By: Fern Sidman – Jewish Voice News

In a disturbing revelation that shines a spotlight on the accelerating normalization of antisemitism in digital spaces, the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) has sounded the alarm over an online store hosted by Shopify that is openly selling apparel emblazoned with the hate slogan “Death, death to the IDF.” The phrase—an explicit call for violence against Israeli soldiers and, by extension, Jews worldwide—has triggered outrage from Jewish advocacy organizations and human rights monitors, who argue that this incident reflects a growing pattern of corporate complacency toward the online commercialization of hate.

According to a November 3^rd report on the CAM website, the store in question operates under the “Punk With a Camera” brand and gained notoriety after sharing an Instagram reel on June 30 featuring the same chant. The slogan was first popularized days earlier at the Glastonbury Festival in the United Kingdom, when the British rap duo Bob Vylan led crowds in the incendiary refrain. The aftermath was immediate: the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitic activity in the UK, recorded the single highest daily total of antisemitic incidents the very next day.

The report at CAM noted that while the artists themselves have faced widespread condemnation, the spread of their message into online commerce marks a dangerous escalation—turning rhetoric into revenue, and slogans of hate into wearable ideology. “What we are witnessing is not free expression but the monetization of incitement,” CAM said in a statement. “This is an explicit violation of Shopify’s own rules, as well as the most basic moral standards of civil society.”

Shopify, the Canadian e-commerce giant that powers millions of online stores, appears on paper to maintain strong prohibitions against violent or hateful content. Its Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) explicitly bans merchants from “calling for or threatening violence against specific people or groups.” Moreover, in August 2024—after mounting criticism for hosting racist and antisemitic merchandise—the company expanded its public-facing help documentation to forbid “products promoting hateful content, violence, gore, profanity or offensive content” through its checkout and payment systems.

But as the Combat Antisemitism Movement and other watchdogs have observed, the problem lies in enforcement—or the lack thereof. Shopify’s policy structure is split across multiple documents, creating technical loopholes that allow extremist merchants to remain active even while violating the platform’s stated principles.

As the CAM report explained, the AUP governs what sellers can host on their websites, while the newer help-page restrictions apply to payment processing and visibility in Shopify’s consumer app. This bureaucratic fragmentation enables the company to claim adherence to ethical standards while failing to remove offending merchants until public pressure mounts. “It’s a system built for plausible deniability,” CAM commented. “Shopify can point to its policies as proof of virtue while hate groups continue to profit under its infrastructure.”

This incident is far from isolated. Earlier this year, Shopify belatedly removed the online store operated by rapper Kanye West after it began offering swastika-themed merchandise, an action it took only after widespread condemnation. The Combat Antisemitism Movement has also documented the persistence of other brands using Shopify’s services to sell “Global Intifada” apparel, which glorifies anti-Israel violence and calls for a worldwide uprising against Jews.

Such merchandise, CAM argues, directly violates the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, which identifies “calls for, aiding, or justifying violence against Jews” as antisemitic. CAM has repeatedly urged corporations, including Shopify, to adopt and apply the IHRA definition as an operational standard for content moderation and product review. “Had Shopify implemented IHRA criteria in its vetting process,” CAM stated, “this merchandise would never have been approved for sale in the first place.”

Shopify often points to its “Report a Merchant” feature as a mechanism for community policing. The form includes a “Threat of violence” option for reporting policy violations. Yet according to CAM and other advocacy groups, this system places the burden of enforcement on the public rather than the platform itself.

“It is neither fair nor effective to expect Jewish organizations and private citizens to act as unpaid compliance officers for multi-billion-dollar tech corporations,” said a CAM spokesperson. “The responsibility to uphold ethical standards lies with the host platform—not with those harmed by its negligence.”

Shopify’s inaction, they argue, is not merely a failure of enforcement but a moral abdication. By allowing such merchants to operate, even temporarily, the company is not simply turning a blind eye—it is profiting from the digital infrastructure that sustains hate.

At the heart of CAM’s criticism is the notion that commerce can no longer hide behind neutrality. The sale of merchandise calling for the death of Jewish soldiers—or anyone—crosses the boundary between political expression and incitement. “The distinction between speech and violence collapses when money changes hands,” noted the recent CAM report. “Every transaction becomes an act of participation.”

Indeed, CAM points out that chants such as “Death, death to the IDF” cannot be dismissed as mere political hyperbole. Within the framework of IHRA’s definition, such language constitutes an unambiguous call for violence against Jews. “It is antisemitism in its purest and most lethal form,” CAM warned, “and the fact that it is now being commercialized only deepens the outrage.”

The group has called on Shopify’s leadership to immediately remove the “Punk With a Camera” store, issue a public apology, and commit to a comprehensive review of its internal content moderation systems. They have also urged governments and regulatory bodies to hold e-commerce platforms accountable for enabling the dissemination of extremist propaganda.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement has consistently highlighted how the internet has transformed antisemitism from a fringe ideology into a mainstream social contagion. The group’s research shows that online hate campaigns have become exponentially more sophisticated since October 7, 2023—the date of Hamas’s massacre in Israel—when global antisemitic incidents surged to levels unseen in decades.

CAM’s analysts have traced how social media algorithms, music festivals, and online merchandising intersect to create ecosystems of radicalization. What begins as a chant at a concert can morph into a viral slogan, then a digital product, and finally a symbol of belonging within extremist subcultures. “What we’re witnessing is the industrialization of antisemitism,” CAM concluded in a recent briefing. “Technology companies must decide whether they will be bystanders—or partners in prevention.”

CAM has encouraged individuals to take immediate steps to pressure Shopify into enforcing its own rules. Concerned users can report the “Punk With a Camera” store using Shopify’s “Threat of violence” reporting form, attaching the Instagram reel and screenshots that clearly display the “Powered by Shopify” footer. CAM also recommends citing Shopify’s own AUP language, which prohibits calls for violence, and its help-page clause forbidding “products promoting hateful or violent content.”

“This is not simply about one store or one slogan,” CAM emphasized. “It’s about setting a precedent. If we tolerate this, we normalize it. If we act, we draw the line.”

The episode now places Shopify at the center of a broader moral reckoning confronting the technology sector. As CAM and other advocacy groups have warned, corporations that profit from the infrastructure of hate can no longer claim innocence through omission. “Every company that builds or hosts an online marketplace must understand that its choices shape the moral landscape of our time,” said a CAM representative. “To sell hate is to endorse it.”

For the Combat Antisemitism Movement, the issue extends far beyond a single retailer or platform. It is a litmus test for whether Western society will uphold its values in an era when commerce, politics, and ideology collide in the cloud. “Antisemitism has always adapted to the technologies of its age,” CAM concluded. “The question now is whether our ethics will adapt quickly enough to stop it.”