#JeSuisJuif Hashtag Spreads After Paris Terror
(JTA) — In the wake of Wednesday’s deadly attack on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper, the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie (“I Am Charlie”) swept the internet in solidarity with the victims. Then came #JeSuisAhmed, to honor Ahmed Merabet, the Muslim police officer murdered during the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and who has become a symbol of inclusion and respect for non-Islamist Muslims.
Now, after today’s attack on the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in eastern Paris has come #JeSuisjJuif, to show solidarity with the beleaguered Jews of France. Here are a few examples
According to an analytics graph posted by hashtags.org, the tweet took off around 7 a.m. Eastern time, and peaked at around 9 a.m., with just under 4,000 tweets per hour. According to topsy.com, #JeSuisJuif has been tweeted more than 20,000 times.
However, it isn’t entirely clear that it’s making the same impact as some of the other solidarity hashtags. For one thing, it’s numbers remain miniscule to #JeSuisCharlie, which, two days after the original attack, and far below its peak, still posted some 676,000 tweets in 24 hours, according to topsy.com. More significantly, as the Jerusalem Post noted, while some of the tweets have been by non-Jews, a significant majority seem to be tweeted by Jews, making it more an emblem of Jewish pride than a display of ecumenical solidarity.
Some of the tweets also took on a notably defensive, or even combative, tone.
Still, others worked to maintain a sentiment of unity.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO