Antisemitism
Anti-Semitism is the belief that people of Jewish ancestry are inherently inferior to people of other ancestry; it is a type of racism mixed with religious persecution. Anti-Semites (so called) typically blame Jews, as a race (or ethnic group), for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Probably more commonly, there is prejudice against Jews largely on account of the fact that Jews are often, in spite of what ethnic and religious differences they have with the population at large, in positions of power and prestige. Hence, anti-Jewish prejudice is very often, by the defenders of Jews and Jewishness, ascribed to envy more than to any sort of religious concern. This latter might not be the case in Israel and the Middle East generally, where the Jews of Israel are widely resented both for their religious differences and for the fact that they now occupy what was once the Muslim country of Palestine. (Really? Is it not a fact that no such Muslim nation ever existed? Wasn't Palestine a British territory? Before that wasn't it Turkish?)
Anti-Semitic beliefs are often held by people of many different ethnicities. Anti-Semitism has a long history, including persecution of Jews in Europe, the Middle East and the Western World at large. (Can someone expand on this?) Relations between Christians and Jews have at times been horrible, other times bad, yet at other times peaceful. In recent years there has been much reconciliation between Jews and Christians. In many nations there has been a remarkable decline in anti-semitism.
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Christian.html
http://communities.msn.com/JudaismFAQs&naventryid=251
The most damaging anti-semetic act ever created to cause hatred against Jews is the infamous Russian hoax, the Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion.
Anti-Semitic beliefs are often held by people of many different ethnicities. Anti-Semitism has a long history, including persecution of Jews in Europe, the Middle East and the Western World at large. Can someone expand on this?
Original statement - Though anti-Semitism usually refers only to anti-Jewish racism, it more technically refers to racist intolerance towards any Semitic people, including Arabs and Palestinians. [Incorrect,]
New statement - The word "anti-Semitism" was coined in Germany in 1879 by Wilhelm Marr as a more euphonious way of saying "Judenhass" (Jew-hatred), and has always meant exactly that. According to a (now discredited) nineteenth century theory that held that racial groups and linguistic groups coincide, Semites are natives of a group of Middle Eastern nations that are closely related in ethnicity, culture and language. Under this theory, the modern day Semites would be the Jews and Arabs. In ancient times, the Assyrians, Canaanites, Carthaginians, Aramaeans and Akkadians (one of the ancestors of the ancient Babylonians) were also counted among the Semitic nations. Given that the theory of "semites" and non-"semites" is now discredited, the preferred term to use is "Antisemitism", which has a general connotation of "anti-Jewish". In any case, this word has only been meant to mean "anti-Jewish".
See also: Israel, Middle-East, nazism, White supremacy, holocaust, conspiracy theory, Zionism
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