Jews on Twitter are using the hashtag #JewishPrivilege to share their personal and family experiences with anti-Semitism.

The hashtag surged to the top of the trending words in the U.S. late on July 12 after Twitter users linked to white supremacists and many believed to bots began spreading messages about Jewish privilege. Some claimed that Jews are white-passing when it’s convenient and only claim to be an ethnic minority when it serves them. Others presented larger conspiracies, many in the form of a graphic that claims Jews control the world’s wealth and denies that the Holocaust happened. 

READ: More Jews Are Learning To Fight Anti-Semitism — With Their Hands

Writer and Jewish activist Hen Mazzig used the hashtag to share his family’s history—“my grandparents were violently forced out of Iraq and Tunisia for being Jewish with only the clothes to their back”—and encouraged his other Jewish followers to share their stories that negate the idea of Jewish privilege.

The tag quickly became populated with the stories of Jewish people. 

Many of them recounted the Holocaust, sharing statistics, pictures from concentration camps and stories of family members who had either been killed or tortured by Nazi Germany. 

Others, responding to arguments that the Holocaust didn’t happen or is no longer relevant, shared recent accounts of hate crimes or other discrimination they’ve faced. One rabbi tweeted a photo of his car that was firebombed. Some shared stories of violence they believe happened because they are Jewish. Many recalled anti-Semitic threats, including being told they killed Jesus or “deserved to be gassed.”

Many of these anecdotes included statistics on religiously motivated hate crimes recorded by the FBI from 2017: of 1,617 religious hate crimes, 56.9 percent were motivated by an anti-Jewish bias. There were more incidents of anti-Semitism in the U.S. in 2019 than in any year since the Anti-Defamation League started tracking them in 1979, according to a report released in May by the group.

The new use of the hashtag inspired participation from many Jewish celebrities, including actor Josh Gad, comedian Sarah Silverman and comedian David Baddiel.

Baddiel included a photo captioned, “Something I wrote once about #JewishPrivilege.” He talks about being regarded as a Jew “venomously” by teachers, being beaten up in the 1970s, and how much these incidents have affected him even though he often uses it as comedic material.

Other religious groups, including several influential Muslims, used the hashtag to express their support for Jews.

Imam Shaikh M. Tawhidi, an Australian Muslim scholar and speaker, says he has been told by many that he shouldn’t befriend Jews, as “‘they have Satan’s blood flowing through them.’”

“It’s all Antisemitic garbage,” he says.

The influx of those who began tweeting their stories and statistics at Mazzig’s request have, for the most part, removed anti-Semitic messages from the hashtag in Twitter’s algorithm, both in the “Top” and “Latest” sections.

Mazzig later tweeted that he was happy #JewishPrivilege was trending again, “for the right reason this time.”

Jillian Cheney is a Poynter-Koch fellow for Religion Unplugged who loves consuming good culture and writing about it. She also reports on American Protestantism and Evangelical Christianity. You can find her on Twitter @_jilliancheney.