Summary: Key Findings

Antisemitic waves washed over China’s social and official media following the Gaza conflicts of 2021 and 2023-25. They were authorized, if not initiated, by the Chinese government in pursuit of China’s political goals (see Key Drivers) and based on anti-Jewish tropes.

Antisemitic propaganda spread, driven by the Chinese media’s anti-Israeli presentation of the Israel-Hamas war and the Chinese tendency to conflate Israel, Jews, and Judaism.

Universities are leading incubators of antisemitism, as in the West, and so are the social media platforms used by Marxist and nationalist pundits and influencers.

China could emerge as an additional driver of antisemitism in the “Global South” and even the West. It could prejudice the minds of students, China’s future leaders, and extinguish the interest in Jews and Israel that once existed among parts of China’s reading public.

In 2025, China’s ambassador to Israel called for friendlier bilateral relations, which was not reported in China. Israel must preserve all possible links with China but cannot accept China’s denial of media and university antisemitism. Jews across the world must be engaged. Israel should maintain its “One China Policy,” while strengthening non-political links with Taiwan and increasing research on the long history of Sino-Judaic relations.

KEY DRIVERS OF CHINESE ANTISEMITISM

• China’s tension with America, where it perceives Jews as playing a leading role.
• China’s quest for antisemitic friends and allies: Arabs, Muslims, Iran, Russia.
• Scapegoat-seeking for China’s domestic problems.
• Overthrowing the Western global order.
• Anti-and philosemitism: Two sides of the same coin.
• Antisemitism as a meme in a global cultural pandemic. China joins a global movement.
• The three predominant drivers are the tension with America, the Arab/Muslim alliance, and the pull of global antisemitism.