Editing Antisemitism (section)

==Origin and usage==
===Etymology===
{{Anchor|Etmyology and uses}}
[[File:Statuten der Antisemiten-Liga.jpg|thumb|1879 statute of the Antisemitic League]]

The word "Semitic" was coined by German orientalist [[August Ludwig von Schlözer]] in 1781 to designate the [[Semitic languages|Semitic group of languages]]—[[Aramaic]], [[Arabic]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and others—allegedly spoken by the descendants of Biblical figure [[Shem]], son of [[Noah]].<ref name="Vermeulen 2015 p. 252">{{cite book |last=Vermeulen |first=H. F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1nxCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT252 |title=Before Boas: The Genesis of Ethnography and Ethnology in the German Enlightenment |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-8032-7738-0 |series=Critical Studies in the History of Anthropology Series |quote=Schlözer 1781: p.161 "From the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, from Mesopotamia to Arabia ruled one language, as is well known. Thus Syrians, Babylonians, Hebrews, and Arabs were one people (ein Volk). Phoenicians (Hamites) also spoke this language, which I would like to call the Semitic (die Semitische). To the north and east of this Semitic language and national district (Semitische Sprach- und VölkerBezirke) begins a second one: With Moses and Leibniz I would like to call it the Japhetic." |access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Kiraz|2001|p=25}}; {{harvp|Baasten|2003|p=67}}</ref>

The origin of "antisemitic" terminologies is found in the responses of orientalist [[Moritz Steinschneider]] to the views of orientalist [[Ernest Renan]]. Historian [[Alex Bein]] writes: "The compound anti-Semitism appears to have been used first by Steinschneider, who challenged Renan on account of his 'anti-Semitic prejudices' [i.e., his derogation of the "[[Semitic people|Semites]]" as a [[Race (human categorization)|race]]]."{{sfnp|Bein|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=cQOn0y8ENg4C&pg=PA594 594]}} Psychologist [[Avner Falk]] similarly writes: "The German word "{{lang|de|antisemitisch}}" was first used in 1860 by the Austrian Jewish scholar Moritz Steinschneider (1816–1907) in the phrase "{{lang|de|antisemitische Vorurteile}}" (antisemitic prejudices). Steinschneider used this phrase to characterise the French philosopher Ernest Renan's false ideas about how '[[Semitic Race|Semitic races]]' were inferior to '[[Aryan race]]s{{'"}}.{{sfnp|Falk|2008|p=21}}

[[Pseudoscience|Pseudoscientific]] theories [[Scientific racism|concerning race]], civilization, and "progress" had become quite widespread in Europe in the second half of the 19th century, especially as [[Prussia]]n nationalistic historian [[Heinrich von Treitschke]] did much to promote this form of racism. He coined the phrase "the Jews are our misfortune" which would later be widely used by [[Nazism|Nazis]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Poliakov |first=Léon |author-link=Léon Poliakov |title=The History of Anti-Semitism |volume=3: From Voltaire to Wagner |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |year=2003 |page=404 |isbn=978-0-8122-1865-7}}</ref> According to Falk, Treitschke uses the term "Semitic" almost synonymously with "Jewish", in contrast to Renan's use of it to refer to a whole range of peoples,{{sfnp|Falk|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VWL4ja2BbnEC&pg=PA21 21]}} based generally on linguistic criteria.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brustein |first=William I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hc3HabBQsdsC&pg=PA118 |title=Roots of Hate: Anti-Semitism in Europe before the Holocaust |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2003 |page=118 |access-date=27 October 2018 |isbn=9780521774789}}</ref>

According to philologist [[Jonathan M. Hess]], the term was originally used by its authors to "stress the radical difference between their own 'antisemitism' and earlier forms of antagonism toward Jews and Judaism."<ref>{{cite journal |first=Jonathan M. |last=Hess |title=Johann David Michaelis and the Colonial Imaginary: Orientalism and the Emergence of Racial Antisemitism in Eighteenth-Century Germany |journal=[[Jewish Social Studies]] |volume=6 |number=2 |date=Winter 2000 |pages=56–101 |doi=10.1353/jss.2000.0003 |s2cid=153434303 |quote=When the term "antisemitism" was first introduced in Germany in the late 1870s, those who used it did so in order to stress the radical difference between their own "antisemitism" and earlier forms of antagonism toward Jews and Judaism.}}</ref>

[[File:Bookcover-1880-Marr-German uber Juden.jpg|thumb|Cover page of Marr's ''The Way to Victory of Germanicism over Judaism'', 1880 edition]]

In 1879, German journalist [[Wilhelm Marr]] published a pamphlet, {{lang|de|Der Sieg des Judenthums über das Germanenthum. Vom nicht confessionellen Standpunkt aus betrachtet}} (''The Victory of the Jewish Spirit over the Germanic Spirit. Observed from a non-religious perspective'') in which he used the word "{{lang|de|Semitismus}}" interchangeably with the word "{{lang|de|Judentum}}" to denote both "Jewry" (the Jews as a collective) and "Jewishness" (the quality of being Jewish, or the Jewish spirit).<ref>{{cite book |last=Jaspal |first=Rusi |year=2014 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qS_jBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT38 |title=Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism: Representation, Cognition and Everyday Talk |location=Farnham, Surrey |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |chapter=Antisemitism: Conceptual Issues |isbn=9781472407252 |access-date=27 October 2018 |archive-date=29 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229235525/https://books.google.com/books?id=qS_jBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT38#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}} Jaspal erroneously gives the date of publication as 1873.</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-link=Wilhelm Marr |last=Marr |first=Wilhelm |url=https://archive.org/details/Marr-Wilhelm-Der-Sieg-des-Judenthums-ueber-das-Germanenthum-2-2 |title=Der Sieg des Judenthums über das Germanenthum. Vom nicht confessionellen Standpunkt aus betrachtet |language=de |trans-title=The Victory of Judaism over Germanism. Viewed from a Non-Confessional Point of View |publisher=Rudolph Costenoble |date=1879 |edition=8th |via=[[Internet Archive]]}} Marr uses the word "{{lang|de|Semitismus}}" (Semitism) on pages 7, 11, 14, 30, 32, and 46; for example, one finds in the conclusion the following passage: "{{lang|de|Ja, ich bin überzeugt, ich habe ausgesprochen, was Millionen Juden im Stillen denken: Dem Semitismus gehört die Weltherrschaft!}}" (Yes, I am convinced that I have articulated what millions of Jews are quietly thinking: World domination belongs to Semitism!) (p. 46).</ref>{{sfnp|Levy|2010|pp=123–129}} He accused the Jews of a worldwide conspiracy against non-Jews, called for resistance against "this foreign power", and claimed that "there will be absolutely no public office, even the highest one, which the Jews will not have usurped".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wilhelm Marr |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/wilhelm-marr |access-date=29 July 2024 |website=[[Jewish Virtual Library]]}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2025}}

This followed his 1862 book "{{lang|de|Die Judenspiegel}}" (''A Mirror to the Jews'') in which he argued that "Judaism must cease to exist if humanity is to commence", demanding both that Judaism be dissolved as a "religious-denominational sect" but also subject to criticism "as a race, a civil and social entity".<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |first=Werner |last=Bergmann |title=Wilhelm Marr's A Mirror to the Jews |url=https://keydocuments.net/article/bergmann-marr-mirror-jews |access-date=29 July 2024 |website=Key Documents of German-Jewish History |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240929082823/https://keydocuments.net/article/bergmann-marr-mirror-jews |archive-date=29 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Levy |first=Richard S. |author-link=Richard S. Levy |date=1 April 1987 |title=Wilhelm Marr: The Patriarch of Anti-Semitism, by Moshe Zimmermann |url=https://www.commentary.org/articles/richard-levy/wilhelm-marr-the-patriarch-of-anti-semitism-by-moshe-zimmermann/ |access-date=29 July 2024 |magazine=[[Commentary Magazine]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250104044741/https://www.commentary.org/articles/richard-levy/wilhelm-marr-the-patriarch-of-anti-semitism-by-moshe-zimmermann/ |archive-date=4 January 2025}}</ref> In the introductions to the first through fourth editions of "{{lang|de|Der Judenspiegel}}", Marr denied that he intended to preach Jew-hatred, but instead to help "the Jews reach their full human potential" which could happen only "through the downfall of Judaism, a phenomenon that negates everything purely human and noble."<ref name=":5" />

This use of {{lang|de|Semitismus}} was followed by a coining of "{{lang|de|[[Wikt:Antisemitismus|Antisemitismus]]}}" which was used to indicate opposition to the Jews as a people<ref>{{Cite book |last=Benz |first=Wolfgang |author-link=Wolfgang Benz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FaGpj0ORpwAC&dq=%22Antisemitismus%22&pg=PA7 |title=Was ist Antisemitismus? |trans-title=What is Antisemitism? |date=2004 |publisher=[[C. H. Beck]] |isbn=978-3-406-52212-3 |language=de |access-date=29 October 2023 |archive-date=29 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229235555/https://books.google.com/books?id=FaGpj0ORpwAC&dq=%22Antisemitismus%22&pg=PA7#v=onepage&q=%22Antisemitismus%22&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Williams|2024|p=286}} and opposition to the Jewish spirit, which Marr interpreted as infiltrating German culture.

The pamphlet became very popular, and in the same year Marr founded the "{{lang|de|Antisemiten-Liga}}" (League of Antisemites),{{sfnp|Zimmermann|1987|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tYW013SjKM4C&pg=PA71 71]}}{{sfnp|Troy|2024|p=391}}{{sfnp|Levy|2010|pp=123–129}} apparently named to follow the "{{lang|de|Anti-Kanzler-Liga}}" (Anti-Chancellor League).{{sfnp|Zimmermann|1987|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tYW013SjKM4C&pg=PA112 112]|ps=: "The term "anti-Semitism" was unsuitable from the beginning for the real essence of Jew-hatred, which remained anchored, more or less, in the Christian tradition even when it moved via the natural sciences, into racism. It is doubtful whether the term which was first publicized in an institutional context (the Anti-Semitic League) would have appeared at all if the "Anti-Chancellor League," which fought Bismarck's policy, had not been in existence since 1875. The founders of the new Organization adopted the elements of "anti" and "league," and searched for the proper term: Marr exchanged the term "Jew" for "Semite" which he already favored. It is possible that the shortened form "Sem" is used with such frequency and ease by Marr (and in his writings) due to its literary advantage and because it reminded Marr of Sem Biedermann, his Jewish employer from the Vienna period."}} The league was the first German organisation committed specifically to combating the alleged threat to Germany and German culture posed by the Jews and their influence and advocating their [[population transfer|forced removal]] from the country.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

So far as can be ascertained, the word was first widely printed in 1881, when Marr published {{lang|de|Zwanglose Antisemitische Hefte}}, and [[Wilhelm Scherer]] used the term {{lang|de|Antisemiten}} in the January issue of {{lang|de|[[Neue Freie Presse]]}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Botsch |first1=Gideon |author1-link=:de:Gideon Botsch |last2=Treß |first2=Werner |date=2020 |chapter=Moderner Antisemitismus und Sattelzeit: Das Beispiel Paul de Lagarde |trans-chapter=Modern Antisemitism and the Saddle Period: The Example of Paul de Lagarde |title=Der Nachlass Paul de Lagarde: Orientalistische Netzwerke und Antisemitische Verflechtungen |language=de |trans-title=The Estate of Paul de Lagarde: Orientalist Networks and Antisemitic Entanglements |editor1-first=Heike |editor1-last=Behlmer |editor1-link=:de:Heike Behlmer |editor2-first=Thomas L. |editor2-last=Gertzen |editor3-first=Orell |editor3-last=Witthuhn |series=Europäisch-jüdische Studien Beiträge |volume=46 |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |location=Oldenburg |isbn=978-3-11-061546-3 |page=122}}</ref>{{sfnp|Levy|2010|pp=123–129}}

The ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' reports, "In February 1881, a correspondent of the "{{lang|de|[[Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums]]}}" speaks of 'Anti-Semitism' as a designation which recently came into use ("Allg. Zeit. d. Jud." 1881, p.&nbsp;138). On 19 July 1882, the editor says, 'This quite recent Anti-Semitism is hardly three years old.{{'"}}<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Deutsch |first=Gotthard |author-link=Gotthard Deutsch |year=1901 |title=Anti-Semitism |url=https://archive.org/details/b29000488_0001/page/640/mode/2up |encyclopedia=[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Funk & Wagnalls]] |volume=1 |page=641 |access-date=21 August 2023 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

The word "antisemitism" was borrowed into English from German in 1881. ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' editor [[James Murray (lexicographer)|James Murray]] wrote that it was not included in the first edition because "Anti-Semite and its family were then probably very new in English use, and not thought likely to be more than passing nonce-words... Would that anti-Semitism had had no more than a fleeting interest!"<ref name="toi">{{cite news |last1=Mandel |first1=Jonah |title=Letter shows first dictionary editor thought 'anti-Semite' wouldn't be used |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/letter-shows-first-dictionary-editor-thought-anti-semite-wouldnt-be-used/ |access-date=5 May 2020 |work=[[The Times of Israel]] |date=4 May 2019 |archive-date=5 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200505080418/https://www.timesofisrael.com/letter-shows-first-dictionary-editor-thought-anti-semite-wouldnt-be-used/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The related term "[[philosemitism]]" was used by 1881.<ref name="philosemitism">{{cite magazine |title=The Jews in Germany |magazine=[[The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art]] |publisher=[[Jonathan Leavitt (publisher)|Leavitt, Trow & Company]] |volume=XXXIII |date=March 1881 |page=350 |quote=...the position of German Liberals in this matter of philo-Semitism.}}</ref>

===Usage===
From the outset the term ''anti-Semitism'' bore special racial connotations and meant specifically prejudice against [[Jews]].<ref name="MWdef" />{{sfnp|Lipstadt|2019|pp=22–25}}<ref name="JustJews" /> The term has been described as confusing, for in modern usage ''Semitic'' designates a language group, not a race. In this sense, the term is a misnomer, since there are many speakers of [[Semitic languages]] (e.g., [[Arabs]], [[Ethiopian Semitic languages|Ethiopians]], and [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]]) who are not the objects of antisemitic prejudices, while there are many Jews who do not speak [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], a Semitic language. Though ''antisemitism'' could be construed as [[prejudice]] against people who speak other Semitic languages, this is not how the term is commonly used.<Ref>{{bulleted list|
|{{harvp|Lewis|1999|p=117}}
|{{cite book |first=Benjamin |last=Isaac |author-link=Isaac Benjamin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eem1AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA442 |title=The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2004 |page=442 |access-date=27 October 2018 |isbn=9781400849567 |archive-date=29 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229235521/https://books.google.com/books?id=eem1AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA442#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}
|{{cite book |author-link=David Matas |last=Matas |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DYR7SqcMe9gC&pg=PA34 |title=Aftershock: Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism |publisher=Dundurn Press |year=2005 |page=34 |access-date=27 October 2018 |isbn=9781550025538 |archive-date=29 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229235524/https://books.google.com/books?id=DYR7SqcMe9gC&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}
|{{cite web |url=https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/sites/default/files/memo-on-spelling-of-antisemitism_final-1.pdf |title=Memo on Spelling of Antisemitism |publisher=[[International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance]] |date=April 2015 |quote=... the hyphenated spelling allows for the possibility of something called 'Semitism', which not only legitimizes a form of pseudo-scientific racial classification that was thoroughly discredited by association with Nazi ideology, but also divides the term, stripping it from its meaning of opposition and hatred toward Jews. |access-date=24 May 2019 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031085825/https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/sites/default/files/memo-on-spelling-of-antisemitism_final-1.pdf |url-status=live}}
}}</ref>

The term may be spelled with or without a hyphen (''antisemitism'' or ''anti-Semitism''). Many scholars and institutions favor the unhyphenated form.<ref name="IHRA2">{{cite web |title=Memo on Spelling of Antisemitism |url=https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/sites/default/files/memo-on-spelling-of-antisemitism_final-1.pdf |publisher=[[International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance]] |date=April 2015 |quote=The unhyphenated spelling is favored by many scholars and institutions in order to dispel the idea that there is an entity 'Semitism' which 'anti-Semitism' opposes. |access-date=24 May 2019 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031085825/https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/sites/default/files/memo-on-spelling-of-antisemitism_final-1.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{bulleted list|
|{{cite web |title=The Power of Myth |url=https://www.facinghistory.org/campus/reslib.nsf/99ca830bb4f483948525717f005abfc7/2820f36c177cc758852571860065e8c2/$FILE/complete_antisemitism.pdf |website=Facing History |access-date=27 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305002701/http://www2.facinghistory.org/Campus/reslib.nsf/99ca830bb4f483948525717f005abfc7/2820f36c177cc758852571860065e8c2/%24FILE/complete_antisemitism.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2009 |url-status=dead}}
|{{cite web |last1=Bauer |first1=Yehuda |author-link=Yehuda Bauer |title=Problems of Contemporary Antisemitism |url=http://humwww.ucsc.edu/jewishstudies/docs/YBauerLecture.pdf |access-date=27 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307094003/http://humwww.ucsc.edu/jewishstudies/docs/YBauerLecture.pdf |archive-date=7 March 2008}}
|{{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Yehuda |author-link=Yehuda Bauer |title=A History of the Holocaust |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofholocau00yehu |url-access=registration |publisher=Franklin Watts |year=1982 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofholocau00yehu/page/52 52] |isbn=978-0-531-05641-7}}
}}</ref> Shmuel Almog argued, "If you use the hyphenated form, you consider the words 'Semitism', 'Semite', 'Semitic' as meaningful&nbsp;... [I]n antisemitic parlance, 'Semites' really stands for Jews, just that."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Almog |first=Shmuel |date=Summer 1989 |title=What's in a Hyphen? |url=http://sicsa.huji.ac.il/hyphen.htm |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990428121824/http://sicsa.huji.ac.il/hyphen.htm|archive-date=28 April 1999 |access-date=3 April 2024 |website=[[Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism]] |postscript=. Published in SICSA report: the newsletter of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Republished in 2014 by Alabama Holocaust Education Center: ahecinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/Why-antisemitism-with-no-hyphen.pdf}}</ref> [[Emil Fackenheim]] supported the unhyphenated spelling, in order to "[dispel] the notion that there is an entity 'Semitism' which 'anti-Semitism' opposes."{{sfnp|Prager|Telushkin|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VK0llzUqQ2YC&pg=PA199 199]}}

Others endorsing an unhyphenated term for the same reason include the [[International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance]];<ref name="IHRA2"/> historian [[Deborah Lipstadt]];{{sfnp|Lipstadt|2019|pp=22–25}} Padraic O'Hare, professor of Religious and Theological Studies and Director of the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations at [[Merrimack College]]; and historians [[Yehuda Bauer]] and [[James Carroll (author)|James Carroll]]. According to Carroll, who first cites O'Hare and Bauer on "the existence of something called 'Semitism{{'"}}, "the hyphenated word thus reflects the bipolarity that is at the heart of the problem of antisemitism".<ref>{{cite book |last=Carroll |first=James |author-link=James Carroll (author) |title=Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews |publisher=Mariner |location=New York |year=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n7EUdvSQs70C&pg=PT421 |isbn=978-0618219087|pages=628–629 |access-date=27 October 2018 |archive-date=29 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229235554/https://books.google.com/books?id=n7EUdvSQs70C&pg=PT421 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Associated Press]] and its accompanying ''[[AP Stylebook]]'' adopted the unhyphenated spelling in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bandler |first=Aaron |date=27 April 2021 |title=AP Changes Spelling of "Anti-Semitism" to "Antisemitism" |work=Jewish Journal |url=https://jewishjournal.com/news/united-states/336003/ap-changes-spelling-of-anti-semitism-to-antisemitism/ |access-date=18 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130063127/https://jewishjournal.com/news/united-states/336003/ap-changes-spelling-of-anti-semitism-to-antisemitism/ |archive-date=30 November 2024}}</ref> Style guides for other news organizations such as the ''[[New York Times]]'' and ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' later adopted this spelling as well.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hanau |first=Shira |date=8 December 2021 |title=The New York Times updates style guide to 'antisemitism,' losing the hyphen |publisher=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] |url=https://www.jta.org/2021/12/08/united-states/the-new-york-times-updates-style-guide-to-antisemitism-losing-the-hyphen |access-date=18 July 2023 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719040045/https://www.jta.org/2021/12/08/united-states/the-new-york-times-updates-style-guide-to-antisemitism-losing-the-hyphen |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=15 December 2022|title=Vol. 35, No. 11: Antisemitism |work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/vol-35-no-11-antisemitism-11671114285 |access-date=19 July 2023 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719040044/https://www.wsj.com/articles/vol-35-no-11-antisemitism-11671114285 |url-status=live}}</ref> It has also been adopted by many [[Holocaust museums]], such as the [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] and [[Yad Vashem]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jo Zerivitz |first=Marcia |date=1 February 2021 |title=In a word, it's antisemitism |work=Jewish Press of Tampa Bay |url=https://www.jewishpresstampa.com/articles/in-a-word-its-antisemitism/ |access-date=18 July 2023 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719040045/https://www.jewishpresstampa.com/articles/in-a-word-its-antisemitism/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Definition===
Though the general definition of antisemitism is hostility or prejudice against Jews, and, according to [[Olaf Blaschke]], has become an "umbrella term for negative stereotypes about Jews",{{sfnp|Weinberg|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0HDeEPouQm0C&pg=PA18 18]}} a number of authorities have developed more formal definitions.<ref name="USDS" />

Writing in 1987, Holocaust scholar and [[City University of New York]] professor [[Helen Fein]] defined it as "a persisting latent structure of hostile beliefs towards Jews as a collective manifested in individuals as attitudes, and in culture as myth, ideology, folklore and imagery, and in actions—social or legal discrimination, political mobilization against the Jews, and collective or state violence—which results in and/or is designed to distance, displace, or destroy Jews as Jews."<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Fine |editor-first=Helen |title=The persisting question: sociological perspectives and social contexts of modern antisemitism |date=1987 |page=67 |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |isbn=978-3-11-010170-6 |location=Berlin}}</ref>

Elaborating on Fein's definition, Dietz Bering of the [[University of Cologne]] writes that, to antisemites, "Jews are not only partially but totally bad by nature, that is, their bad traits are incorrigible. Because of this bad nature: (1) Jews have to be seen not as individuals but as a collective. (2) Jews remain essentially alien in the surrounding societies. (3) Jews bring disaster on their 'host societies' or on the whole world, they are doing it secretly, therefore the anti-Semites feel obliged to unmask the conspiratorial, bad Jewish character."{{sfnp|Falk|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zL_0WOiZj0oC&pg=PA5 5]}}

For Swiss historian [[Sonja Weinberg]], as distinct from economic and religious [[anti-Judaism]], antisemitism in its specifically modern form shows conceptual innovation, a resort to "science" to defend itself, new functional forms, and organisational differences. It was anti-liberal, racialist and nationalist. It promoted the myth that [[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion|Jews conspired to 'judaise' the world]]; it served to consolidate social identity; it channeled dissatisfactions among victims of the capitalist system; and it was used as a conservative cultural code to fight emancipation and liberalism.{{sfnp|Weinberg|2010|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0HDeEPouQm0C&pg=PA18 18–19]}}

[[File:Antisemiticroths.jpg|thumb|A caricature by C. Léandre (France, 1898) showing [[Rothschild family|Rothschild]] with the world in his hands]]
In 2003, Israeli politician [[Natan Sharansky]] developed [[Three Ds of antisemitism|what he called the "three D" test]] to distinguish antisemitism from criticism of Israel, giving [[Legitimacy of the State of Israel|delegitimization]], demonization, and double standards as a litmus test for the former.<ref>{{bulleted list|
|{{cite journal |title=So what's new? Rethinking the 'new antisemitism' in a global age |first=Jonathan |last=Judaken |author-link=Jonathan Judaken |journal=[[Patterns of Prejudice]] |volume=42 |issue=4–5 |pages=531–560 |year=2008 |doi=10.1080/00313220802377453 |url=https://umdrive.memphis.edu/jjudaken/public/publications/PoP%20New%20Antisemitism.pdf?uniq=-5aa3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100618033045/https://umdrive.memphis.edu/jjudaken/public/publications/PoP%20New%20Antisemitism.pdf?uniq=-5aa3 |archive-date=18 June 2010}}
|{{cite journal |last=Younes |first=Anna-Esther |title=Fighting Anti-Semitism in Contemporary Germany |journal=Islamophobia Studies Journal |volume=5 |issue=2 |date=1 October 2020|issn=2325-8381 |doi=10.13169/islastudj.5.2.0249 |doi-access=free}}
|{{cite web |title=The Louis D. Brandeis Center FAQs About Defining Anti-Semitism |website=Brandeis Center - Advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all |date=14 March 2022 |url=https://brandeiscenter.com/the-louis-d-brandeis-center-faqs-about-defining-anti-semitism-2/ |access-date=16 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250106075541/https://brandeiscenter.com/the-louis-d-brandeis-center-faqs-about-defining-anti-semitism-2/ |archive-date=6 January 2025}}
}}</ref>

[[Bernard Lewis]], writing in 2006, defined antisemitism as a special case of prejudice, hatred, or persecution directed against people who are in some way different from the rest. According to Lewis, antisemitism is marked by two distinct features: Jews are judged according to a standard different from that applied to others, and they are accused of "cosmic evil".{{sfnp|Lindemann|Levy|2010|p=8}} Thus, "it is perfectly possible to hate and even to persecute Jews without necessarily being anti-Semitic" unless this hatred or persecution displays one of the two features specific to antisemitism.<ref>{{cite magazine |author-link=Bernard Lewis |last=Lewis |first=Bernard |url=http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/21832.html |title=The New Anti-Semitism |magazine=[[The American Scholar (magazine)|The American Scholar]] |volume=75 |number=1 |date=Winter 2006 |pages=25–36 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110908010822/http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/21832.html |archive-date=8 September 2011}}</ref>

There have been a number of efforts by international and governmental bodies to define antisemitism formally. In 2005, the [[United States Department of State]] stated that "while there is no universally accepted definition, there is a generally clear understanding of what the term encompasses." For the purposes of its 2005 Report on Global Anti-Semitism, the term was considered to mean "hatred toward Jews—individually and as a group—that can be attributed to the Jewish religion and/or ethnicity."<ref name="USDS">{{cite report |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/40258.htm |title=Report on Global Anti-Semitism |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125182906/https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/40258.htm |archive-date=25 January 2021 |publisher=[[United States Department of State|U.S. State Department]] |date=5 January 2005}}</ref>

In 2005, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and [[Xenophobia]] (EUMC, now the [[Fundamental Rights Agency]]), an agency of the [[European Union]], developed a more detailed [[EUMC Working Definition of Antisemitism|working definition]], which stated: "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." It also adds that "such manifestations could also target the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity," but that "criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic."<ref name="antisemitic"/> It provided contemporary examples of ways in which antisemitism may manifest itself, including promoting the harming of Jews in the name of an ideology or religion; promoting negative stereotypes of Jews; holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of an individual Jewish person or group; [[Holocaust denial|denying the Holocaust]] or accusing Jews or Israel of exaggerating it; and accusing Jews of [[dual loyalty]] or a greater allegiance to Israel than their own country. It also lists ways in which attacking Israel could be antisemitic, and states that denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g. by claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor, can be a manifestation of antisemitism—as can applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation, or holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the State of Israel.<ref name="antisemitic">{{cite web |url=http://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/material/pub/AS/AS-WorkingDefinition-draft.pdf |title=Working Definition of Antisemitism |publisher=[[Fundamental Rights Agency|European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights]] |access-date=24 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110304162430/http://www.fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/material/pub/AS/AS-WorkingDefinition-draft.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:1889 French election poster for antisemitic candidate Adolphe Willette.jpg|thumb|1889 Paris, France elections poster for self-described "{{lang|fr|candidat antisémite}}" [[Adolphe Willette]]: "The Jews are a different race, hostile to our own... Judaism, there is the enemy!" (see file for complete translation)]]
The EUMC working definition was adopted by the [[European Parliament]] Working Group on Antisemitism in 2010,{{sfnp|Maizels|2023|pp=14–15}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.antisem.eu/projects/eumc-working-definition-of-antisemitism/ |title=EUMC Working Definition of Antisemitism |website=antisem.eu |access-date=23 August 2016 |archive-date=1 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701214816/http://www.antisem.eu/projects/eumc-working-definition-of-antisemitism/ |url-status=live}}</ref> by the [[United States Department of State]] in 2017,{{sfnp|Maizels|2023|pp=15–16}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Defining Anti-Semitism |url=https://www.state.gov/s/rga/resources/267538.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210041344/https://www.state.gov/s/rga/resources/267538.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 February 2017 |access-date=5 August 2018}}</ref> in the Operational Hate Crime Guidance of the UK [[College of Policing]] in 2014<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/major-investigation-and-public-protection/hate-crime/ |title=Hate crime |website=app.college.police.uk |access-date=23 August 2016 |archive-date=11 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911161627/https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/major-investigation-and-public-protection/hate-crime/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{primary inline|date=September 2024}} and by the UK's [[Campaign Against Antisemitism]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://antisemitism.uk/definition/ |title=Definition of antisemitism |date=13 July 2015 |access-date=23 August 2016 |archive-date=24 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924061521/https://antisemitism.uk/definition/ |url-status=live}}</ref>{{primary inline|date=September 2024}} In 2016, the working definition was adopted by the [[International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance]].{{sfnp|Maizels|2023|pp=15–17}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Working Definition of Antisemitism {{!}} IHRA |website=holocaustremembrance.com |url=https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/sites/default/files/press_release_document_antisemitism.pdf |access-date=23 August 2016 |archive-date=25 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825032144/https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/sites/default/files/press_release_document_antisemitism.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/us-news/us-house-of-representatives-passes-motion-condemning-antisemitism-ilhan-omar-1.481185 |title=US House of Representatives votes to condemn antisemitism after Ilhan Omar's 'Israel loyalty' remarks |quote=Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel than to their interests of their own nation is listed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance as an example of contemporary antisemitism in public life |work=[[The Jewish Chronicle]] |access-date=10 March 2019 |archive-date=3 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203163852/https://www.thejc.com/news/us-news/us-house-of-representatives-passes-motion-condemning-antisemitism-ilhan-omar-1.481185 |url-status=live}}</ref> IHRA's [[Working definition of antisemitism]] is among the most controversial documents related to opposition to antisemitism, and critics argue that it has been used to censor criticism of Israel.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ruth Gould |first1=Rebecca |author1-link=Rebecca Ruth Gould |title=The IHRA Definition of Antisemitism: Defining Antisemitism by Erasing Palestinians |journal=[[The Political Quarterly]] |year=2020 |volume=91 |issue=4 |pages=825–831 |doi=10.1111/1467-923X.12883 |s2cid=225366096 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In response to the perceived lack of clarity in the IHRA definition, two new definitions of antisemitism were published in 2021, the [[Nexus Document]] in February 2021 and the [[Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism]] in March 2021.<ref>{{bulleted list|
|{{harvp|Maizels|2023|p=17}}
|{{Cite news |last=Shamir |first=Jonathan |date=18 April 2021 |title=Two Jews, Three Definitions: New Documents Challenge Mainstream View of Antisemitism |work=[[Haaretz]] |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2021-04-18/ty-article/.highlight/two-jews-three-definitions-new-documents-challenge-mainstream-view-of-antisemitism/0000017f-db27-db22-a17f-ffb71c8f0000?lts=1674173929738 |url-access=subscription |access-date=20 January 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230630082911/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2021-04-18/ty-article/.highlight/two-jews-three-definitions-new-documents-challenge-mainstream-view-of-antisemitism/0000017f-db27-db22-a17f-ffb71c8f0000 |archive-date=30 June 2023}}
|{{Cite news |last=Starr |first=Michael |date=22 April 2021 |title=War of the words: The conflict between definitions of antisemitism |url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/war-of-the-words-the-conflict-between-definitions-of-antisemitism-665935 |access-date=19 January 2023 |work=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241226204831/https://www.jpost.com//diaspora/antisemitism/war-of-the-words-the-conflict-between-definitions-of-antisemitism-665935 |archive-date=26 December 2024}}
|{{Cite news |last=Kampeas |first=Ron |date=17 March 2021 |title=A liberal definition of antisemitism that allows for Israel criticism |url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/a-liberal-definition-of-antisemitism-that-allows-for-israel-criticism-662248 |access-date=22 January 2023 |work=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605005943/https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/a-liberal-definition-of-antisemitism-that-allows-for-israel-criticism-662248 |archive-date=5 June 2021}}
|{{Cite news |last=Kampeas |first=Ron |date=17 March 2021 |title=US Jewish scholars push anti-Semitism definition allowing more Israel criticism |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-jewish-scholars-push-anti-semitism-definition-allowing-more-israel-criticism/ |access-date=19 January 2023 |work=[[The Times of Israel]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628094031/https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-jewish-scholars-push-anti-semitism-definition-allowing-more-israel-criticism/ |archive-date=28 June 2021}}
|{{Cite news |last=McGreal |first=Chris |date=24 April 2023 |title=UN urged to reject antisemitism definition over 'misuse' to shield Israel |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/apr/24/un-ihra-antisemitism-definition-israel-criticism |access-date=5 February 2024 |work=[[The Guardian]] |issn=0261-3077 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022130932/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/apr/24/un-ihra-antisemitism-definition-israel-criticism |archive-date=22 October 2023}}
|{{Cite news |last=Hofmann |first=Sarah Judith |date=17 June 2021 |title=A new definition for antisemitism? |url=https://www.dw.com/en/the-jerusalem-declaration-redefining-antisemitism/a-57895132 |access-date=5 February 2024 |work=[[Deutsche Welle]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241226153227/https://www.dw.com/en/the-jerusalem-declaration-redefining-antisemitism/a-57895132 |archive-date=26 December 2024}}
}}</ref>

===Evolution of usage===
In 1879, [[Wilhelm Marr]] founded the {{lang|de|Antisemiten-Liga}} (Anti-Semitic League).<ref>Richard S. Levy, "Marr, Wilhelm (1819–1904)" in {{harvp|Levy|2005|loc=vol. 2|pp=445–446}}</ref> Identification with antisemitism and as an antisemite was politically advantageous in Europe during the late 19th century. For example, [[Karl Lueger]], the popular mayor of [[fin de siècle]] [[Vienna]], skillfully exploited antisemitism as a way of channeling public discontent to his political advantage.<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard S. |last=Geehr |title=Karl Lueger, Mayor of Fin-de-Siècle Vienna |publisher=[[Wayne State University Press]] |location=Detroit |date=1989 |isbn=0-8143-2055-4}}</ref>{{pn|date=February 2025}} In its 1910 obituary of Lueger, ''[[The New York Times]]'' notes that Lueger was "Chairman of the Christian Social Union of the Parliament and of the Anti-Semitic Union of the Diet of Lower Austria.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1910/03/11/archives/dr-karl-lueger-dead-antisemitic-leader-and-mayor-of-vienna-was-66.html |title=Dr. Karl Lueger Dead; Anti-Semitic Leader and Mayor of Vienna Was 66 Years Old |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=11 March 1910 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126110903/https://www.nytimes.com/1910/03/11/archives/dr-karl-lueger-dead-antisemitic-leader-and-mayor-of-vienna-was-66.html |archive-date=26 January 2021}}</ref> In 1895, [[A. C. Cuza]] organized the {{lang|ro|Alianța Antisemită}} and the {{lang|ro|Liga Antisemită Universală}} in Bucharest.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Leon |last=Volovici |title=Antisemitic Parties and Movements |translator-first=Anca |translator-last=Mircea |url=https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/3 |encyclopedia=The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe |access-date=6 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250121114739/https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/3 |archive-date=21 January 2025}}</ref> In the period before [[World War II]], when animosity towards Jews was far more commonplace, it was not uncommon for a person, an organization, or a political party to self-identify as an antisemite or antisemitic.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

The early [[Zionist]] pioneer [[Leon Pinsker]], a professional physician, preferred the clinical-sounding term ''[[Judeophobia]]'' to antisemitism, which he regarded as a misnomer. The word ''Judeophobia'' first appeared in his pamphlet "[[Auto-Emancipation]]", published anonymously in German in September 1882, where it was described as an irrational fear or hatred of Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schoeps |first=Julius H. |date=2013 |title=Pioneers of Zionism: Hess, Pinsker, Rülf |chapter=Auto-emancipation and self-help |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110314724.34/html?lang=de |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |doi=10.1515/9783110314724.34 |pages=34–39 |isbn=978-3-11-031472-4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241212042301/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110314724.34/html |archive-date=12 December 2024}}</ref> According to Pinsker, this irrational fear was an inherited predisposition.<ref name="Bartlett2005">{{cite book |last=Bartlett |first=Steven J. |title=The Pathology of Man: A Study of Human Evil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U5KQ0Yi76GMC&pg=PA30 |year=2005 |publisher=Charles C. Thomas Publisher |isbn=9780398075576 |page=30}}</ref> {{blockquote|Judeophobia is a form of demonopathy, with the distinction that the Jewish ghost has become known to the whole race of mankind, not merely to certain races... Judeophobia is a psychic disorder. As a psychic disorder, it is hereditary, and as a disease transmitted for two thousand years it is incurable... Thus have Judaism and Jew-hatred passed through history for centuries as inseparable companions... Having analyzed Judeophobia as a hereditary form of demonopathy, peculiar to the human race, and represented Jew-hatred as based upon an inherited aberration of the human mind, we must draw the important conclusion, that we must give up contending against these hostile impulses, just as we give up contending against every other inherited predisposition.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pinsker |first1=Leon |author1-link=Leon Pinsker |translator-last=Blondheim |translator-first=D. S. |title=Auto-Emancipation |series=Zionist publications |date=1906 |publisher=The Maccabaean Publishing Company |location=New York |pages=3, 4 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hw5rcs;view=1up;seq=15 |access-date=30 March 2018 |archive-date=20 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220161903/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hw5rcs&view=1up&seq=15 |url-status=live}}, [[s:Auto-Emancipation|English]] and [https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%95%D7%98%D7%95-%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%94 Hebrew] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726052832/https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%95%D7%98%D7%95-%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%94 |date=26 July 2020 }} translations.</ref>}}

In the aftermath of the [[Kristallnacht]] pogrom in 1938, German propaganda minister [[Joseph Goebbels|Goebbels]] announced: "The German people is anti-Semitic. It has no desire to have its rights restricted or to be provoked in the future by parasites of the Jewish race."<ref>''Daily Telegraph'', 12 November 1938. Cited in {{cite book |author-link=Martin Gilbert |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |title=Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |date=2006 |page=142}}</ref>

After 1945 [[End of World War II in Europe|victory of the Allies over Nazi Germany]], and particularly after the full extent of the [[The Holocaust|Nazi genocide against the Jews]] became known, the term ''antisemitism'' acquired [[pejorative]] connotations. This marked a full circle shift in usage, from an era just decades earlier when "Jew" was used as a pejorative term.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jacob Rader |last=Marcus |title=United States Jewry, 1776–1985 |publisher=[[Wayne State University Press]] |date=1989 |page=286 |isbn=0-8143-2186-0}}</ref>{{sfnp|Bein|1990|p=580}} Yehuda Bauer wrote in 1984: "There are no anti-Semites in the world&nbsp;... Nobody says, 'I am anti-Semitic.' You cannot, after Hitler. The word has gone out of fashion."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Yehuda |author-link=Yehuda Bauer |chapter=The Most Ancient Group Prejudice |editor-first=Leo |editor-last=Eitinger |date=1984 |title=The Anti-Semitism of Our Time |location=Oslo |publisher=Nansen Committee |page=14}}, cited in: {{cite book |first=Jocelyn |last=Hellig |date=2003 |title=The Holocaust and Antisemitism: A Short History |publisher=Oneworld Publications |page=73 |isbn=1-85168-313-5}}</ref>

===Eternalism–contextualism debate===
The study of antisemitism has become politically controversial because of differing interpretations of the Holocaust and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.{{sfnp|Judaken|2018|pp=1123–1124}} There are two competing views of antisemitism, eternalism, and contextualism.{{sfnp|Consonni|2022|p=25}} The eternalist view sees antisemitism as separate from other forms of racism and prejudice and an exceptionalist, transhistorical force [[teleological]]ly culminating in the Holocaust.{{sfnp|Consonni|2022|p=25}}{{sfnp|Judaken|2018|pp=1123, 1130}} Hannah Arendt criticized this approach, writing that it provoked "the uncomfortable question: 'Why the Jews of all people?' ... with the question begging reply: Eternal hostility."{{sfnp|Judaken|2018|p=1130}} Zionist thinkers and antisemites draw different conclusions from what they perceive as the eternal hatred of Jews; according to antisemites, it proves the inferiority of Jews, while for Zionists it means that Jews need their own state as a refuge.{{sfnp|Judaken|2018|p=1135}}{{sfnp|Ury|2018|p=1151}} Most Zionists do not believe that antisemitism can be combatted with education or other means.{{sfnp|Judaken|2018|p=1135}}

The contextual approach treats antisemitism as a type of racism and focuses on the historical context in which hatred of Jews emerges.{{sfnp|Consonni|2022|p=27}} Some contextualists restrict the use of "antisemitism" to refer exclusively to the era of modern racism, treating anti-Judaism as a separate phenomenon.{{sfnp|Judaken|2018|p=1132}} Historian [[David Engel (historian)|David Engel]] has challenged the project to define antisemitism, arguing that it essentializes Jewish history as one of persecution and discrimination.{{sfnp|Consonni|2022|p=26}} Engel argues that the term "antisemitism" is not useful in historical analysis because it implies that there are links between anti-Jewish prejudices expressed in different contexts, without evidence of such a connection.{{sfnp|Judaken|2018|p=1130}}