And the reality is that almost any Jew interprets “Anti-Zionism” to be “Israel should be destroyed”, which is unsurprising when recent opinion polling shows that among 18-24 year old Americans want “Israel to be ended and given to Hamas”.
It’s pretty weird phrasing for a poll where “58 percent said Hamas should be removed from running Gaza, and a plurality, 45 percent, said Israel should be the one to run Gaza if Hamas is removed.”
Antisemitism isn’t about hatred of Semites, it’s specifically hatred of Jews. It’s impossible to be antisemitic to non-Jews. While it’s common and understandable, most Jews would also ask that you don’t hyphenate antisemitism precisely because it leads people to make that above mistake.
The term has come to be exclusively applied, but at a technical level the word’s construction relates to a broader set of people who are closely related to the population it is exclusively applied to. Ironically the desire to avoid hyphenation is to distance Jewish identity from the notion of the ethnic associations of Semites, which really just goes to how inappropriate the term is in general. Prejudice against a Japanese person who converted to Judaism for their religion probably shouldn’t be labeled with a term relating to an ethnic origin, but prejudice against an ethnically Jewish atheist is quite appropriately labeled as such. The problem is we’re lumping two very different prejudices together (against religion vs against ethnicity).
Also, as someone who is ethnically Jewish, you might want to check your “almost any Jew interprets” or “most Jews would ask” - it’s a bit gross to be Jew-splained to, especially when you certainly don’t speak for me or most of my family.
The term has come to be exclusively applied, but at a technical level the word’s construction relates to a broader set of people who are closely related to the population it is exclusively applied to.
This isn’t true. It surprises me that you understand antisemitism so poorly given your own exposure to the risk of it.
The word “Semitic” was first used by a German historian in 1781 to bind together languages of Middle Eastern origin that have some linguistic similarities. The speakers of those languages, however, do not otherwise have shared heritage or history. There is no such thing as a Semitic peoplehood. Additionally, one could speak a Semitic language and still have anti-Semitic views.
And in 1879, German journalist Wilhelm Marr coined “Antisemitismus” to mean hatred of the Jewish “race,” adding racial and pseudo-scientific overtones to the animus behind the word. But hatred toward Jews, both today and in the past, goes beyond any false perception of a Jewish race; it is wrapped up in complicated historical, political, religious, and social dynamics.
And yes, I agree with the second paragraph that the term is a poor one (for reasons I further laid out in my comment) and should be retired for two different terms regarding bias against Judaism and bias against ethnic Jews.
It’s pretty weird phrasing for a poll where “58 percent said Hamas should be removed from running Gaza, and a plurality, 45 percent, said Israel should be the one to run Gaza if Hamas is removed.”
And if we’re talking about polls, less than 30% of Jewish Israelis support a two state solution, so the idea of polls dictating foreign policy might not be the best idea in general for either Israel or Palestine.
The term has come to be exclusively applied, but at a technical level the word’s construction relates to a broader set of people who are closely related to the population it is exclusively applied to. Ironically the desire to avoid hyphenation is to distance Jewish identity from the notion of the ethnic associations of Semites, which really just goes to how inappropriate the term is in general. Prejudice against a Japanese person who converted to Judaism for their religion probably shouldn’t be labeled with a term relating to an ethnic origin, but prejudice against an ethnically Jewish atheist is quite appropriately labeled as such. The problem is we’re lumping two very different prejudices together (against religion vs against ethnicity).
Also, as someone who is ethnically Jewish, you might want to check your “almost any Jew interprets” or “most Jews would ask” - it’s a bit gross to be Jew-splained to, especially when you certainly don’t speak for me or most of my family.
This isn’t true. It surprises me that you understand antisemitism so poorly given your own exposure to the risk of it.
https://www.adl.org/spelling-antisemitism-vs-anti-semitism
Many of the peoples who speak Semetic languages are in fact closely related, even if not all of the peoples are by basis of speaking the languages.
And yes, I agree with the second paragraph that the term is a poor one (for reasons I further laid out in my comment) and should be retired for two different terms regarding bias against Judaism and bias against ethnic Jews.