Hatred of the Jews has been a persistent phenomenon with a long history, spanning millennia, across various cultures, yet it remains a masked veil, impenetrable, and unfathomable.
Why have they instigated such antipathy and resentment to others? All others? Now it is described as “the most hated country in the world.” Why?
In all their books and manuscripts the same reasons are cited as “racial and religious differences”. They claim they are a scapegoat minority, wrongly accused of conspiracy theories and forced into disliked professions. “They stick to themselves,” “they pray differently,” “they look different,” etc, are some of their reasons. Through the years such motives appear like being “wrongly” accused of Bolshevism, Communism, or their wealth, their jealousy, their exceptionalism and so on — always justifications for this intense animosity. Despite the endless complaints of hostility, they never change their ways, assimilate or conform. Dogged and determined, they are set in stone, immovable and unmovable.
“Antisemitism”, a misnomer, is their arch enemy. Instead of the traditional “anti-Jewish”, they now hang on to the term as their fiercest weapon. The term was coined by German journalist and political agitator, Wilhelm Marr in 1879, to provide a scientific label for Judenhass or “Jew-hatred”. Judeophobia have existed since ancient times, but they love their new antisemitism, now the dirtiest name in any language.
Author Robert S Wistrich (1945-2015), a scholar and one of the world’s foremost authorities on antisemitism published his famous book Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred, in 1991, to popularise the term and the present value of anti-Jewish hatred. “The Longest Hatred” was also referred to in other sources like Deborah Lipstadt, professor of Holocaust studies at Emory University in her book Antisemitism: Here and Now, 2019.
In the late 19th century, there was a significant rise in both antisemitism and Zionism, a political movement in support of a Jewish national state, at the cost of another sovereign state.
The hatred only grows with time. With a population of less than nine million Israeli citizens and 7.5 million Jews in the US, representing only 0.2 per cent of the total world population, how so few have garnered so much hate? If love is reciprocated, does hatred too?
Why does the world love to hate the Jews?
Established in 1948, after yearning for their own homeland, why are the Jews living outside of Israel? Could it be that Jews love to wander, seeking better opportunities elsewhere? Should the wandering millions not rush to their Israel, among their own people, away from the bitterness that surrounds them?
A short journey to the past reveals the hatred that was never erased, making it the longest hatred.
Around 2000 BC, during the Bronze Age, the people of Canaan, known as Hebrews, fled from a severe famine to Egypt. The story of Joseph is well known but bears repeating. Joseph embraced them, sheltered them, and they lived in the land of Egypt for 430 years — 200 years of prosperity and 230 years of enslavement. It is unclear why they became enslaved and lived in servitude for another 230 years. The ruling Pharaoh feared and mistrusted the Hebrews, even ordered the midwives to kill their newborn boys. It was Moses, who led them out of Egypt in 1450 BC. That was the first exodus.
The second exodus occurred in 597 BC; the Jews were exiled from Jerusalem to Babylonia. When King Cyprus took power, he allowed them to return in 538 BC, but many remained in Babylon in comfort and security; only 20 per cent returned to their homeland.
Jewish presence in Greece dates back to 2,300 years. The first clear anti-Jewish writings date back to Greek authors in the third century BC. Egypt portrayed Jews as undesirable or lepers. This era saw outbreaks of violence and an attack in Alexandria in 38 AD that killed 1000 Jews.
Antagonistic relations with Jews led to several wars, causing the Romans to destroy a second temple in 70 AD and expelled many from what the Romans called in 35 AD “Syria Palestina”.
With the rise of Christianity, anti-Jewish hostility became deeply rooted in religious doctrine and law. The accusation that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus fuelled centuries of mistrust and animosity that lives to this day.
The Spanish Inquisition accused of “blood libels” — accusations of using Christian children’s blood for rituals — resulted in mass expulsions from numerous countries: in England in 1290; in France in the 14th century; the entirety of Spain in 1492.
In the Modern Era in the late 19th century, Jews were granted equal rights, but coincided with the rise of intense nationalism. Anti-Semites labelled Jews as “unassimilable”, “alien”, and “foreigners” within their nations. Racial antisemitism peaked with the Nazi regime which defined Jews by race that led to the Holocaust.
In the aftermath, overt antisemitism became a taboo, but it exists and persists. This deeply embedded form of hatred towards one race is long-standing and the hostility has passed down through generations since antiquity.
While Christianity reached 2.6 billion and Islam exceeded two billion believers, the third Abrahamic religion, Judaism, never exceeded 15 to 16 million. Mass murder and persecution cannot be convincing. Is it destiny or a choice? It is baffling.
Or maybe it is “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”
“From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate.”
Socrates (c 470-399 BC)
* A version of this article appears in print in the 27 November, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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