The weaponisation of antisemitism: The Jewish Chronicle and the production of a moral panic

This article maps the word antisemitism on the pages of The Jewish Chronicle (TJC), the world’s oldest Jewish newspaper, examining first the frequency of the term over a period of 100 years before zooming in to interrogate the ways in which ‘antisemitism’ was invoked during the 9 months before and 9 months after October 7, 2023. The data reveals that TJC has been exaggerating and instrumentalising a Zionist notion of antisemitism to foment moral panic, mobilising the language of trauma and injury to continuously reassert a notion of Jewish victimhood. Building on the work of media scholars who investigate victimhood, I argue that the newspaper puts into motions a justificatory framework that operates by claiming injury and then using the alleged injury to set in motion a series of oppressive actions against individuals, groups and institutions. By way of conclusion, I show how TJC has been using ‘antisemitism’ as a ‘consoling idea’ to consolidate and sustain Jewish group identity while simultaneously invoking the term to shield and legitimise violent forms of racial governance and as a weapon against Palestinian and pro-Palestinian activists.