Antisemitism

ANTISEMITISM

Hatred of Jews, expressing itself in racist prejudice, discrimination, and sometimes violence.

The term antisemitism (also anti-Semitism), first coined by German pamphleteer Wilhelm Marr in 1879, denotes a modern form of Jew-hatred based on emerging theories of racial superiority and inferiority. Mistakenly appropriating terminology from linguistics (i.e., the "Semitic" language grouping), the term has become commonly understood to mean hatred of Jewish people, whether defined as a religious or as a racial group, and not hatred of "Semites."

Although the term antisemitism is relatively modern, the roots of Jew-hatred lie in folklore and popular prejudices dating back to antiquity. Perhaps the most serious contributions to antisemitism can be found in early Christian religious teachings. The first Christians blamed the Jews not only for rejecting Jesus Christ as the savior and messiah, but also—and more ominously—for killing him. Although not as widespread as it once was, the charge of deicide has persisted in some quarters in spite of the fact that Christ was crucified not by the Jews but by the Roman rulers of the Holy Land. Many, but not all, Catholics have accepted the 1965 Vatican ruling (Nostra Aetate) that the Jews neither then nor now should be blamed for Jesus' death.

A second Christian anti-Jewish motif introduced in medieval times was the "ritual murder" accusation, according to which Jews would supposedly kidnap an innocent Christian child so as to obtain drops of blood to bake unleavened bread (matza). This infamous "blood libel" has incited hatred and fear of Jews for centuries and has resurfaced in recent times even in Islamic societies, enjoying a resurgence thanks to racist Internet Web sites.

Apart from deep-seated theological rationalizations for despising Jews, situational factors such as political or economic rivalries and jealousies often help to account for overt expressions of antisemitism. Because of the Christian church's prohibition on usury, Jews—who were forced to live in ghettos and forbidden to own land in medieval Europe—became money-lenders who ended up wielding unexpected power over Christian borrowers, causing resentment and jealousy, and creating the long-enduring stereotype of all Jews being wealthy and greedy.

Many antisemites also believe in the existence of a Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world, directed by a secret council of which all Jews are agents. This myth, which first appeared toward the end of the eighteenth century, is fueled by the frequently re-published hoax entitled The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (also The Jewish Peril ). Despite the fact that the Protocols were shown in the 1920s to be a forgery (actually, a plagiarized version of a French anti-Freemason pamphlet), many antisemites continue to regard this text as an authentic document "proving" the evil intentions of the Jews. The Protocols and most other modern expressions of antisemitism were imported into the Middle East through European powers that came to dominate the region in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The ritual murder accusation was raised against Jews in Damascus (1840) and has resurfaced periodically ever since.

Anti-Jewish motifs were also present in early Islamic teachings, some originating in the tensions that existed between Muhammad and the Jewish tribes of Arabia. Early Muslims accused the Jews of having broken their covenant with God and of having corrupted the divine teachings. Along with positive references to Christians and Jews as the "people of the book," the Qurʾan also contains a number of verses warning believers of the "wretchedness and baseness" of the Jews (Sura 2:61) and accusing the Jews of having "schemed" against Jesus (Sura 3:54). Despite such theological warrants and despite their status as dhimmis (minorities), Jews living under Islamic rule were never subjected to the same level of hateful and demonic stereotyping characteristic of Christian antisemitism.

Antisemitism has played a role in, and has been fueled by, the protracted Arab–Zionist and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. Early Zionist thinkers saw the creation of an independent Jewish nation-state in the Middle East as a response to European antisemitism in the sense that this would normalize the Jewish people as having their own country instead of being strangers everywhere. On the other hand, some Middle Easterners and Muslims have come to regard the establishment of the state of Israel, and the corresponding defeat of the Arabs and the Palestinians, as being connected to a Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world. In 2002 and 2003, major Egyptian and Lebanese television networks screened several historical-fiction series based on this theme as well as on the blood libel story.

The Palestinians' struggle to maintain the Arab character of their country against Jewish immigration, settlement, and political control has on occasion expressed itself in antisemitic terms. For example, Palestinian leaders Musa Kazim al-Husayni (addressing Winston Churchill in 1921) and Muhammad Amin al-Husayni (testifying before the Peel Commission in 1937) invoked the spectre of a world Jewish conspiracy when arguing their case against Zionism during the period of British mandatory rule over Palestine. Since the late 1940s, this view has been strengthened by the widespread perception throughout much of the Arab-Islamic world that Israel and U.S. Jews have wielded undue influence over the making of U.S. foreign policy.

The true extent and depth of antisemitism in the modern Middle East remain a matter of contemporary controversy. There is a tendency among some commentators to equate criticism of Israel's policies or military actions against the Palestinians with antisemitic intentions or beliefs, and this has the effect of inhibiting open discussion and debate. The unresolved Arab–Israeli and Israeli–Palestinian conflicts have elicited extreme antisemitic statements from some quarters, such as the resolutions of the Conference of the Academy of Islamic Research (Cairo 1969) or Syrian president Bashshar al-Asad's welcome address to the pope (Damascus 2001), both of which attacked world Jewry as an ominous force in the course of expressing their support for Palestinian rights. While some intellectuals and leaders are careful to distinguish between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, escalations of violence involving Israel, the Arabs, and the Palestinians are often accompanied by hostile press and public comment not only directed against Israel as a belligerent country but also fanning antisemitism through the demonization of its leaders and Jews in general as sinister and evil.

see also asad, bashshar al-; damascus affair (1840); dhimma; husayni, muhammad amin al-; husayni, musa kazim al-; jews in the middle east; protocols of the elders of zion.

Bibliography

Carroll, James. Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews, a History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002.

Cohen, Mark R. Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994.

Lewis, Bernard. Semites and Anti-Semites: An Enquiry into Conflict and Prejudice. New York: Norton, 1986.

Wistrich, Robert S. Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred. New York: Pantheon, 1991.

Neil Caplan