the meaning of words: Antisemitism
It’s
According to the 2016 definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), it is "a certain perception of Jews, which can be expressed through hatred towards them. The rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed against Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, against the institutions of the Jewish community and against Jewish religious institutions.”
The IHRA document also states that "the State of Israel, perceived as a Jewish community, may also be the target of these attacks."
In France, this definition was approved by the National Assembly in 2019 and the Senate in 2021.
How was the term antisemitism born?
The term Antisemirésumé was created in 1879 by the German journalist Wilhelm Marr. He introduced this new term to replace the term Judenhaß ("hatred of Jews"), in order to give a pseudo-scientific character to this hatred.
He argues that the real danger posed by the Jews is not religious but biological, and that Jews are therefore viewed as a racial group.
Marr maintains the myth of "Jewish conspiracy" by claiming that this contamination is deliberately orchestrated by Jews in order to ruin the societies in which they live, a theme that was taken up by the Nazis.
Today, what is the situation?
Antisemitism is still a current issue, and has even been on the rise since the 2000s. The number of antisemitic acts recorded each year between 2000 and 2022 was in the order of a few hundred, compared to a few tens in the 1990s.
There has also been a surge in anti-Semitic acts since the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023. In the three months following the massacres, there were as many antisemitic acts recorded as in the years 2020, 2021, and 2022 combined. 1,676 acts were recorded in France in 2023, compared to 436 in 2022.
If someone says to me: "The term antisemitism does not only concern Jews." I reply:
Of course, Hebrew, the liturgical language and ritual of the Jewish religion and the official language of the State of Israel, is not the only "Semitic language". For example, Arabic also belongs to this set of languages in use since ancient times in the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa. Thus, etymologically, anti-Semitism might not concern only Jews.
However, Wilhelm Marr, to whom we owe the creation of the term, refers only to the Jews through this neologism. It is this term that has been used to refer to specific hostility towards the Jews, until today. Discussions around this word often have the effect, whether intentional or not, of diverting the debate away from the reality of anti-Semitism.
To go further...
History of antisemitism, Arte documentary (2022)
The website of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
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