The Central European Office of the American Jewish Committee (AJC CE), together with the Facebook-owning company Meta, have launched the “Don’t talk like an anti-Semite” campaign. It was designed specifically for social media and aims to combat anti-Semitism in Poland.

Over the next four weeks, short video clips will be released on Facebook and Instagram, raising the audience’s awareness of words and phrases that are not always perceived as spreading hatred of Jews.

“Anti-Semitism starts with prejudice and words that hurt, but it never ends there. Using the word ‘Jew’ as an insult is unacceptable. Anti-Semitic words must never be ignored because physical violence always starts with words. Hate speech can affect real people, it can affect their lives – we saw this not only decades ago, but also recently, both in Europe and beyond. Today, Jews are safer in Poland than in many Western European countries, but that does not mean we can turn a blind eye to anti-Semitic words that appear both in public debate and in casual conversation in Polish society”, says Dr Sebastian Rejak, director of the AJC’s Central Europe office.

The organisers emphasise in the prepared clips that anti-Semitic slogans affect many Jews on a daily basis. According to the campaign’s creators, those who use phrases such as “let’s love one another like brothers, let’s count like Jews” or “greedy like a Jew” in everyday conversations or in online posts, do not necessarily realise that there is prejudice behind these words.

“We want to show that the responsibility for words lies upon each and every one of us, and that by rejecting indifference, we can build a better, open community”, says the Met’s director for public policy in Central and Eastern Europe, Jakub Turowski.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński