Antisemitism is prejudice against, or hatred of, Jewish people. It is not a mere social bias or misunderstanding; it is a resilient form of bigotry that has repeatedly produced exclusion, discrimination, and violence—sometimes escalating into mass atrocities. For centuries, antisemites have sought to demonize Jews by circulating slander, dehumanizing stereotypes, and conspiracy theories that portray Jewish identity as uniquely dangerous or illegitimate.
At its core, antisemitism is a system of false beliefs about Jews and Judaism that adapts to the needs of those who promote it. In different times and places, it has been dressed up as religious condemnation, pseudo-scientific racial ideology, political scapegoating, or cultural panic. The word “antisemitism” itself is a modern invention, coined in late nineteenth-century Europe to give an aura of legitimacy to entrenched anti-Jewish hostility—but the underlying animus long predates the term.
Although antisemitism has ancient roots, its modern expressions remain intensely destructive. The Holocaust stands as the most extreme and meticulously organized manifestation: a state-driven project of persecution and annihilation carried out by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, culminating in the murder of six million Jews. Yet antisemitism neither began nor ended there. It persists by mutating reappearing in new language, new movements, and new media environments—making clear that vigilance, historical literacy, and moral clarity are essential to confronting it in every generation.