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The history of antisemitism, hostile actions or discrimination against lists year-by-year chronology of antisemitic events. The article Jewish History gives a wider perspective of the Jewish history. ANCIENT TIMES Early animosity towards Jews The earliest occurrence of antisemitism has been the subject of debate among scholars. Different writers use different definitions of antisemitism. Some use the term " Religious Antisemitism " to refer to animosity towards Judaism as a religion rather than to Jews defined as an ethnic or racial group. The term " Anti-Judaism " is also used in a similar sense. Professor Peter Schafer of the unless it arose from attitudes held against Jews alone. Using this stricter definition, Bohak says that many Greeks had animosity toward any group they regarded as barbarians.Bohak, Gideon. "The Ibis and the Jewish Question: Ancient 'Antisemitism' in Historical Context" in Menachem Mor et al, ''Jews and Gentiles in the Holy Land in the Days of the Second Temple, the Mishna and the Talmud'', Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2003, p 27-43. When the Jewish kingdom became absorbed into the Roman Empire, relationships between the Jewish people and the Roman rulers were always fraught with difficulty. There was an antagonistic attitude on the part of both emperors and the Roman public that went beyond religious antisemitism. In 19 CE Tiberius expelled from Rome the Jewish people who had gone to live in the city. Suetonius says that Tiberius "suppressed all foreign religions... . He distributed the Jewish youths, under the pretence of military service, among the provinces noted for an unhealthy climate; and dismissed from the city all the rest of that nation as well as those who were proselytes to that religion {Link without Title} , under pain of slavery for life, unless they complied." Suetonius , ''Lives of the Twelve Caesars'', Vol 3, "Tiberius", Section 36 Josephus , in his ''Jewish Antiquities'' Josephus , ''Jewish Antiquities'' (18.3.5), concurs that Tiberius "ordered all the Jews to be banished out of Rome," taking "four thousand men out of them, and sent them to the island Sardinia ; but punished a greater number of them, who were unwilling to become soldiers, on account of keeping the laws of their forefathers. Thus were these Jews banished out of the city ..." Cassius Dio writes of Tiberius, "As the Jews flocked to Rome in great numbers and were converting many of the natives to their ways, he banished most of them."Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'', 57.18.5a. During Bar Kokhba's Revolt in the second century CE the Romans committed murder against the Jews. Moreover, Jews were attacked mainly in the cities for issues relating to Jewish financial and intellectual success. This may conflict with the theory that antisemitism originated in Christian persecution, as it implies that antisemitism is rooted also in stereotyping and racial issues. Expressions of attitudes to Jews in the New Testament See Also: Antisemitism in the New Testament Although the majority of the New Testament was written by Jews who became followers of Jesus , there are a number of passages in the New Testament that some see as antisemitic, or have been used for antisemitic purposes, most notably: :Jesus speaking to a group of ) :. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it." ( Acts 7:51-53, RSV) :"Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie — behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and learn that I have loved you." ( Revelation 3:9, RSV). Some biblical scholars point out that Jesus and Stephen are presented as Jews speaking to other Jews, and that their use of broad accusations against Israel is borrowed from Moses and the later Jewish prophets (e.g. ; ; , ; ; ; ; ). Jesus once calls his own disciple Peter 'Satan' (). Other scholars hold that verses like these reflect the Jewish-Christian tensions that were emerging in the late first or early second century, and do not originate with Jesus. Today, nearly all Christian denominations de-emphasize verses such as these, and reject their use and misuse by antisemites. Drawing from the Jewish prophet Jeremiah (), the New Testament teaches that with the death of Jesus a New Covenant was established which rendered obsolete, and in many respects superseded, the first covenant established by Moses (; ). Observance of the earlier covenant traditionally characterizes Judaism . This New Testament teaching, and later variations to it, are part of what is called Supersessionism . However, the early Jewish followers of Jesus continued to practice Circumcision and observe Dietary Laws , which is why the failure to observe these laws by the first Gentile Christians became a matter of controversy and dispute some years after Jesus' death (; ff; ). The New Testament holds that Jesus' (Jewish) disciple Judas Iscariot (), the Roman governor Pontius Pilate along with Roman forces (; ) and Jewish leaders and people of Jerusalem were (to varying degrees) responsible for the death of Jesus (); Diaspora Jews are not blamed for events which were clearly outside their control. After Jesus' death, the New Testament portrays the Jewish religious authorities in Jerusalem as hostile to Jesus' followers, and as occasionally using force against them. Stephen is executed by stoning (). Before his conversion, Saul puts followers of Jesus in prison (; ; ). After his conversion, Saul is whipped at various times by Jewish authorities (), and is accused by Jewish authorities before Roman courts (e.g., ). However, opposition by Gentiles is also cited repeatedly (; ff; ). More generally, there are widespread references in the New Testament to suffering experienced by Jesus' followers at the hands of others (; ff; ; ; ; ; ). Accusations of deicide Deicide is the killing of a God. The first accusation that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus came in a sermon in 167 CE attributed to Melito Of Sardis entitled ''Peri Pascha'', ''On the Passover''. This text blames the Jews for allowing King Herod and Caiaphas to execute Jesus, despite their calling as God's people. It say "you did not know, O Israel, that this one was the firstborn of God". The author does not attribute particular blame to Pontius Pilate , but only mentions that Pilate washed his hands of guilt. On the passover pp. 57, 82, 92, 93 The sermon is written in Greek, so does not use the Latin word for deicide, ''deicida''. At a time when Christians were widely persecuted, Melito's speech was an appeal to Rome to spare Christians. According to a Latin dictionary, the Latin word ''deicidas'' was used by the fourth century, by Peter Chrystologus in his sermon number 172.Charleton Lewis and Charles Short, ''Latin Dictionary'' Latin Dictionary UNDER THE CHRISTIAN ROMAN EMPIRE When Christianity became the state religion of Rome in the 4th century, Jews became objects of religious intolerance and political oppression. Christian literature began to display extreme hostility to the Jews, and this occasionally resulted in attacks on Jews and the burning of synagogues. The Emperor , the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple. Discrimination became worse in the 5th century. Jews were barred from the civil service and the army. The Jewish Patriarchate was abolished and the scope of Jewish courts restricted. New synagogues were confiscated and old synagogues could be repaired only if they were in danger of collapse. Synagogues fell into ruin or were converted to churches. Synagogues in the following places were destroyed: Tortona in 350, Rome in 388 and 500, Raqqa in 388, Minorca in 418, Daphne (near Antioch ) in 489 and 507, Genoa in 500, Ravenna in 495, Tours in 585 and Orleans in 590. Other synagogues were confiscated: Urfa in 411, several in Palestine between 419 and 422, Constantinople in 442 and 569, Antioch in 423, Vannes in 465, Diyarbakir in 500 Terracina in 590, Cagliari in 590 and Palermo in 590. N. De Lange , "Atlas of the Jewish World", Facts on File, 1984, pp.34-36 PERSECUTION OF JEWS IN THE MIDDLE AGES See Also: Jews in the Middle Ages There was continuity in the hostile attitude to Judaism from the ancient Roman Empire into the medieval period. From the 9th century CE the Islamic world imposed Dhimmi laws on both Christian and Jewish minorities. In the later Middle Ages in Europe there was full-scale persecution in many places, with Blood Libel s, expulsions, Forced Conversion s and massacres. A main justification of prejudice against Jews in Europe was religious. Continuation of accusations of deicide Though not part of Roman Catholic Dogma , many Christians, including members of the Clergy , held the Jewish people collectively responsible for killing Jesus. According to this interpretation, both the Jews present at Jesus’ death and the Jewish people collectively and for all time had committed the sin of deicide, or God-killing.Paley, Susan and Koesters, Adrian Gibbons, eds. "A Viewer's Guide to Contemporary Passion Plays" , accessed March 12, 2006. Restriction to marginal occupations Among socio-economic factors were restrictions by the authorities. Local rulers and church officials closed many professions to the Jews, pushing them into marginal occupations considered socially inferior, such as tax and rent collecting and Moneylending , tolerated then as a " Necessary Evil ". Catholic doctrine of the time held that lending money for interest was a Sin , and forbidden to Christians. Not being subject to this restriction, Jews dominated this business. The Torah and later sections of the Hebrew Bible criticise Usury but interpretations of the Biblical prohibition vary. Since few other occupations were open to them, Jews were motivated to take up money lending. This was said to show Jews were insolent, greedy, Usurers , and subsequently lead to many negative stereotypes and propaganda. Natural tensions between creditors (typically Jews) and debtors (typically Christians) were added to social, political, religious, and economic strains. Peasants who were forced to pay their taxes to Jews could personify them as the people taking their earnings while remaining loyal to the lords on whose behalf the Jews worked. Disabilities and restrictions Jews were subject to a wide range of legal restrictions throughout the Middle Ages, some of which lasted until the end of the 19th century. Jews were excluded from many trades, the occupations varying with place and time, and determined by the influence of various non-Jewish competing interests. Often Jews were barred from all occupations but money-lending and peddling, with even these at times forbidden. The number of Jews permitted to reside in different places was limited; they were concentrated in Ghettos , and were not allowed to own land; they were subject to discriminatory taxes on entering cities or districts other than their own, were forced to swear special Jewish Oaths , and suffered a variety of other measures, including restrictions on dress. Clothing See Also: yellow badge Judenhut The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 was the first to proclaim the requirement for Jews to wear something that distinguished them as Jews. It could be a coloured piece of cloth in the shape of a star or circle or square, a hat ( Judenhut ), or a robe. In many localities, members of Medieval society wore badges to distinguish their social status. Some badges (such as those worn by Guild members) were prestigious, while others were worn by ostracised outcasts such as Leper s, reformed Heretics and Prostitutes . Jews sought to evade the Badges by paying what amounted to bribes in the form of temporary "exemptions" to kings, which were revoked and re-paid whenever the king needed to raise funds. The Crusades See Also: German Crusade, 1096 History of the Jews and the Crusades Siege of Jerusalem (1099) The Crusade s were a series of military campaigns sanctioned by the Papacy that took place from the end of the 11th Century until the 13th Century . They began as endeavors to recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims but developed into territorial wars. The mobs accompanying the first three Crusades, and particularly the People's Crusade accompanying the First Crusade , attacked the Jewish communities in Germany, France, and England, and put many Jews to death. Entire communities, like those of Treves , Speyer , Worms , Mayence , and Cologne , were slain by armed mobs. About 12,000 Jews are said to have perished in the Rhineland cities alone between May and July, 1096 . Before the Crusades the Jews had practically a monopoly on the trade in Eastern products, but the closer connection between Europe and the East brought about by the Crusades raised up a class of merchant traders among the Christians, and from this time onward restrictions on the sale of goods by Jews became frequent. The religious zeal fomented by the Crusades at times burned as fiercely against the Jews as against the Muslims, though attempts were made by bishops during the first Crusade and by the papacy during the Second Crusade to stop Jews from being attacked. Both economically and socially the Crusades were disastrous for European Jews. They prepared the way for the anti-Jewish legislation of Pope Innocent III , and formed the turning point in the Medieval History Of The Jews . In the County Of Toulouse (now part of southern France) the Jews were received on good terms until the Albigensian Crusade . Toleration and favour shown to the Jews was one of the main complaints of the Roman Church against the Counts of Toulouse. Following the Crusaders' successful wars against Raymond VI and Raymond VII , the counts were required to discriminate against Jews like other Christian rulers. In 1209 , stripped to the waist and barefoot, Raymond VI was obliged to swear that he would no longer allow Jews to hold public office. In 1229 his son Raymond VII, underwent a similar ceremony where he was obliged to prohibit the public employment of Jews, this time at Notre Dame in Paris . Explicit provisions on the subject were included in the Treaty Of Meaux (1229). By the next generation a new, zealously Catholic , ruler was arresting and imprisoning Jews for no crime, raiding their houses, seizing their cash, and removing their religious books. They were then released only if they paid a new "tax". A historian has argued that organised and official persecution of the Jews became a normal feature of life in southern France only after the Albigensian Crusade because it was only then that the Church became powerful enough to insist that measures of discrimination be applied.Michael Costen, ''The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade'', p 38 The demonizing of the Jews From around the 12th century through the 19th there were Christians who believed that some (or all) Jews possessed magical powers; some believed that they had gained these magical powers from making a deal with the Devil . See also Judensau , Judeophobia . Blood libels On many occasions, Jews were accused of a would be performed on it. This method, with some variations, can be found in all the alleged Christian descriptions of ritual murder by Jews. The story of William Of Norwich (d. 1144) is often cited as the first known accusation of Ritual Murder against Jews. The Jews of Norwich , England were accused of murder after a Christian boy, William, was found dead. It was claimed that the Jews had tortured and crucified their victim. The legend of William of Norwich became a cult, and the child acquired the status of a holy martyr. Recent analysis has cast doubt on whether this was the first of the series of blood libel accusations but not on the contrived and antisemitic nature of the tale.Bennett, Gillian (2005), "Towards a revaluation of the legend of 'Saint' William of Norwich and its place in the blood libel legend". ''Folklore'', 116(2), pp 119-21. During the Middle Ages blood libels were directed against Jews in many parts of Europe. The believers of these accusations reasoned that the Jews, having crucified Jesus, continued to thirst for pure and innocent blood and satisfied their thirst at the expense of innocent Christian children. Following this logic, such charges were typically made in Spring around the time of Passover , which approximately coincides with the time of Jesus' death. Ben-Sasson, H.H., Editor; (1969). ''A History of The Jewish People''. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. ISBN 0-674-39731-2 (paper). The story of Little Saint Hugh Of Lincoln (d. 1255) said that after the boy was dead, his body was removed from the cross and laid on a table. His belly was cut open and his Entrails removed for some Occult purpose, such as a Divination Ritual . The story of Simon Of Trent (d. 1475) emphasized how the boy was held over a large bowl so all his blood could be collected. Host desecration Jews were sometimes falsely accused of desecrating consecrated Hosts in a reenactment of the Crucifixion ; this crime was known as Host Desecration and carried the Death Penalty . Expulsions from France and England ''Only a few expulsions of the Jews are described in this section. See also History Of The Jews In France , History Of The Jews In England and the Timeline below.'' The practice of expelling the Jews accompanied by confiscation of their property, followed by temporary readmissions for by Philip Augustus in 1182, from the entirety of France by Louis IX in 1254, by Charles IV in 1306, by Charles V in 1322, by Charles VI in 1394. To finance his war to conquer Wales , Edward I Of England taxed the Jewish moneylenders. When the Jews could no longer pay, they were accused of disloyalty. Already restricted to a limited number of occupations, the Jews saw Edward abolish their "privilege" to lend money, choke their movements and activities and were forced to wear a Yellow Patch . The heads of Jewish households were then arrested, over 300 of them were taken to the Tower Of London and executed, while others were killed in their homes. The complete banishment of all Jews from the country in 1290 led to thousands being killed or drowning while fleeing and the absence of Jews from England for three and a half centuries, until 1655, when Oliver Cromwell reversed the policy. The Black Death See Also: Black Death As the Black Death Epidemics devastated Europe in the mid-14th century, annihilating more than a half of the population, Jews were taken as Scapegoats . Rumors spread that they caused the disease by deliberately Poisoning Wells . Hundreds of Jewish communities were destroyed by violence, in particular in the Iberian peninsula and in the Germanic Empire. In Provence , 40 Jews were burnt in Toulon as soon as April 1348. See Stéphane Barry and Norbert Gualde, ''La plus grande épidémie de l'histoire'' ("The greatest epidemics in history"), in '' L'Histoire '' magazine, n°310, June 2006, p.47 "Never mind that Jews were not immune from the ravages of the plague ; they were tortured until they "confessed" to crimes that they could not possibly have committed. In one such case, a man named Agimet was ... coerced to say that Rabbi Peyret of Chambery (near Geneva ) had ordered him to poison the wells in Venice , Toulouse , and elsewhere. In the aftermath of Agimet’s "confession," the Jews of Strasbourg were burned alive on February 14, 1349. Hertzberg, Arthur and Hirt-Manheimer, Aron. ''Jews: The Essence and Character of a People'', HarperSanFrancisco, 1998, p.84. ISBN 0-06-063834-6 Although the Pope Clement VI tried to protect them by the July 6 , 1348 Papal Bull and another 1348 bull, several months later, 900 Jews were burnt in Strasbourg , where the plague hadn't yet affected the city. Clement VI condemned the violence and said those who blamed the plague on the Jews (among whom were the Flagellant s) had been "seduced by that liar, the Devil." EARLY MODERN PERIOD Anti-Judaism and the Reformation See Also: Christianity and antisemitism Martin Luther , an Augustinian Monk and an Ecclesiastical reformer whose teachings inspired the Reformation , wrote antagonistically about Jews in his book '' On The Jews And Their Lies '', which describes the Jews in extremely harsh terms, excoriates them, and provides detailed recommendations for a Pogrom against them and their permanent oppression and/or expulsion. According to Paul Johnson , it "may be termed the first work of modern antisemitism, and a giant step forward on the road to The Holocaust ." Johnson, Paul . ''A History of the Jews'', HarperCollins Publishers, 1987, p.242. ISBN 5-551-76858-9 In his final sermon shortly before his death, however, Luther preached "We want to treat them with Christian love and to pray for them, so that they might become converted and would receive the Lord." Luther, Martin . ''D. Martin Luthers Werke: kritische Gesamtausgabe'', Weimar: Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, 1920, Vol. 51, p. 195. Still, Luther's harsh comments about the Jews are seen by many as a continuation of medieval Christian antisemitism. ''See also Martin Luther And Antisemitism '' Expulsions In 1492, Ferdinand II Of Aragon and Isabella Of Castile issued ''General Edict on the Expulsion of the Jews'' from Spain (''see also Spanish Inquisition '') and many Sephardi Jews fled to the Ottoman Empire , some to the Land Of Israel . The Kingdom Of Portugal followed suit and in December 1496, it was decreed that any Jew who did not convert to Christianity would be expelled from the country. However, those expelled could only leave the country in ships specified by the King. When those who chose expulsion arrived at the port in Lisbon, they were met by clerics and soldiers who used force, coercion, and promises in order to baptize them and prevent them from leaving the country. This period of time technically ended the presence of Jews in Portugal. Afterwards, all converted Jews and their descendants would be referred to as "New Christians" or Marranos , and they were given a grace period of thirty years in which no inquiries into their faith would be allowed; this was later to extended to end in 1534. A popular riot in 1504 would end in the death of two thousand Jews; the leaders of this riot were executed by Manuel. Canonization of Simon of Trent Simon Of Trent was a boy from the city of Trento, Italy who was found dead at the age of two, having been kidnapped, mutilated, and drained of blood. His disappearance was blamed on the leaders of the city's Jewish community, based on confessions extracted under torture. This case fueled the rampamnt antisemitism of the time. Simon was regarded as a saint, and was canonized by Pope Sixtus V in 1588. North America In the mid 1600s, Peter Stuyvesant , the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Amsterdam , sought to bolster the position of the Dutch Reformed Church by trying to reduce religious competition from denominations such as Jews, Lutheran s, Catholics and Quakers . He stated that the Jews were "deceitful", "very repugnant", and "hateful enemies and blasphemers of the name of Christ". He warned in a subsequent letter that in "giving them liberty we cannot (then) refuse the Lutherans and Papists". However, religious plurality was already a legal-cultural tradition in New Amsterdam and in the Netherlands . His superiors at the Dutch West India Company in Amsterdam overruled him in all matters of intolerance. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY In 1744, ). In the same year, Archduchess of Austria Maria Theresa ordered Jews out of Bohemia but soon reversed her position, on condition that Jews pay for readmission every ten years. This Extortion was known as ''malke-geld'' (queen's money). In 1752 she introduced the law limiting each Jewish family to one son. In 1782, Joseph II abolished most of persecution practices in his ''Toleranzpatent'', on the condition that Yiddish and Hebrew are eliminated from public records and judicial autonomy is annulled. Moses Mendelssohn wrote that "Such a tolerance... is even more dangerous play in tolerance than open persecution". NINETEENTH CENTURY Historian Martin Gilbert writes that it was in the 19th century that the position of Jews worsened in Muslim countries. There was a massacre of Jews in , a mob burst into the Jewish Quarter, burned the synagogue, and destroyed the Torah Scrolls . It was only by forcible conversion that a massacre was averted. Gilbert, Martin . ''Dearest Auntie Fori. The Story of the Jewish People''. HarperCollins, 2002, pp. 179-182. There was another massacre in Barfurush in 1867. In 1840, the Jews Of Damascus were falsely accused of having murdered a Christian monk and his Muslim servant and of having Used Their Blood to bake Passover Bread . A Jewish barber was tortured until he "confessed"; two other Jews who were arrested died under torture, while a third converted to Islam to save his life. Throughout the 1860s, the Jews Of Libya were subjected to what Gilbert calls punitive taxation. In 1864, around 500 Jews were killed in Marrakech and Fez in Morroco . In 1869, 18 Jews were killed in Tunis , and an Arab mob looted Jewish homes and stores, and burned synagogues, on Jerba Island . In 1875, 20 Jews were killed by a mob in Demnat , Morocco; elsewhere in Morocco, Jews were attacked and killed in the streets in broad daylight. In 1891, the leading Muslims in Jerusalem asked the Ottoman authorities in Constantinople to prohibit the entry of Jews arriving from Russia . In 1897, synagogues were ransacked and Jews were murdered in Tripolitania . . To all this the Jew is obliged to submit; it would be more than his life was worth to offer to strike a Mahommedan." In 1850 the German composer Richard Wagner published '' Das Judenthum In Der Musik '' ("Jewishness in Music") under a Pseudonym in the '' Neue Zeitschrift Für Musik ''. The essay began as an attack on Jewish composers, particularly Wagner's contemporaries (and rivals) Felix Mendelssohn and Giacomo Meyerbeer , but expanded to accuse Jews of being a harmful and alien element in German Culture . During the American Civil War Major General Ulysses S. Grant issued an order (quickly rescinded by President Abraham Lincoln ) expelling Jews from areas under his control: The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled …within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order. Grant later issued an order "that no Jews are to be permitted to travel on the road southward." His aide, Colonel John V. DuBois , ordered "all cotton speculators, Jews, and all vagabonds with no honest means of support", to leave the district. "The Israelites especially should be kept out…they are such an intolerable nuisance." Nevertheless, when he ran for President in the election of 1868, Grant was able to carry the Jewish vote and appointed several Jews. Some Jewish traders were forced to relocate forty miles. In Paducah, Kentucky , military officials gave the town's thirty Jewish families — all long-term residents, none of them speculators and at least two of them Union Army veterans — 24 hours to leave. A group of Paducah's Jewish merchants successfully appealed in person to Lincoln two days after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. TWENTIETH CENTURY In 1913, the Beilis Trial in Russia showed that it was still quite possible to revive the blood libel accusation. In and to the Second World War . In the first half of the twentieth century, in the USA, Jews were discriminated against in employment, access to residential and resort areas, membership in clubs and organizations, and in tightened quotas on Jewish enrollment and teaching positions in colleges and universities. The Leo Frank lynching by a mob of prominent citizens in Marietta , Georgia in 1915 turned the spotlight on antisemitism in the United States and led to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League . The case was also used to build support for the renewal of the Ku Klux Klan which had been inactive since 1870. Antisemitism in America reached its peak during the interwar period. The pioneer automobile manufacturer Henry Ford propagated antisemitic ideas in his newspaper '' The Dearborn Independent ''. The radio speeches of Father Coughlin in the late 1930s attacked Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal and the notion of a Jewish financial conspiracy. In the 1940s the Aviator Charles Lindbergh and many prominent Americans led The America First Committee in opposing any involvement in the war against Fascism. During his July 1936 visit he wrote letters saying that there was “more intelligent leadership in Germany than is generally recognized.” "While I still have my reservations, I have come away with great admiration for the German people. .. Hitler must have far more vision and character than I thought….With all the things we criticize he is undoubtedly a great man…. He is a fanatic in many ways and anyone can see there is fanaticism in Germany today…. On the other hand, Hitler has accomplished results (good and bad), which could hardly have been accomplished without some fanaticism." America First avoided any appearance of antisemitism and voted to drop Henry Ford as a member for as much. Ford continued his good friendship with the prominent America First member Lindbergh. Lindbergh visited Ford in the summer of 1941. “One month later; Lindbergh gave a speech in Des Moines, Iowa in which he expressed the decidedly Ford-like view that, ‘The three most important groups which have been pressing this country towards war are the British, the Jews, and the Roosevelt Administration.’” In an expurgated portion of his published diaries Lindbergh wrote: “We must limit to a reasonable amount the Jewish influence….Whenever the Jewish percentage of the total population becomes too high, a reaction seems to invariably occur. It is too bad because a few Jews of the right type are, I believe, an asset to any country.” The German American Bund held parades in New York City in the late 1930s which featured Nazi uniforms and flags featuring Swastika s along side American flags. The zenith of the Bund's history occurred in 1939 at Madison Square Garden . Some 20,000 people heard Bund leader Fritz Kuhn criticize President Franklin Delano Roosevelt by repeatedly referring to him as “Frank D. Rosenfeld”, calling his New Deal the "Jew Deal", and espousing his belief in the existence of a Bolshevik -Jewish conspiracy in America. The New York district attorney prosecuted Kuhn. The US House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was very active in denying the Bund's ability to operate. With the start of the US involvement in World War II most of the Bund's members were placed in Internment Camp s, and some were deported at the end of the war. Sometimes, during race riots, as in Detroit in 1943, Jewish businesses were targeted for looting and burning. Of course, the Holocaust in Europe is one of the most prominent examples of antisemitism. Six million Jews, along with five million in other groups targeted by the Nazis were killed. This is seen by many as the culmination of generations of antisemitism in Europe. After the war, the Kielce Pogrom in Poland represented a further incident of blood libel in Europe. The cult of Simon of Trent was disbanded in 1965 by Pope Paul VI , and the shrine erected to him was dismantled. He was removed from the calendar, and his future veneration was forbidden, though a handful of extremists still promote the narrative as a fact. In the 20th century, the Beilis Trial in Russia and the Kielce Pogrom represented incidents of blood libel in Europe. Unproven rumours of Jews killing Christians were used as justification for the killing of Jews by Christians. , Israel's terrorist secret police. (''Spotlight'', August 24, 1981, cited in Berlet, Chip. "Right woos Left" , ''Publiceye.org'', December 20, 1990; revised February 22, 1994, revised again 1999.) As they interacted, some of the classic right-wing anti-Semitic Scapegoat ing conspiracy theories began to seep into progressive circles, including stories about how a " New World Order ", also called the "Shadow Government" or "The Octopus," was manipulating world governments. Berlet writes that antisemitic conspiracism Berlet does not himself use the expression "new antisemitism"; nor does he comment on whether he believes the current wave of antisemitism should be regarded as a new phenomenon or not. was "peddled aggressively" by right-wing groups, and that the left adopted the rhetoric, which Berlet argues was made possible by the left's lack of knowledge of the history of Fascism and its use of "scapegoating, Reductionist and simplistic solutions, Demagoguery , and a conspiracy theory of history." Toward the end of 1990, as the movement against the anti-war activist Alan Ruff, who appeared on a panel in Verona to discuss the Gulf War. Also on the panel on the anti-war side was another local activist, Emmanuel Branch. "Suddenly I heard Branch saying the war was the result of a Zionist banking conspiracy," said Ruff. "I found myself squeezed between pro-war hawks and this anti-Jewish nut, it destroyed the ability of those of us who opposed the war to make our point." In the late twentieth century there were allegations of antisemitism against certain prominent American politicians. In 1981 the Senator Ernest Hollings referred to fellow Democrat Howard Metzenbaum as the "Senator from B'nai Brith" on the floor of the Senate. In the context of the first US-Iraq war, on September 15, 1990 Pat Buchanan appeared on the McLaughlin Group and said that "there are only two groups that are beating the drums for war in the Middle East - the Israeli defense ministry and its 'amen corner' in the United States." He also said, "The Israelis want this war desperately because they want the United States to destroy the Iraqi war machine. They want us to finish them off. They don't care about our relations with the Arab world." When he delivered a keynote address at the 1992 Republican National Convention, known as the culture war speech, he described "a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America". The Crown Heights Riots of 1991 were a violent expression of tensions within a very poor urban community. They pitted African American residents against followers of Hassidic Judaism. TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY The first years of the twenty-first century have seen an upsurge of antisemitism. Several authors argue that this is antisemitism of a new type, which they call New Antisemitism . In the context of the " Global War On Terrorism " there have been statements by both the Democrat Ernest Hollings and the right-wing Republican Pat Buchanan which suggest that the George W. Bush Administration went to war in order to win Jewish supporters. This has some echoes of Lindbergh’s claim before WW2 that a Jewish minority was pushing America into a war against its interests. Hollings wrote an editorial in the May 6, 2004 ''Charleston Post and Courier'', where he argued that Bush invaded Iraq possibly because "spreading democracy in the Mideast to secure Israel would take the Jewish vote from the Democrats." |
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