Israel Hatred Top Trending Topic on Twitter

The list of Twitter's hot trends is pretty much the same most of the time: Justin Bieber at the top of the tweet list, followed by some global event and Monday morning complaints.

This Monday, however, a new topic emerged on cell phone screens of Twitter users – "Israel hates". A search for the israelhates# hashtag (a keyword or topic on the social network) yields thousands of results being updated by the minute.

According to online hashtag website Tagdef.com, the "Israel hates" hashtag ranked second – after Bieber of course.

It is unclear who initiated the hashtag, but it spread like a wildfire within hours.

Human rights and pro-Palestine activists are using the hashtag as a platform to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict, and users from Arab countries are voicing their complaints against Israel through the hashtag with tweets such as "Israel hates freedom and democracy" written by a Cairo University student, or "Israel hates schools for Palestinian children" by another.

Israeli left-wing activists are also jumping on the bandwagon but prefer to address recent legislation in the Knesset. "Israel hates Jews like me as well," wrote one.

Roaming through the social network on Monday raised speculations that someone declared a day of complaints against Israel and forgot to inform the Israeli government.

Users fighting for Israel's public diplomacy are not twiddling their thumbs. "I love Israel. Come visit us and you too will fall in love with it like I have," wrote one such user.

Others are trying to direct the spotlight at other topics: "Why are you talking about Israel hates and not about Syria murdering masses of Syrians?" one tweet said. "Israel hates the fact that homosexuality is illegal in Syria," wrote another.

And of course, a few jokes are always in order. One user announced that "Israel hates bacon" and another Israeli thinks that Israel hates "racists. And racing. For the same reason, we can't run fast".

Noted Israeli comedian Guri Alfi playfully begged users, "Don't blame Israel for all the troubles in the world. Don't forget Canada."

This article was first publiched on Calcalist.