The history of antisemitism and the evil forces behind it

To effectively stand against rising antisemitism in our day, we must understand its long history, mutating nature, and genocidal goal. The evil pursuit of the Jewish people has continued for millennia, which is why historian Robert Wistrich called antisemitism “the longest hatred.” Every time this irrational vitriol seems to be dying out, it reinvents itself with a different look and a different name. But the goal is always the same: to rid the world of the Jewish people. 

Ancient Pagan Empires

In the ancient world, antisemitism was a clash between pagan rulers who demanded obedient homage and their Jewish subjects who would only worship and obey the God of Israel. The Jewish people could not bow down to other gods and incurred the wrath of tyrants. The Sinaitic Law also bound them to certain behaviors and observances that set them apart as non-conformist. 

This was the situation described in the book of Esther, where Haman, the king’s consort, demanded the Jews bow to him, and when they would not, he turned the might of the Persian Empire against them. Hundreds of years later, the Hanukkah story took place under the rule of the Seleucid Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who attempted to make the Jews into Hellenistic pagans. He banned their religious practices and desecrated their temple resulting in the Maccabean Revolt. 

Religious Antisemitism

One would think that once paganism gave way to Christianity this problem would go away. Instead, antisemitism took hold in the heart of Christian Europe, and among those who persecuted and hated the Jewish people were professing Christians. Space does not permit a full treatment of this sad story, but anti-Jewish theology led to centuries of church-backed denigration, persecution, forced conversions, and expulsions that paved the way for the Holocaust. 

Martin Luther’s antisemitic writings were published and distributed by Hitler to justify his treatment of the Jews and their eventual extermination. When two Catholic bishops questioned him about his policy toward the Jews, he replied that he was only putting into effect what Christianity had preached and practiced for 2,000 years. 

Racial Antisemitism

However, the form of antisemitism found in Nazi ideology was not based on religion but on racial theories promoting the superiority of the Aryan race. In the late nineteenth century, Darwinism was infiltrating the sciences and replacing the God who created the universe with evolution and the idea that man was created in His image with the theory of survival of the fittest. They concluded that the evolution of man was ongoing, and whereas the European people were the most developed, others were inferior and expendable. 

Adolf Hitler became an enthusiastic supporter of Darwin’s evil ideas and applied them with fanatical zeal. The German Aryan race was, therefore, at the top of the evolutionary process—and the Jews were at the bottom. 

Whereas Christianity had sought the conversion of the Jews and state leaders had sought their expulsion, the Nazis sought the “final solution” to the Jewish problem—the murder of all Jews and their eradication from the human race. 

Political Antisemitism: Anti-Zionism 

While classical antisemitism blames the Jews for the world’s ills, the new antisemitism, called “anti-Zionism,” blames the Jewish nation. UCLA Professor Judea Pearl, the father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, gave this analogy: “Antisemitism rejects the Jews as equal members of the human race; anti-Zionism rejects Israel as an equal member in the family of nations.” Believing that the Jewish State (Israel) does not have a right to exist, these enemies of Israel have found a politically correct and sophisticated way to attempt to see the State dismantled.  

Not all criticism of Israel can be considered antisemitic. However, criticism of Israel becomes antisemitic when it: 1) delegitimizes the State and questions its right to exist; 2) uses anti-Jewish rhetoric and stereotypes or compares Israelis to Nazis; 3) judges Israel by a different standard than any other nation; or 4) becomes an excuse to attack local Jewish individuals and institutions. 

The danger of anti-Zionism was on display during the 2014 war in Gaza (a defensive war on Israel’s part to prevent further missile launches from Hamas) when there were attacks on synagogues and Jewish citizens in France. Refrains such as “Jews to the gas” in Germany, the use of swastikas at anti-Israel demonstrations in Latin America, and antisemitic caricatures in Middle Eastern newspapers clearly demonstrated the antisemitic nature of anti-Zionism.

However, what happened on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants invaded southern Israel, killed more than 1,200 innocent people, and took more than 250 others captive into Gaza, took antisemitism and, thus, anti-Zionism, to an entirely new level. The wave of antisemitism that erupted around the world has been described as the worst since World War II. Pro-Palestinian fervor ran rampant—the Palestinians, the victims, and Israel, the evil oppressor. The world demanded Israel back down, claiming Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinians as if Israel was at fault. War broke out on seven fronts against Israel, with Hezbollah in the north, the Houthis in Yemen, and the puppet master, Iran, pulling the strings. Still, the world blamed Israel.

The mainstream demonization of Israel and its adoption of slogans calling for the genocide of the Jewish people such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free,” was most clearly seen on college campuses in demonstrations, vigils, and, often, violent protests. This, combined with identity politics and seeing Israel as a colonialist state occupying a land that wasn’t hers, fueled an already lit flame. Antisemitism was no longer just about hating the Jews; it was about the destruction of Israel.

Muslim Antisemitism

While anti-Zionism is the new “socially accepted” expression of antisemitism, it is important to note that religious bigotry still exists throughout the Muslim world. Muslims have held negative stereotypes regarding Jews throughout most of Islamic history based on the Quran and Hadith. This theological antisemitism was fertile ground for the racial and militant antisemitism that was transferred to the Islamic world by Nazi leaders during and after World War II and adopted by the jihadist movement birthed then by the Muslim Brotherhood. 

Muslim antisemitism is a dangerous mix of religious, racial, and political antisemitism. It is responsible for the genocidal threats against Israel and the United States emanating from jihadist, terrorist groups and the Iranian regime. It is a modern-day ideology of hatred and death that must be stopped. 

An Evil Virus

This brief history outlines how antisemitism can be likened to a virus that never entirely dies but mutates and grows again as a new strain in need of new treatments. There is no explanation for this but a biblical one. Antisemitism is, at its root, spiritual—the ugly face of evil. Ultimately, it is a war against God in which the Jews are the target (Psalm 83:1–4).

It is imperative that Christians understand the dangerous forces behind antisemitism and aggressively stand against it vocally, politically, and prayerfully.