Antisemitism (hatred of Jews) is not about anything Jews have done; it is a form of prejudice that has been built up over many centuries and passed down through culture, religion, politics, and conspiracy myths. It says more about the fears and needs of the haters than about Jewish people themselves.
What antisemitism is
Antisemitism is hostility, prejudice, or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group. It treats all Jews as one “dangerous” or “evil” group, regardless of who they are as individuals.
Deep historical roots
Negative ideas about Jews go back over 2,000 years, starting with religious tensions in the ancient Greco‑Roman world and later in Christian Europe. Over time, these religious hostilities were turned into laws, ghettos, and sermons that portrayed Jews as eternally guilty or cursed, which normalized hatred.
Religion and “otherness”
In Christian and Muslim societies, Jews often refused to convert and kept their own religious laws and community life, so they were seen as stubborn “outsiders.” Because they stood out culturally and religiously, they became a convenient target when people wanted someone to blame for social or spiritual problems.
Scapegoats for crises
Whenever societies faced war, plagues, economic crashes, or political upheaval, leaders and mobs often blamed Jews for things like killing Jesus, poisoning wells, causing the Black Death, or ruining the economy. This scapegoating reached an extreme in Nazi Germany, where Jews were blamed for both capitalism and communism and then targeted for extermination in the Holocaust.
Modern conspiracies and politics
More recently, antisemitism has been reshaped into political and racial conspiracy theories, like the idea that Jews secretly control governments, media, or finance. These fantasies help extremists explain a complicated world by imagining a single hidden enemy, and Jews are used as that symbol.
How to think about this hate
The key point is that antisemitism is irrational: it does not come from any real harm done by “the Jews” as a group, but from long‑standing myths, fears, and the human tendency to fear and attack those seen as different. Understanding that can help separate the lies from reality and is an important step toward rejecting this kind of hatred altogether.