Antisemitism continues to threaten Jewish life, culture and safety in modern life. Attacks on Jewish people and sites reportedly reached record high levels in many countries in the last year. By amplifying hateful, prejudicial and extremist ideologies, antisemitism poses a threat to democracy and endangers the realisation of human rights– on- and offline. Antisemitism violates fundamental rights, especially the right to human dignity, the right to equality of treatment and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. While a substantial amount of antisemitic incidents are committed by individuals affiliated with— or influenced by— extremist movements, antisemitic attitudes are not just a problem among  political fringes. These beliefs are instead “deeply rooted” in mainstream society, where antisemitic discourses have  become increasingly “normalised”. ISD’s analysis has revealed that antisemitism is on the rise online – finding a seven-fold increase in French antisemitic content on Twitter, Facebook and Telegram between 2020 and 2021, and over a 13-fold increase in antisemitic content in German. Considering how closely intertwined offline incidents are related to online activity, it is essential to find holistic responses to address online antisemitism.  

The reality is that the research landscape is currently fragmented, and there is no way to truly measure the reach of this online threat as of yet. Efforts have mainly been driven by  a small group of Jewish civil society organisations and related stakeholders. However, much of this work has not been coordinated across sectors and geographies, efforts have often  been duplicated due to a lack of communication, best practices lost, and results haven’t been shared. Thus, it is of the utmost importance to create a space of exchange, in order to share best practices and to research the threat landscape of online antisemitism.  

Solution

The independent pilot project aimed at establishing the Coalition to Counter Online Antisemitism (CCOA) is funded by Google.org and the TIDES Foundation through 2026.  

The initiative brings together a broad coalition of stakeholders committed to tackling antisemitism, including civil society organisations (CSOs), municipal authorities, businesses, practitioners, and citizen-led initiatives. Together, they are building new partnerships to counter online antisemitism at scale. 

The CCOA seeks to amplify existing best practice and bridge the gap between research, education, and policy, promoting coordinated and evidence-based responses to online antisemitism. 

During the pilot phase, the project initially focused on Germany, France, Italy, Poland, and Sweden. It has since expanded to include Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Austria, and Denmark, bringing the total to ten participating countries. 

As the cornerstone of ISD’s work on antisemitism, the CCOA has strengthened the capacity of European civil society to address online antisemitism through policy engagement, educational initiatives, and the development of shared tools and resources. Operating across ten countries, the coalition has coordinated a pan-European response to the growing online threat, linking research, education, and policy to scale primary prevention and counter-speech efforts. 

Between 2025 and 2026, the project is being extended through a series of regional workshops designed to expand the coalition’s activities into new geographies, including Austria, Belgium, Spain, the UK, and Denmark. These engagements are laying the foundation for broadening the coalition’s  impact across Europe. 

By the end of 2026, programming for a range of capacity-building streams will have been developed, including targeted training and leadership development and an acceleration lab offering microgrants to five grassroots organisations. 

In addition, five CCOA policy roundtables are planned across the new geographies, feeding directly into the coalition’s Policy Roadmap. 

Three working groups are involved in the areas of research, education, and policy, while contributing and sharing results across the sectors. Research results inform the development of educational material.  

Method  

A strong coalition aiming for a whole-of-society approach between Jewish organisations, government officials, CSOs, platforms and the private sector to facilitate information and research sharing targeting online antisemitism, the exchange of best practices of intervention models and a common roadmap to develop policy solutions to combat online antisemitism will be developed by different working groups.  

ISD Germany carries out ongoing stakeholder mapping to ensure the involvement of all relevant civil society organizations, communities, the private sector, sports and cultural sectors, as well as key policymakers and law enforcement. 

Research working group: ISD  coordinates a pipeline of crosscutting, international analysis, and research into the network to bridge the gap between the threat landscape analysis conducted by ISD and other thought leaders in this space, and building action on the ground – with a particular focus on how platform systems may present risks in the online antisemitism domain.  

Education working group: The working group will build an international network of multipliers to counter antisemitism via developing a training toolkit for practitioners, law enforcement, government officials and youth. Sub-grants will be given to innovative ideas that build synergies between sectors. 

Policy working group: ISD will scope and help disseminate best practice interventions and share evidence-based solutions to promote advocacy power and policy development with a focus on a deepened intersectional understanding of the hybridised threat landscape of online antisemitism.