A 97-year-old Holocaust survivor was overwhelmed with anti-Semitic hate on social media amid the Israel-Palestine conflict, including posts that praised Hitler, her family said.
Lily Ebert, a native of Bonyhád, Hungary who was deported to the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in 1944, operates a TikTok account to answer questions about the Holocaust.
But she’s been flooded with vile messages praising Hitler during the Sabbath, her great-grandson said.
“We will not allow this to stop us from educating about the horror of the past, and what hatred can lead to,” Dov Forman tweeted on May 16. “Hate only breeds hate.”
Some of the repulsive replies, according to a screenshot, included: “Can u ask her did Israel exist when she [moved] out of Germany?” and “Ask her if she thinks the treatement of Palestinians reminds her [of] the treatment she got in the camp.”
Other comments included “Happy Holocaust” and “free Palestine.”
Others cited the most recent tension between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers, reading: “And now look what Jews in Palestine.”
None of Ebert’s TikTok messages were political or mentioned Israel, according to the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
The Anti-Defamation League said the hate-fueled attacks on the nonagenarian was part of a surge that included more than 17,000 tweets
using variations of “Hitler was right” between May 7-14.
“As the violence between Israel and Hamas continues to escalate, we are witnessing a dangerous and drastic surge in anti-Jewish hate right here at home,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said Thursday.
ADL found incidents of harassment, vandalism and violence in London to Los Angeles, as well as in Florida and France. Some 193 reports of possible anti-Semitic incidents were received since the conflict broke out in Israel, up from 131 the previous week.
Ebert, who now lives in London and survived COVID-19 after being diagnosed in January, won’t be deterred from her goal to educate the masses, her great-grandson said.
“Hate breeds hate and we will not let this vile antisemitic abuse stop us in our mission of educating the younger generations about the horrors of the Holocaust,” Forman tweeted Tuesday. “Thank you for all of your support over the past few days.”
Ebert was liberated from Auschwitz after being transferred to an ammunition factory in Leipzig, Germany, in 1946, according to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.
At least 248 Palestinians were killed in the 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas that ended Friday in a ceasefire. Twelve people in Israel also died during the clashes.
With Post wires
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