close policy gaps concerning the scapegoating of Jews, to enforce the rules consistently and to expand collaborations with organizations that specialize in the fight against online hate.

The organization warns that the last few years have proven time and time again that baseless conspiracies lead directly to targeted violence against Jewish communities around the world, and that “the writing is already on the wall, and it is written in blood.”