The Nature of Antisemitism: Explaining the World’s Longest-Running Hate

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The Nature of Antisemitism: Explaining…

ANTISEMITISM 8-15-21

Antisemitism — hatred directed at the Jewish people — has existed in various forms for two millennia. Although many thought the horrors of the Holocaust would wipe it forever from the face of the Earth, antisemitism has resurfaced strongly in recent years. (Indeed, it never went away completely.) In the three videos linked below, a variety of scholars on the topic delve into the origins, persistence, and uniqueness of Jew-hatred.

Quote: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
— part of the definition of antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)

Sources: Wikipedia (introduction), IHRA (quotation)

Learn more about antisemitism from Wikipedia. ►

Watch “The Nature of Modern Antisemitism” [6:50]. ►

Watch “Nature of Antisemitism” [8:50]. ►

Watch “Antisemitism: A New Phenomenon or Part of a Continuum?” [14:52].” ►

Photo: The Jerusalem Post

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Notable &
Quotable

“[T]he foundations for extremism usually are held in check by various restraints. Societies are not liberal, moderate, progressive, and free because almost all their citizens – let alone their politicians — are liberal, moderate, progressive or committed to the freedoms of others.

“But societies consistently avoid extremism when the infrastructures of freedom are strong: when key institutions and norms encourage a more decent, rights-respective, lawful politics; when powerful social movements and independent media hold leaders to account, expose rather than reinforce political fantasies, and champion the rights of the vulnerable; and when information is produced and scrutinized by scholars, civil servants, and non-governmental organizations devoid of either government repression or vested interests.

“Yet no infrastructure is rigidly immovable, and once key components are eroded and weakened, once sections of the political and cultural elite attempt to mobilize the foundations of extremism, the system of restraints can swiftly collapse.

“While genocide on the scale of the Holocaust is historically exceptional, its central lesson is that the broader danger of extreme atrocities is not. In the words of the great historian Ian Kershaw, the Holocaust ‘lit a warning beacon that still burns brightly: it showed how a modern, advanced, cultured society can so rapidly sink into barbarity… It showed what we are capable of.’ Only by rejecting false narratives of conflict and polarization, and maintaining systems of rights and freedoms for all, can we hope to prevent that capability from once more becoming a reality.”

— Jonathan Leader Maynard in his incisive article “Could It Happen Here?: The Holocaust and Atrocities in the 21st Century” To read the entire article, click here.