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Antisemitism Reference Center

Antisemitism, Anti-Semitism and plain old Jew hate

Anti-semitism or Antisemitism? It's all just hatred of Jews, Jew hate, the oldest hate in the world. Learn how to recognise it and how to tell when someone had gone too far.

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Antisemitism, and new Antisemitism

Antisemitism or Anti-Semitism?

Jews may suffer from Antisemitism, but the changes of facing Anti-Semitism are zero to none. Outside of Microsoft Word's spell check (definitly not antisemitic!)... there's no such thing. The word you want is antisemitism. One word. It has (particularly since Word started making this mistake) often been writen as anti-Semitism instead of the correct one word, non hyphenated antisemitism. The problem with Anti-Semitism is that it's not actually against Semitism. Never has been. Semitic is the name of a language group including Hebrew and Arabic. Antisemitism is however not against people who speak these languages, it is specifically against Jews. The word was created to confuse, and to allow Antisemitism to be publically acceptable by distancing it from the words Jew and Hate and putting scientific shine on it.

Read more at our feature article on Antisemitism or Anti-semitism

Key references

The following may help you identify antisemitism and other types of racism

EU definition of antisemitism

Used by law enforcement throughout Europe

Behind much criticism of Israel is a thinly veiled hatred of Jews

Emanuele Ottolenghi, in The Guardian on Saturday November 29, 2003

A New Antisemitism

Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, June 2002

Blurring the line

Fair critisism or antisemitism? By Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (the ADL), in Haaretz on April 4, 2004

Antisemitism in 3-D

Differentiating legitimate criticism of Israel from the so-called new anti-Semitism. By Natan Sharansky in Jerusalem Post, on February 23, 2004

Anti-Zionism

What is Anti-Zionism?

Disagreeing with the policies of the Israeli government is in and of itself neither Antisemitic nor Anti-Zionist.

Even outside of this Anti-Zionism is not always Antisemitism, but many of those who claim to be anti-Zionist are in fact in fact peddling re-badged Antisemitism.

Our reference center can help you understand Anti-Zionism

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