The following article has been published in ABC Religion & Ethics and Times of Israel Blogs by ECAJ Research Director, Julie Nathan.

Extrem­ists of all stripes look to times of economic uncer­tainty, social unrest, and political turmoil as oppor­tun­it­ies for them to take power. Whether it is the fascists and com­mun­ists fighting it out in Weimar Germany or during the Great Depres­sion, or in dozens of other countries at other times, extrem­ists are like vultures, circling until the time is ripe to swoop in and attack.

The Covid-19 pandemic brings with it not just sickness and death, but also the con­di­tions ripe for social chaos and racist scape­goat­ing. As the virus began in the city of Wuhan in China, many ethnic Chinese, and east Asians in general, through­out the world have been targeted for verbal abuse and worse, being held respons­ible for the virus and its spread. Chinese people are being demonised, and being made to feel unwelcome and under physical threat of assault.

And not unex­pec­tedly, the perennial scapegoat, the Jewish people, have also become a target for extrem­ists, whether nation­al­ist extrem­ists, Christian extrem­ists or Muslim extrem­ists, through­out the West and the Middle East – all placing the blame, either directly or indir­ectly, on Jews and/or the Jewish state for the virus.

Within Western right-wing extremist circles, many are directly blaming “the Jews” for Covid-19. Some say that there was a Jewish owned sci­entif­ic labor­at­ory in Wuhan which developed the virus. Others say that Israel itself developed Covid-19. In both cases, the main accus­a­tion is that the virus was designed by Jews to be used as a bio­lo­gic­al weapon against those of European ethnicity, as a means to take control of the world.

However, some right-wing extrem­ists have rejected these claims of it being created by Jews on the basis that it would be counter-pro­duct­ive for “the Jews” to inflict a virus that has resulted in gov­ern­ment policies which, they claim, are opposed by “the Jews”, such as closing national borders. More to the point, they argue that the virus itself, and its effect, is poten­tially a major recruit­ment and incentive to the anti-globalist and ethno-nation­al­ist cause, a cause which sees “the Jews” as the primary enemy.

Meanwhile, the vultures are circling. Many right-wing extrem­ists are talking about the collapse of Western society and the oppor­tun­it­ies that the pandemic presents for the ethno-nation­al­ists to take control of their countries, and expel all those of non-European ethnicity.

Covid-19 has been a boon to the white ethno-nation­al­ist cause. For years, there were dis­cus­sions and debates on the concept of accel­er­a­tion­ism – whether to let society collapse of its own accord or to act to bring it on quicker. Now, it seems, they think the much vaunted “collapse” is around the corner.

The white ethno-nation­al­ist cause is based in the belief that countries should be eth­nic­ally homo­gen­ous, ie ethno-states. This is overlaid with the cardinal belief that immig­ra­tion and multi-cul­tur­al­ism in European ethnic majority countries were orches­trated as a core component of some vast insidious plot to destroy the European races and Western civil­isa­tion.

In general, white ethno-nation­al­ists place the blame for this plot on “the Jews”, and also hold the Left, politi­cians and the media respons­ible for enacting, sup­port­ing and enforcing mass immig­ra­tion and multi-cul­tur­al­ism. They have three main targets: Jews as the “puppet-masters”, Left-wing politi­cians, journ­al­ists and academics as the “race-traitors”, and those of African and Asian back­ground, and Muslims, as the “invaders”. White ethno-nation­al­ists call for race war, civil war and revolu­tion in order to take power and “cleanse” their countries of all three cat­egor­ies of enemies.

White ethno-nation­al­ists are keen to foment racism and xeno­pho­bia, and to encourage nation­al­ist extremism, to take advantage of the oppor­tun­it­ies in these unusual and insecure times. They are comforted and excited by the idea that people may begin to move over and embrace the white ethno-nation­al­ist cause. Their trump card is to use the fact that the virus began overseas, in China, and quickly spread around the world, in order to argue for closed borders, racially-dis­crim­in­at­ory immig­ra­tion, deport­a­tion of “non-whites”, an end to multi-cul­tur­al­ism, and mass execution of “traitors”, as starters. They are proudly boasting that their racism and xeno­pho­bia have been vin­dic­ated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

These white ethno-nation­al­ists may begin to enter public discourse within the main­stream, and not stay on the fringes. They may seek to entice and seduce the vul­ner­able and unwary, those who have lost loved ones or lost jobs, to join the extremist cause. Whether there will be polit­ic­ally motivated violence in the streets remains to be seen. At the moment, it seems to be a wait and see approach, as the vultures circle. Gov­ern­ment author­it­ies, in adopting policies to protect people medically, eco­nom­ic­ally and socially during the pandemic, also need to be mindful of the potential for extrem­ists to use the pandemic as a launching pad to foment civil strife and ulti­mately a race war. It is to be hoped that counter-terrorism police and intel­li­gence services are on high alert.

As we face these uncertain times, not knowing where the virus will strike next, or how many people will be its victims, as people lose their live­li­hoods, and bunker down in their homes, we must remember one thing – not to let dem­agogues, of whatever stripe, diminish the humanity of any of us, regard­less of our race, national origin, colour, gender, or religion.

Julie Nathan is the Research Director for the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry, the peak rep­res­ent­at­ive body of the Aus­trali­an Jewish community, and is the author of the annual ECAJ Report on Antisemitism in Australia.