Antisemitism
bias, prejudice, or discrimination against Jews From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Antisemitism is the bias, prejudice or discrimination against Jews. A synonym of antisemitism is Judeophobia,[1] preferred by those considering "antisemitism" ambiguous.[1]
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Overview
Human history has been full of antisemitism,[1] the worst instance of which is the Holocaust,[2] while the most common form of antisemitism is conspiracy theories.[3][4] The adjective of antisemitism is antisemitic. Those with antisemitic views are called antisemites.[5]
Recent trend
On January 14, 2025, American civil rights group Anti-Defamation League (ADL) announced the findings of their newest global survey (58,000 respondents) that 46% of the world's adult population (around 2,200,000,000 people) held deeply entrenched antisemitic views.[6]
Among the respondents, 56% thought that Jews were "only loyal to Israel" while 46% "Jews had too much power over global affairs".[6] 76% of those in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are found to agree with 11 negative stereotypes of Jews,[6] the highest of all regions.[6] Meanwhile, Kuwait and Indonesia are found to have highest % of such.[7]
Regarding the Holocaust, only 48% of the respondents recognized its historical accuracy, with the percentage being the lowest (39%) among the age group 18–34.[7]
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Etymology
American historian Deborah Lipstadt and several antisemitism experts said that the word antisemitism was invented by anti-Jewish German nationalist Wilhelm Marr in his tract Path to Victory of Germanism Over Judaism to refer to the prejudice against Jews, which he deemed necessary for the German race to stop Jews (the leading group of Semites in Europe back then) from subverting the German culture.[8] Despite Semites including other Middle Eastern ethnic groups,[9] German nationalists like Wilhelm Marr referred to Jews as Semites specifically.[8][9]
Semantically, antisemitism cannot be assumed as the prejudice against all Semitic groups, or it would constitute the etymological fallacy (using a word's ancient meaning to make a point about its current meaning).[9] Moreover, the word covers Jews who practice Judaism, Jews who converted to Christianity and those with traceable Jewish ancestry,[8][9] all of whom can be victims of antisemitism.[8][9]
Spelling
The term is spelled by some as anti-Semitism, but such spelling is controversial. Historians have pointed out that anti-Semitism is misleading as there is no such an ideology as "Semitism" that can be opposed,[8][9] while the concept Semites derived from pseudoscientific 19th-century scientific racism.[8][9]
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Asia
Europe
In a 2013 survey of 5,847 Jews in Europe, 76% thought that antisemitism had increased in the previous five years, while 29% had thought about moving countries as they felt unsafe.[11] A 2023 ADL survey found that as many as one-third of Western Europeans believed in stereotypes of Jews. This was reportedly worse in some Eastern European countries, particularly Hungary (37%), Poland (35%) and Russia (26%).[12] In Eastern Europe, the level of antisemitism is found to be high.[13] The cause of persistent antisemitism in Europe is under debate.[14][15]
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Latin America
Since 7 October 2023, a spike in harassment and violence against Jews has also been recorded across Latin America.[16] According to the Latin American Jewish Congress, 91% of community leaders from several Latin American countries reported that antisemitism had increased since 7 October 2023.[17]
Hispan TV, the Spanish channel of the antisemitic[18] Iranian regime's state television Press TV, has reportedly contributed to antisemitism among its 600 million audience in Latin America by promoting the[19]
- Holocaust denial
- myth of Jews controlling the Hollywood and governments
- perception of the antisemitic[18] Iranian regime being the "leader of global resistance[20] movements"
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MENA
Background
Jews started living in the Arabian Peninsula in the 6th century BC, when Babylonian Empire's conquest of the Kingdom of Judah forced Jews out of Judea. Successive waves of Jewish exiles – caused by alternating conquests of Judea – made Jews the leading ethnoreligious group[21] in the Arabian Peninsula, where Judaism stood in contrast to the multi-god religion of ancient Arabs,[22] many of whom had arrived later than the Jews due to their nomadic nature.[22]
Middle Ages
Jews thrived in the Arabian Peninsula until Muslims conquered the Peninsula, when they, along with other conquered indigenous peoples, were required to pay jizya in exchange for their existence to be tolerated.[22][23] The payment of jizya granted Jews the status of dhimmi under which they were prohibited – under the threat of execution – from criticizing any aspects of Islam, sharing Jewish ideas to Muslims or touching a Muslim woman.[24] Jews were also not allowed to[24]
21st century
2010s
Antisemitism is extremely common in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). In 2011, the Pew Research Center polled a significant number of Middle Eastern countries' citizens, where Muslims are the majority. Most of the interviewees were hostile to Jews. Only 2% of Egyptians, 3% of Lebanese Muslims and 2% of Jordanians reported feeling good about Jews.[25] Some scholars believe that mass media have played a significant role in such phenomenon.[26][27] Further data are presented as follows.
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Sub-Saharan Africa
The % of South Africa's population holding biases against Jews rose to 47% in 2019 from 38% in 2014.[28] Since the Israel–Hamas war started on 7 October 2023, there has been an upsurge in harassment and violence against Jews in South Africa.[29][30] Between 7 October and 31 December 2023, attacks on Jews rose by 631% in South Africa as compared to the same period in 2022.[31]
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United States
2010s
A 2017 survey showed that 14% of Americans were hostile to Jews.[32] Since the October 7 massacre, antisemitism has surged in America and Europe, especially on college campuses.[33][34] Such antisemitism has caused thousands of Jewish students to get attacked over their identity.[33][34]
2020s
In August 2024, the advocacy group Combat Antisemitism Movement did a poll which found that around 3,500,000 American Jews had faced antisemitism since the October 7 massacre in 2023. 1,075 American Jews were asked, 28% of whom said that they, often, were told that "Jews care too much about money," 25% were told that "Jews control the world" and 13% were told that "the Holocaust did not happen" or its "severity has been exaggerated."[35][36] Meanwhile, the FBI released crime statistics illustrating that antisemitic incidents constituted 68% of all religion-based hate crimes in 2023, a 63% rise compared to 2022.[37]
A follow-up research between May and October 2024 found that American Jews faced rising discrimination in job search, with American Jews having to make 24% more applications to receive the same amount of favorable first responses as Western European Americans, while Israeli Americans having to make 39% more applications to receive the same amount of such.[38][39]
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Related pages
- Khazar myth
- Antiziganism
- Historical revisionism
- Anti-Judaism and antisemitism
- Antisemitism in the Soviet Union
- Antisemitic stereotypes
- Nazism
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Antisemitism.
References
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