I have taken the liberty of quoting the title of a book written by the late Professor Robert Wistrich, and adding the word “Why?” Professor Wistrich, who was the head of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was possibly the world’s leading expert on the history of antisemitism. He wrote his best-known book ‘Antisemitism, the World’s Longest Hatred’ thirty years ago, in 1992.

Antisemitism as a spiritual issue

I met Robert Wistrich on two occasions. The first was when he was a guest speaker at the premiere screening in Jerusalem of the Hebrew version of one of my films: The Forsaken Promise, which is an in-depth look at Britain’s conduct of the Mandate for Palestine – a story of betrayal and treachery. The second time was over lunch, again, in Jerusalem just a few days before his sudden and tragic death in Rome. On that occasion we discussed a question that I had put to him when we first met: “Have you considered the possibility that the root of antisemitism is in fact spiritual?” This is the main question we examine in this article.

The first recorded attempt to wipe out the nation of Israel resulted in one of the most remarkable events in history as God delivered them from the armies of Egypt who sought to annihilate them on the shores of the Red Sea. The next recorded attempt at genocide of the Jewish people is written in the Book of Esther. The Nazis carried out the most recent attempt, and even today the ayatollahs of Iran continually threaten to wipe the Jewish State off the face of the earth.

The Jews have undoubtedly been the most hated people-group/nation on earth, and for the longest period of time – almost three-and-a-half thousand years.

The Jews have undoubtedly been the most hated people-group/nation on earth, and for the longest period of time – almost three-and-a-half thousand years. Which begs another question: how come they have survived for so long, and still thrive today? We will look further at that question later.

Judeophobia and anti-Zionism

The word ‘antisemitism’ is not necessarily the best word to describe the pathological hatred of the Jewish people. Strictly speaking the Arabs are also a Semitic people, and sometimes we are reminded of that fact. In today’s parlance, ‘phobia’ is often attached to a word in order to accentuate the subject of the dislike, and for which those are vilified for so doing. “Something-phobia” is a term widely recognised in today’s Western society – so why not Judeophobia? So, for the purposes of this article I am going to use this word interchangeably with what is generally understood to be antisemitism.

A few years ago the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) provided a definition of antisemitism which has been adopted by a number of governments around the world, including the Australian government (see here).

What is often referred to as ‘anti-Israelism’ or ‘anti-Zionism’ is part of the IHRA definition, which includes the clause: “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”. Politically speaking, Zionism is exercising the right of self-determination in the historic homeland of the Jewish people – no more and no less.

Politically speaking, Zionism is exercising the right of self-determination in the historic homeland of the Jewish people – no more and no less.

Double standards abound

The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement is all about de-legitimising the State of Israel, as is the recent Amnesty International report, which falsely accuses Israel of being an ‘Apartheid State’ and specifically uses the wording “colonial racist endeavour”. The report is therefore, according to the IHRA definition, anti-Semitic/Judeophobic. That, of course, raises a question about the organisation itself.

Fortunately a number of Western governments, including the Australian government, as well as prominent Israeli Arabs and even at least one Palestinian Human Rights Activist – Bassem Eid – have denounced the Amnesty International Report. 

Another clause in the IHRA definition says, regarding Israel: “Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation” is also anti-Semitic. In this respect, therefore, why is it that the BDS movement, the UN Human Rights Council, and other UN agencies, turn a blind-eye to countries like Iran, North Korea and China, with its treatment of its Uighur population, yet they never come under condemnation?

Of course, much of the Western media – the BBC, Australia’s ABC, (both government funded), CNN, The New York Times, The Guardian and many others, are all complicit in this. Hamas, which is a designated terrorist organisation, escapes scrutiny for firing thousands of rockets into Israel (a war crime), while Israel is vilified and condemned for defending its civilian population (which is allowed by international law). Without doubt, double standards are applied against Israel – i.e. Judeophobia.

God-given destiny

So why is Judeophobia the world’s longest hatred? What is behind the centuries of hatred, vilification, blood-libels, persecution, pogroms, theft of property, murder and even genocide? I cannot give a definitive answer, but I would like to give some clues. Undoubtedly envy, jealousy and fear play a part. One of the characteristics of Judeophobia is that it is nearly always based on falsehood and lies. But why has it persisted for these thousands of years against one particular people? There has to be more to it than what is outlined above. Could the God-given destiny of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have something to do with it?

Could the God-given destiny of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have something to do with it?

A few weeks after God delivered Israel through the Red Sea from the Egyptians, the Lord took Moses aside and gave him the Torah, which would be the moral building block for society. The Lord also declared that Israel would be “a special treasure to Me above all people, for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex 19:5-6). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul, writing specifically about Israel, emphatically affirmed: “The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.”

The early Church

It is important to remember that the first generation of the Church was virtually 100% Jewish. Paul was writing to the church in Rome, which was largely made up of Gentiles, the Jews having been expelled by Emperor Nero. If you have never done so, I suggest that you read through Romans chapters 9 to 11. Quite possibly, the Apostle was addressing an emerging problem, which then escalated through most of the Gentile Church establishment in the centuries that followed: Judeophobia. Even though the canon of the New Testament was not finalised for several centuries, many of the church leaders from the 2nd century AD onwards actually disparaged the ancient Hebrew Scriptures – what we know as the Old Testament.

Jews were branded as ‘Christ-killers’ and accused of ‘deicide’ i.e. being ‘murderers of God’ – and persecuted for it. A careful study of the New Testament will reveal that there are no grounds whatsoever for such accusations. Jesus Christ himself said: “I lay down My life that I may take it again. No-one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again. This command I have received from My father.” (John 10:17-18)

It is a fact of history that the greatest persecutor of the Jewish people has been Christendom. 

Just before Jesus was baptised, John the Baptist declared to the surrounding witnesses: “Behold, The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). As he was hanging on the cross, Jesus uttered the words: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 22:34). The fact is that Jesus went voluntarily to the cross to die for our sin. And then he rose from the dead, and awaits, at the right hand of the Father, to return to Jerusalem!

Judgement comes

It is a fact of history that the greatest persecutor of the Jewish people has been Christendom. Space doesn’t permit me to elaborate on the awful atrocities, including blood libels and mass murder, that the Church establishment has perpetrated against Jews over the centuries, other than to say this: the Church’s behaviour towards the Jews has seriously misrepresented the true mission of Jesus, and slandered not only His character, but the character of God Himself.

When Judgement Day comes, He will hold Christians who engaged in such Judeophobic behaviour to account: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matt 7:21-22).

Part 2 is available here.