Antisemitism: What does it all mean?

The United States State Department defines Anti-Semitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

Its website state.gov goes further to list ways Anti-Semitism manifests itself with regard to the state of Israel: Demonizing Israel, holding the nation to a double standard and delegitimizing the country’s right to exist.

But Merriam-Webster defines Semitic as “of, relating to, or constituting a subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic language family that includes Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and Amharic.” And a Semite is defined as “a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs.”

That about covers most of the people living in the Middle East so the whole conflict — all of them — could be considered antisemitic.



1 comment for “Antisemitism: What does it all mean?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *