The ‘Anti-Zionist’ Cesspool You’ve Never Heard Of

Note: All bolded quotes are directly attributable or based on lines from the cult film Mean Girls. Given the subject of the article, I think there’s no further explanation needed.

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Gretchen, stop trying to make ‘Zionism’ happen. It’s not going to happen.

r/Fauxmoi has 5.9 million members. They’re sassy, opinionated, and self-righteous. When they comment, it’s easy to picture the virtual hair-flip in the style of Regina George. And one topic dominates their conversations with conspicuous frequency: The Genocide in Palestine.

You might ask what this high-drama clique actually is. Officially, it bills itself as a watering hole for “archivists of the cultural zeitgeist.” In reality, it’s a celebrity gossip subreddit — one that has, over time, also become arguably one of the largest anti-Zionist echo chambers on the internet.

It seems like it should be a fun place to spend an afternoon online. The page is decorated in Barbie-pink, the language is Gen Z-coded (“it’s giving,” “the tea”), and the main topic is pop culture. But dig a little deeper — particularly after October 7th — and a clear underbelly is revealed. References to The Genocide and The Occupation abound. Slurs are casually tossed around: Zionist, Pro-Genocide.

Reddit’s moderation structure is decentralized. Enforcement is left mostly to the moderators of individual subreddits. Technically, Reddit’s Code of Conduct asserts that “everyone has a right to use Reddit free of harassment, bullying, and threats of violence. Communities and users that incite violence or that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability will be banned.” But anti-Zionist, anti-Israel rhetoric on r/Fauxmoi flourishes unchecked. Despite the inflammatory content, the subreddit is a top 1% community by Reddit’s own metrics, meaning it’s one of the most active on the site, and it frequently appears in algorithmic suggestions even to non-subscribers.

How did this celebrity gossip forum become a safe space for rabid anti-Zionists? A deeper look into the mod team offers some clues. 

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That’s why their hair is so big — it’s full of secrets.

• u/apragopolis is openly anti-Trump, anti-Biden, and sharply critical of anyone who doesn’t explicitly label Israel’s actions as genocide. She recently commented: “ultimately if you have people who make sad noises about Israel but won’t call a genocide a genocide, or reckon with the systemic, structural harm of Israel as a nation (by individualising its harms to Netanyahu…) those people are enabling Israel’s continuing genocide and apartheid.”
• For u/kittiesssss, “Susan Sarandon will forever be my celebrity crush.” That’s in response to a post discussing Sarandon being criticized for her antisemitic comments.
• u/xoharris2000 takes a biting tone: “Yes, let’s bomb Gaza again and murder more people while pretending we’re rescuing hostages… What a smart move.”
• u/GilbertVonGilbert is detail-oriented, but might need to check his sources further. He compiled an exhaustive “Faux Moi Resources” post that included dozens of links to anti-Zionist organizations like American Muslims for Palestine (which praised Hamas after October 7th) and Jewish Voice for Peace (which the ADL identifies as spreading antisemitic tropes and stereotypes).
• u/jaffacakes077’s ratio of Palestine-related posts to celebrity drama posts in the last two years is something like 1:2 (meaning, for every two posts she makes about the actual cultural zeitgeist, she throws in one attacking Zionists and the Pro-Genocide crowd).
• u/cmaia1503 is good at starting conversations. One of her top posts this month — with 31,000 upvotes — is a video of Greta Thunberg calling Israel a terrorist state. Other popular posts include a pro-Gaza message from Ms. Rachel and a screenshot of Macklemore lamenting the targeting of artists who criticize Israel. Her user flair says it all: i ain’t reading all that, free palestine.
• There’s at least one moderator concerned about bad actors posting and commenting on r/Fauxmoi. But u/deadpoolyes has a different idea about who the bad actors are. “It would not surprise me if there’s brigading every time Palestine is mentioned,” she wrote in a recent comment. 

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You can’t sit with us [if you’re a Zionist].

A search for the word “Zionist” in r/Fauxmoi’s all-time top posts shows the depth of the hostility. On a post about Justin Trudeau identifying as a Zionist, the top comment reads: “Lmao. Might as well come out and say you support the KKK too.” In another, a Holocaust survivor describing herself as anti-Zionist is praised with one comment stating that “Zionism is the antithesis of Judaism.”

One post headline declares: “Twitch caves to pro-Israel and pro-genocide creators, bans calling anyone Zionist.” The top comment: “F*cking shameful. If you’re a Zionist — say it with your whole chest and f*cking mean it. You don’t get to waffle on your genocidal agenda.”

Other high-ranking comments include:

• “She can go back to gassing up racists, polluting the planet, and appealing to Zionists.” (1.6k upvotes)
• “Zionists are absolutely exhausting.” (927 upvotes)
• “Zionists… they’re just f*cking racist and hate Palestinians.” (818 votes)
• “I’m so done with this Zionist.” (1.7k upvotes)
• “Girl BYE. She’s a Zionist?” (2.3k upvotes)

When most members of an ethnoreligious group identify a certain way, it is profoundly important to understand how they define that identity. The exact percentage is a subject of debate, but an overwhelming majority of Jews (in and out of Israel) define themselves as supporters of an Israeli state that serves as a homeland for Jewish people. Visions for that homeland vary — one of the difficulties in defining Zionism is that there are many forms of it — but, by and large, most Jewish people believe that they should have a right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland.

And so, even though it’s unclear what Reddit considers harassment or hate speech in the context of the comments above — but reading through them, one thing is clear: Zionists like me are not welcome in u/Fauxmoi. 

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Why are you so obsessed with me?

I think the issue of r/Fauxmoi hits me so hard because a celebrity gossip forum is supposed to be a space to decompress — to get away from the videos of hostage posters being torn off telephone poles and the keyboard warriors who call Hamas “resistance fighters.” Instead, the subreddit is a place moderated by vehement anti-Zionists. Where the most-upvoted comments and posts refer to my identity like it’s a slur. And where I know I could never bring my celebrity gossip — a post celebrating Eurovision star Yuval Raphael, for instance — without it being subject to the community’s abuse and hostility.

Even though my instinct is to stay far away from the subreddit, a part of me hopes that it can change. In the past, Reddit has responded positively to users who felt impacted by pervasive antisemitism on the site. And while anti-Zionism is not always antisemitism, its manifestations online frequently resemble the latter. Reddit needs to revisit how it enforces its code of conduct in its top-performing communities. Because when commenters use the word “Zionist” like they use the words “racist” or “xenophobe” or “fascist” — especially in an online space that’s purportedly aiming for campy People Magazine — it leaves people feeling bullied and harassed. 

Maybe “the cultural zeitgeist” is Barbie pink and Met Gala photos. But I pray that it doesn’t also include openly hateful speech against the vast majority of Jewish people.