Words · Antisemitism
Initial pass“ANTISEMITISM”
A word with a precise history but no single definition. Everyone agrees on the classic tropes; the fight is over where criticism of Israel ends and hatred of Jews begins. This entry separates the settled from the contested — the history, the competing definitions, the recurring tropes, and real accusations sorted by how disputed they actually are.
Unlike genocide, “antisemitism” has no single legal definition. It has a precise history, a set of recognizable forms, and several competing definitions that disagree about exactly one thing — where criticism of Israel ends and hatred of Jews begins. This page separates what is settled from what is contested.
The word “Semite”
“Semitic” was coined around 1781 as a label for a language family — not a people or a race. The name comes from Shem, a son of Noah in Genesis. Crucially, the Semitic languages include Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Amharic and others, spoken today by hundreds of millions of people. By the linguistic meaning, “Semites” emphatically includes Arabs — yet “antisemitism” has only ever meant hatred of Jews. That mismatch is the source of endless confusion. [Etymonline]
Where the word came from (1879)
The German agitator Wilhelm Marr popularized “antisemitism” (German Antisemitismus) and founded the League of Antisemitesin 1879. German already had a plain word for Jew-hatred — Judenhass — but it sounded religious, implying conversion could end the hostility. Marr deliberately wanted a word with a modern, pseudo-scientific, racial ring, casting Jews as an unassimilable race rather than a faith. From its first use it meant prejudice against Jews alone — never “all Semitic peoples.” [USHMM]
Why “antisemitism,” not “anti-Semitism”
Major institutions — the IHRA, Yad Vashem, the ADL, the AP stylebook and The New York Times— now write it as one closed word. The hyphenated “anti-Semitism” implies there is a thing called “Semitism” that one opposes, quietly reviving the discredited racial category that 19th-century race-science invented. Closing the word keeps it meaning one thing: hatred of Jews. [IHRA]
The forms of antisemitism
Antisemitism is not one thing. Scholars break it into recognizable forms that emerged in layers and still coexist today. Knowing which form you are looking at is the first step in any honest analysis — and the last one is where the disagreement lives.
Antiquity – 1700s
Targets Jews as a faith. In principle, conversion could end it.
The oldest form, rooted in medieval Christian Europe: the deicide charge (“the Jews killed Jesus”, repudiated by the Catholic Church only in 1965), the blood libel, well-poisoning accusations, forced conversions, expulsions and ghettos. Because the target was the religion, baptism was, in theory, an escape.
USHMM →Expand each form for its defining marker, era, and a source. The first five draw broad consensus; the sixth is the contested frontier.
The classic tropes
If the forms above are the categories, these are the specific, recurring claims and images they show up as — the “classic tropes” referenced throughout the case record. Almost every definition agrees they are antisemitic, so when one appears the dispute is usually about intent, not about the trope itself. Described here neutrally, not endorsed.
The fault line, stated plainly
Almost everyone agrees on two things: antisemitism is real and rising, and not all criticism of Israel is antisemitic. The sharp, unresolved disagreement is about exactly where the line falls— and which definition gets to draw it. That is the whole game, and it is why the same statement can be called antisemitic by one credible body and protected speech by another.
The competing definitions
There is no single definition of antisemitism. These are the ones that actually drive policy and argument. They agree on the classic forms and diverge on one question: does criticism of Israel or Zionism count? Each is quoted from its own source.
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
On Israel & Zionism
Of the 11 examples, 7 concern Israel. The definition also states that 'criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.'
The 11 contemporary examples
The examples are flagged below; the 7 marked “Israel” are the ones the Jerusalem Declaration was written to contest.
- Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
- Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as the myth of a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other institutions.
- Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
- Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of Nazi Germany (the Holocaust).
- Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.Israel
- Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.Israel
- Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.Israel
- Applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.Israel
- Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus, or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.Israel
- Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.Israel
- Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel.Israel
Standing
The most widely adopted. Endorsed by dozens of countries and the EU, and built into US policy via Executive Order 13899 (2019) and Executive Order 14188 (2025); also adopted by many universities.
Main criticisms
- Critics say the Israel-related examples are vague and chill legitimate criticism of Israel and Palestinian-rights advocacy.
- Kenneth Stern, a lead drafter, has publicly warned that the definition is being 'weaponized' to suppress campus speech — a use he says it was never written for.
Sources lean on the USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia, the IHRA, the Jerusalem Declaration, Yad Vashem / ADL, and standard etymological references. Where history or definition is genuinely contested, it is marked as such rather than resolved here.