Anti-Semitism - (also Antisemitism ) - Jew Hatred. The word antisemitisch was probably first used in 1860 by a Jew, Moritz Steinschneider, in the phrase "antisemitic prejudices" ("antisemitischen Vorurteile") to criticize the racist ideas of Ernst Renan. "Semitic" is a term that describes a group of languages. The German polemicist Wilhelm Marr coined the German word Antisemitismus in 1879 to give a scientific aura to his ideology of hatred of Jews. Since the term in proper usage does not refer to all "Semites" and there is no Semitic "race," the term "antisemitism" was suggested by Yehuda Bauer instead. The term Judeophobia, coined originally by Leon Pinsker, is also used to describe hatred of Jews. Arab Jew haters have tried to claim that they are not "anti-Semites" since they themselves are Semites, and some Arabs use the term in that way. In this page we use the term "anti-Semitism" only because it is the most popular accepted term and therefore it is most used when people search for this topic.

Characteristics of anti-Semitic ideology and characteristic "markers" - The following can be used as guides to quickly identify anti-Semitic books, articles and Web sites, without regard to attitude toward Israel or Zionism, even if the masquerade as "anti-Zionist" or "libertarian" or "liberal": Some of the background of these items is given below. (See also Jew )

In general, any work that pretends to describe the characteristics or traits of a whole people might be racist even if unintentionally so. Racism or bigotry directed at Jews is anti-Semitism. Examples:

Jews are dishonest in business.

Jewish women are good in bed.

The Jews ("Zionists") control the press.

Any of the following are certain signs of anti-Semitic racism, which predate or are unrelated to Israel:

This overview outlines the essential history and characteristics of anti-Semitism. A more detailed discussion from a slightly different perspective is available at Judeophobia or 'Antisemitism - a History.

Ancient Anti-Semitism -  Anti-Jewish sentiments and theories were in evidence in pagan culture. . A large anti-Jewish riot took place in Alexandria about 38 years before the birth of Christ. This fable,  found in Apion of Alexandria (about 20 BCE -45 CE)  was repeated as true by others. Tacitus' views of the Jews are given in The Histories 5.2-5 (see e http://www.livius.org/am-ao/antisemitism/antisemitism-t.html). Jews are reviled in the satires of Juvenal.

Following is a summary of ancient views of the Jews:

 The emperors Tiberius and Claudius are said to have expelled the Jews from Rome.

Philostratus (170-c.244) states that Jews are subhuman or different from humanity:

For the Jews have long been in revolt [...] against humanity; and a race that has made its own a life apart and irreconcilable, that cannot share the pleasures of the table with the rest of mankind  nor join in their libations or prayers or sacrifices, are separated from ourselves by a greater gulf than divides us from Susa or Bactra or the more distant Indies.

[Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 5.33; ]

Christian anti-Semitism - According to early fathers of the church, Jews were damned because they had killed Christ. For this reason, according to Eusebius of Caesaria, Jews could not rebuild the Jerusalem or the temple in Jerusalem, as their destruction had been visited upon them for killing the Messiah. The Crusades became the occasion for wholesale slaughter of Jews in Germany and elsewhere despite the attempt of the Catholic church to moderate the violence. During the Crusades and in other anti-Jewish riots, whole Jewish towns and Jewish quarters were burned and people were thrown from the walls of cities. Often Jews were rounded up in the synagogue and burned  alive. This treatment has been characterized euphemistically by some modern Christian writers as "indignities suffered by the Jews."

In the Middle ages, Jews were periodically expelled from  European countries and their property was confiscated. For example, Jews were expelled  from Spain more than once - last in 1492 (followed in 1496-7 by expulsion from Portugal), from England under Edward I (1290) and France under Philip Augustus (1182). Philip readmitted the Jews in 1198, carefully regulating their banking business for his benefit. In Spain Jews were forced to convert, often on pain of death, over a very long period, and then under Ferdinand and Isabella, the "conversos" were subject to an inquisition and forced to admit that they were secret Jews and heretics under torture. The motivations for the inquisition were Christian piety, consolidation of the rule to the state as against noblemen who either were conversos or were supported by them, and confiscation of converso lands and wealth. Inquisitors were canonized as saints by the Roman Catholic Church as late as the 19th century. Forced Conversions - In addition to conversions effected in Spain under the the threat of expulsion or death, Jews were sometimes forced to attend periodic sermons intended to convert them. Disputations - A characteristic persecution consisting of holding a public debate between a Christian priest or church official and a Rabbi or leader of the Jewish community. The debate was meant to "prove" the correctness of the Christian faith. At the conclusion of the debate, Jews were killed or subjected to mass conversion, or Jewish books such as the Talmud were burned (see illustration at right).

Anti-Semitism - Pope Gregory orders the Talmud to be burned A.D. 1239 after a disputation. Panel - Pedro Berruguete, 15th century. Note the non-heretical book floating above the fire.

Replacement Theology - The Old Testament prophets stated that Israel were the chosen people of God who would be rescued and restored to the holy land. Church fathers devised replacement theology to reinterpret references to "Israel" as the Christians and the Christian Church. This notion was a central tenet of anti-Jewish thinking in the Middle Ages. The emperor Ferdinand of Spain believed that he was destined to bring about the restoration of "Israel" which required expulsion of the Jews from Spain, and ultimately a crusade to reconquer the holy land. Replacement theology has been revived and popularized by "anti-Zionists" such as the Reverend Sizer.

Medieval Superstitions about Jews - Some of the typical medieval superstitions about Jews included:

Jews poison the wells - This libel was supposed to be the origin of plagues and particularly the black plague.

Jews desecrate the host - Spoilage of communion wafers, which turned red from a fungus, was attributed to Jews who had dipped the wafers in the blood of slaughtered Christians.

Jews kill Christians in secret - For example, explaining the reasons for expulsion of the Jews from France, the French monk Rigord (d. 1205) related that [Philip Augustus had often heard] that the Jews who dwelt in Paris were wont every year on Easter day, or during the sacred week of our Lord's Passion, to go down secretly into underground vaults and kill a Christian as a sort of sacrifice in contempt of the Christian religion. For a long time they had persisted in this wickedness, inspired by the devil, and in Philip's father's time, many of them had been seized and burned with fire.

The Blood Libel - A variation of the secret killings theme, the blood libel insists that Jews kill pre-pubertal Christian boys in order to prepare the unleavened bread (Matzoth) of the Passover. It was possibly born in 1144 in England, where a Christian mob accused Jews of murdering the boy William of Norwich during Easter see above). This story was related in The Life and Miracles of St William of Norwich, by Thomas of Monmouth, a Norwich monk. This story, like the fables related by Rigord, did not claim that the Jews used the blood to bake unleavened bread, but rather claimed the boy had been crucified. Nonetheless, it is often considered to be the first "blood libel."

In Spain in1491 Spanish inquisitors forced Jews to confess that they had killed a Christian child, one Christopher of Toledo or Christopher of La Guardia, later made a saint of the Roman Catholic church and venerated as Santo Nino de La Guardia. No missing child was ever reported that would correspond to this child and corroborate the tale. The tale was elicited from the victims by the holy inquisitors under torture, by suggestion (for example, "Confess that on this date you did do X") it is likely that the blood libel was well known by this time.

The Talmud - The Talmud supposedly contained conspiratorial formulae, imprecations against Jesus and Mary and injunctions to cheat and discriminate against non-Jews. Therefore it would often banned or censored.

Physiognomy - In addition to characteristic large noses and stooped postures, Jews in the Middle Ages may be shown with tails and horns, similar to the devil.

Modern European Anti-Semitism - Anti-Semitism was evident in the enlightenment writings of Voltaire and others. Edward Gibbon,who wrote the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, stated in a footnote  quoting Dio Cassus that Jews in Cyprus had rioted and engaged in cannibalism. Like many enlightenment figures, one of his complaints against the Christian religion was that it was derived from Judaism. Modern anti-Semitism is associated with racial theories of 19th century Germany, who insisted that Jews are a separate and inferior race. Adolf Stoecker, Wilhelm Marr, m Richard Wagner and Heinrich von Treitchke were prominent anti-Semites   This notion probably developed as a reaction to assimilation of Jews who had converted to Christianity. Popular figures such as  Mendelsohn, Heine and others who were converted Jews attracted the envy and suspicion of fellow Germans. Russia became vigorously anti-Semitic. Pogroms (anti-Jewish riots) occurred in a number of cities and towns in the 1880s. These were ignored or encouraged by authorities. The Tsarist secret police forged the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a document that claims to outline the secret plan of the Jews to conquer the world.

In France, hopes that the enlightenment had put an end to race prejudice were dashed by the Dreyfus Affair (beginning in 1894). Dreyfus, a Jew, was accused of treason against France. The affair was accompanied by a large anti-Semitic outcry, claiming that Jews are not loyal to the countries in which they live. Dreyfus was eventually exonerated thanks to Emile Zola and others.

Elsewhere in Europe and North American exclusion of Jews and denigration of Jews according to standard stereotypes was considered acceptable in polite society. Novelists such as Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie and F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayed Jewish characters who were shifty gangsters or loud, pushy and gauche. Somerset Maugham wrote a diary as a young man that is filled with imaginative descriptions of dishonest and seedy looking Jewish men and lascivious "Jewesses." Strangely, in Britain these sentiments coexisted with growing sentiment for restoration of the Jews (see Daniel Deronda ). In the USA, the industrialist Henry Ford published the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion in his Dearborn Independent newspaper, and kindled the myth that they were true. Father Coughlin, the popular Captain Charles Lindbergh and  others agitated against Jews and in favor of Nazi Germany in the period prior to WW II.

Common European social restrictions on Jews included forcing them to live in special areas (Pale of Settlement in Russia or ghettos before the 19th century), special taxes on Jews, censorship or banning of Jewish law books, quotas on entrance to university allowing only a limited number of Jews ("numerous clausus"), barring from employment in government positions or universities, barring of Jews from social clubs and associations and banning Jews from residence in "exclusive" neighborhoods.

Communism was officially non-racist, but in fact, persecution of the Jews as "rootless cosmopolitans" or "Zionists" was initiated during several periods under Stalin, and reincarnated as "anti-Zionism" under his successors.

European anti-Semitism seemed to have culminated in the Nazi Holocaust. The Nazis attempted to kill the Jewish population of Europe, and managed to kill about 6 million of them.

After WW II, the horror of the Holocaust produced a revulsion against anti-Semitism in polite society in Europe, except for the USSR, but it seems to be slowly returning, either directly or under the guise of thinly veiled "anti-Zionism.

Arab/Muslim anti-Semitism -  Considering the treatment of Jews in European countries, the experience of Jews under Islamic rule was relatively benign, however, giving rise to the idea that Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in perfect harmony. That is far from the truth, but it is true of the best of times and the best rulers in Islam, such as the Ottoman Sultans who invited Jews to settle in Turkey after they had been expelled by Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions, or to settle in communities such as Tiberias and Safed in the holy land.

The status of Jews under Islam, however, was variable, depending on the time and place. The Quran has mixed injunctions about Jews and Christians, variously praising them as people of the book and damning them as hypocrites because they didn't follow Muhamed. Early in his career, Muhamed attacked and destroyed the Jewish town of Khaibar, and the cry "Khaibar, Khaibar" became the rallying cry of Muslim anti-Jewish riots. In all cases, Jews, like Christians were formally considered to be protected second class citizens in Muslim countries. Only Muslims could fight in wars, and therefore Jews and Christians could not receive land grants in conquered countries as knights, which was a major source of wealth and social status. Jews and Christians paid a special tax and usually had to wear special clothing. Jews were confined to a "Mellah" (ghetto) in certain places. In many countries such as Morocco and Yemen, it was customary for little children to throw rocks at Jews and curse them. At times Jews were forced to convert to Islam or expelled as under the Al-Mohad dynasty in Morocco, beginning in 1146.

Jews were generally despised as wily but weak people with no courage. For example, following the revolution of the Young Turks in Ottoman Turkey, Jews could serve in the army. A Turkish joke related that at great length it was possible to recruit and train a Jewish unit. They were then sent to the front. They returned quickly however, because they had been scared by a gang of bandits that they met on the road. A Muslim hadith (legend associated with the Qur'an)  relates that the end of days, Muslims will kill all the Jews, who will try to hide in trees. Only one sort of tree will agree to hide them however. This hadith is repeated in the charter of the Hamas organization, but it is of venerable origin.

In modern times, beginning in the 19th century, Muslim and Arab countries adopted European anti-Semitic themes such as the blood libel (an incident occurred in Damascus in 1840) and later, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, publication of Mein Kampf and other trappings of European Christian anti-Semitism such as Holocaust denial. Cartoons in Arab and Muslim journals regularly show Jews as having the characteristic "traits" of anti-Semitic portrayals such as best posture, beady eyes and hooked noses.

Anti-Semitic Jews - Apostate Jews and some others have often made a career of adopting and disseminating anti-Semitic opinions, libels on the Talmud and "revelations" about supposed secret and obnoxious Jewish customs. As there are anti-American Americans and Christians who denounced Christianity, there is no logical reason why there should not be anti-Semitic Jews. The mere fact that they are or were Jews lends a false authority to their claims. In some cases, the person in question is not really Jewish.

Anti-Zionist Web sites - "Anti-Zionist" Web sites such as abbc.com, ziopedia, radio-islam, serendipity and rense.com regularly feature articles about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or Hitler's Mein Kampf, libels against the Talmud and Holocaust denial. Other sites, such as Stormfront, feature the same materials without the protective guise of "anti-Zionism"

A Timeline of anti-Semitism

Source: Adapted from "Anti-Semitism", Keter Publishing House,
Jerusalem, 1974, ISBN 0 7065-1327 4 Modifications and additions copyright by Ami Isseroff and http://www.Zionism-israel.com.

Synonyms and alternate spellings: Antisemitism, Jew hate, Judeo-Phobia

Further Information: Jew Judeophobia or 'Antisemitism - a History  Arab and Muslim Anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism - A Study   Jews & Jewish Religion Jew  Antisemitism

Hebrew/Arabic pronunciation and transliteration conventions:

'H - ('het) a guttural sound made deep in the throat. To Western ears it may sound like the "ch" in loch. In Arabic there are several letters that have similar sounds. Examples: 'hanukah, 'hamas, 'haredi. Formerly, this sound was often represented by ch, especially in German transliterations of Hebrew. Thus, 'hanukah is often rendered as Chanuka for example.

ch - (chaf) a sound like "ch" in loch or the Russian Kh as in Khruschev or German Ach, made by putting the tongue against the roof of the mouth. In Hebrew, a chaf can never occur at the beginning of a word. At the beginning of a word, it has a dot in it and is pronounced "Kaf."

u - usually between oo as in spoon and u as in put.

a- sounded like a in arm

ah- used to represent an a sound made by the letter hey at the end of a word. It is the same sound as a. Haganah and Hagana are alternative acceptable transliterations.

'a-notation used for Hebrew and Arabic ayin, a guttural ah sound.

o - close to the French o as in homme.

th - (taf without a dot) - Th was formerly used to transliterate the Hebrew taf sound for taf without a dot. However in modern Hebrew there is no detectable difference in standard pronunciation of taf with or without a dot, and therefore Histadruth and Histadrut, Rehovoth and Rehovot are all acceptable.

q- (quf) - In transliteration of Hebrew and Arabic, it is best to consistently use the letter q for the quf, to avoid confusion with similar sounding words that might be spelled with a kaf, which should be transliterated as K. Thus, Hatiqva is preferable to Hatikva for example.

Definitions of Zionism  General History of Zionism and the Creation of Israel   History of Israel and Zionism   Historical Source Documents of Israel and Zionism

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