The wave of antisemitic conspiracy theories has surged following the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2022 and the HAMAS attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. These theories suggest that Israel will soon be destroyed, leading Israelis to seek a new homeland, often proposed to be in Ukraine or the North Caucasus. False rumors of Israeli resettlement in Dagestan sparked a violent riot in the Dagestan Republic on October 12, 2023. The roots of these theories can be traced back to the “Crimean California” theory, popularized in the 1990s-2000s. According to this theory, American Jewry’s Joint Distributive Committee proposed purchasing the Crimean Peninsula from the USSR to establish a Jewish state under US control. However, analysis of the theory reveals a minimal connection to the actual Jewish community in Crimea, instead reflecting 1990-s political tensions on Crimea’s status and the return of Crimean Tatars from deportation. These various myths are present in narratives across Russian, Ukrainian, and Crimean Tatar communities. The involvement of American Jewish philanthropy has explained all the controversies surrounding Crimean history in the 20th century. The resurgence of these stories amid war and societal changes indicates a concerning rise in antisemitism, potentially jeopardizing the situation of the Jewish Diaspora in Eastern Europe and the North Caucasus regions.

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