Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism (alternatively spelled antisemitism) is hostility towards or prejudice against Jews, which can range from individual hatred to institutionalized violent persecution, of which the highly explicit ideology of Adolf Hitler's National Socialism was the most extreme form. Anti-Semitism has historically taken different forms:

Related Topics:
Prejudice - Jew - Hatred - Persecution - Ideology - Adolf Hitler - National Socialism

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Religious anti-Semitism. Before the 19th century, most anti-Semitism was primarily religious in nature, based on Christian or Islamic interactions with and interpretations of Judaism. Since Judaism was generally the largest minority religion in Christian Europe and much of the Islamic world, Jews were often the primary targets of religiously-motivated violence and persecution from Christian and Islamic rulers. Unlike anti-Semitism in general, this form of prejudice is directed at the religion itself, and so generally does not affect those of Jewish ancestry who have converted to another religion, although the case of Conversos in Spain was a notable exception. Laws banning Jewish religious practices may be rooted in religious anti-Semitism, as were the expulsions of the Jews that happened throughout the Middle Ages.
• Racial anti-Semitism, a kind of xenophobia. With its origins in the anthropological ideas of race that started during the Enlightenment, racial anti-Semitism became the dominant form of anti-Semitism from the late 19th century through today. Racial anti-Semitism replaced the belief that the religion of Judaism was to be hated with the idea that the Jews themselves were a racially distinct group, regardless of their religious practice, and that they were inferior or worthy of animosity. With the rise of racial anti-Semitism, conspiracy theories about Jewish plots in which Jews were somehow acting in concert to dominate the world became a popular form of anti-Semitic expression.

Some analysts and Jewish groups believe that there is a distinctly new form of late 20th century anti-Semitism that borrows language and concepts from anti-Zionism, but that attacks Jews as a group, rather than Israel as a country. This belief remains controversial, and is covered in the article on New anti-Semitism.

Related Topics:
Anti-Zionism - Israel - Controversial - New anti-Semitism

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 
Anti-Semitism: Etymology and usage ►