All the symbols depicted in the hate symbols database must be evaluated in the context in which they appear. Few symbols represent just one idea or are used exclusively by one group. For example, 100% is often used as an amount or an expression and it is also used by some white supremacists as shorthand for "100% white." Similarly, other symbols in this database may be significant to people who are not extreme or racist. The descriptions here point out significant multiple meanings but may not be able to relay every possible meaning of a particular symbol.

Hate on Display / Hey Rabbi, Watcha’ Doing?

“Hey Rabbi, watcha’ doing?” is an antisemitic slogan primarily used to suggest that Jews invent hate crimes and other outrages against themselves to gain sympathy or profit. The phrase has its origins in an antisemitic cartoon created in the late 1980s or early 1990s by the pseudonymous white supremacist cartoonist A. Wyatt Mann (revealed in 2015 by journalist Joseph Bernstein to be Nick Bougas). As with some of his other creations, such as the Happy Merchant image, this cartoon found its way to the internet and became a popular antisemitic meme.

The cartoon depicts a stereotypically Jewish figure wearing a hat and trench coat surreptitiously spray-painting a swastika onto the wall of a synagogue, coupled with a caption reading, “Hey, Rabbi, watcha’ doin’?!” It thus depicts a Jew ostensibly being caught in the act of faking a hate crime. A variation on the original image depicts the same stereotypically Jewish figure tipping over a headstone at a Jewish cemetery. Antisemites have also created versions in other languages.

While the cartoon has taken root as a meme, the phrase used by itself has become even more popular, thanks to social media. Typical usage involves pairing the phrase with news about hate crimes or other incidents in which Jews were victims, to suggest that those incidents were staged, or to use the phrase to similar effect in replies to other people’s social media posts about hate crimes or other incidents involving Jewish victims.

Whether inspired by the “Hey Rabbi” cartoon or coming up with the idea independently, other antisemitic cartoonists have created similar images to convey the same basic conceit. Like the original cartoon, they typically depict a Jewish figure spray-painting a swastika. One such image depicts two stereotypical Jews, one holding a can of spray-paint, standing in front of a poorly rendered swastika. In a speech bubble, the first Jew says, “We got it! Right?” The second Jew responds, “Yeah, that’s it. Let’s go call the papers!”

The intent of all such images and language is the same: to delegitimize portrayals of Jews as victims of hate, suffering or violence. This puts the slogan and meme in the same broad category of antisemitic propaganda as Holocaust denial.