# anti-Semitic Arabs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 26, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362 "2006-04-26T21:38:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362/1 "2006-04-26T21:38:21Z")
Isn’t that a bit of a contradiction, or at least indicate something odd going on? I mean, Arabs are Semites, just the same as Jews are, right? What am I missing? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362/2 "2006-04-26T21:42:43Z")
You’re missing the generally accepted meaning of “anti-semitic”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362/3 "2006-04-26T21:42:49Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > Isn’t that a bit of a contradiction, or at least indicate something odd going on? I mean, Arabs are Semites, just the same as Jews are, right? > > What am I missing? Lots of Jews living in Europe (esp. Germany) over the centuries… very few Arabs. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362/4 "2006-04-26T21:42:54Z")
Historically, yes, Semite has equated to Arab. But in a contemporary context, isn’t it bleedin’ obvious what’s meant? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362/5 "2006-04-26T21:51:08Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Historically, yes, Semite has equated to Arab. But in a contemporary context, isn’t it bleedin’ obvious what’s meant? > [@](#): > > The term anti-Semitism has historically referred to prejudice towards Jews alone, and this was the only use of this word for more than a century. It does not traditionally refer to prejudice toward other people who speak Semitic languages (e.g. Arabs or Assyrians). Bernard Lewis, Professor of Near Eastern Studies Emeritus at Princeton University, says that “Anti-Semitism has never anywhere been concerned with anyone but Jews.”[8] From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Semitic#Etymology\_and\_usage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Semitic#Etymology_and_usage) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362/6 "2006-04-26T21:51:14Z")
When the term “antisemitism” was first used, in the late 19th century, the only big Semitic group in Europe were Jews. So, even though there are other Semites than Jews, by the time speakers of the other Semitic languages entered into the public consciousness, the term had already become common as meaning “hatred of Jews”. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362/7 "2006-04-26T21:51:18Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > What am I missing? The historical context of the word “anti-semitism”. Wilhelm Marr coined the term in 1879- he was looking for a more scholarly-sounding word for “Jew-hatred”. Anti-semitism means and always has meant prejudice against Jews, not prejudice against Arabs or other Semites. That’s why you don’t hear anyone call it “anti-semitism” when people who look Arab are discriminated against at airports or harassed- it’s always called racism. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362/8 "2006-04-26T21:53:33Z")
**Telemark** : > [@](#): > > 1847, “Jew, Arab, Assyrian, Aramæan,” from Mod.L. Semita, from L.L. Sem “Shem,” one of the three sons of Noah (Gen. x:21-30), regarded as the ancestor of the Semites (in the days when anthropology was still bound by the Bible), from Heb. Shem. Semitic (1813 of languages, 1826 of persons) is probably from Ger. semitisch (first used by Ger. historian August Schlözer, 1781), denoting the language group that includes Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Assyrian, etc. In recent use often with the specific sense “Jewish,” but not historically so limited. > **[semite | Origin and meaning of semite by Online Etymology Dictionary](https://www.etymonline.com/word/Semite)** > > SEMITE Meaning: "a Jew, Arab, Assyrian, or Aramaean" (an apparently isolated use from 1797 refers to the Semitic… See definitions of semite. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362/9 "2006-04-26T21:55:40Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > The historical context of the word “anti-semitism”. > > Wilhelm Marr coined the term in 1879- he was looking for a more scholarly-sounding word for “Jew-hatred”. Anti-semitism means and always has meant prejudice against Jews, not prejudice against Arabs or other Semites. That’s why you don’t hear anyone call it “anti-semitism” when people who look Arab are discriminated against at airports or harassed- it’s always called racism. This is what I was wondering. I’m well aware of the commonly accepted modern meaning of the term “anti-semitic.” I was more curious as to how it got that way, or whose idea it was. I should have been more direct in my OP. Can anyone think of another ethnic group that has a term all their own for racism directed against them? Hate blacks? “Racism.” Asians? “Racism.” Latinos? “Racism.” But if you hate Jews, it’s “anti-semitism,” to the point that it sounds weird to refer to it as simply racism. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362/10 "2006-04-26T22:15:24Z")
In a way, it’s vaguely akin to “homophobia,” which as a number of people, some of them without any intent to troll, have pointed out, literally means fear of males or fear of the same – _not_ the contemporary standard usage of the word. Likewise, it’s developed the special meaning of “against Jews” instead of the etymologically more logical but incorrect meaning of “against all Semites.” ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362/11 "2006-04-26T23:23:44Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > Can anyone think of another ethnic group that has a term all their own for racism directed against them? Hate blacks? “Racism.” Asians? “Racism.” Latinos? “Racism.” But if you hate Jews, it’s “anti-semitism,” to the point that it sounds weird to refer to it as simply racism. The thing is, Jews are an ethnicity and a religion. There are anti-semites who are against Judaism as a religion, but have no problem with Jews once we convert to some other religion. There are also anti-semites who think Jews are somehow biologically inferior, as the Nazis did- they still persecuted Jews who had converted to other faiths. We also don’t have a simple, common word for “discrimination based on religion” like we have racism for race discrimination, sexism for sex discrimination, and homophobia for anti-gay discrimination. I wonder why that is- there’s certainly been plenty of prejudice based on religion around that you’d think there would be a word for it. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-semitic-arabs/354362/12 "2006-04-27T01:37:38Z")
[Homer Simpson] 'Dirty rotten Assyrians [/Homer Simpson]