NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 18: People pass walk by the Nasdaq building as the screen shows the logo of the video-conferencing software company Zoom after the opening bell ceremony on April 18, 2019 in New York City. The video-conferencing software company announced it’s IPO priced at $36 per share, at an estimated value of $9.2 billion. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images) A second Holocaust Remembrance Day event in a week reportedly was Zoombombed.
Insider.com reported that the Union of Jewish Students and Jewish Agency for Israel hosted the call, which was focused on Eva Stories, a series of Instagram posts depicting what a Jewish girl’s social media posts might have looked like during the Holocaust. Around 20-30 European students were on the call when the Zoombombing occurred, which featured a swastika being drawn on screen and anti-Semitic messages such as “Jews did 9/11” appearing in the chat function.
Eleanor Carmeli, one of the students who was on the call and is the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, told Insider.com, “It felt like our voice was taken from us.”
She added that the Zoombombing was “attacking and offending every memory of each person who was on that call, of each person who perished, of each person who survived. And it’s stripping them of their honor. That feels really difficult in a time and in a generation where all we have to rely on is people’s stories.”
Union for Jewish Students also told Insider.com, “Anti-Semitism is sadly alive and well, even now, and we will continue to stand up against it. We will stand up for Jewish students wherever they need the support, leading, enriching and in this case defending Jewish life on campus.”
On April 20, the Israeli embassy in Berlin hosted a Zoom call featuring a Holocaust survivor; the call reportedly was Zoombombed with pictures of Adolf Hitler and anti-Semitic slurs.
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted, “It’s despicable that another Holocaust Remembrance Day call was disrupted by #antisemitic #zoombombing. We have been working with @Zoom_us to make the platform safer in order to combat this type of bigoted, targeted harassment.”
It's despicable that another Holocaust Remembrance Day call was disrupted by #antisemitic #zoombombing. We have been working with @Zoom_us to make the platform safer in order to combat this type of bigoted, targeted harassment. https://t.co/dcyLspanUG
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) April 24, 2020
Zoombombing, the term used to describe Zoom calls being disrupted by offensive messaging, has occurred in several instances since the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted people to communicate with others through video platforms such as Zoom. Some of the instances include the Zoombombing of a Massachusetts Jewish student group on March 24 and a California Jewish Community Center class on March 25.
The ADL’s website highlights steps users can take to prevent Zoombombing and how to neutralize a Zoombombing incident if it occurs.
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