# Why do people hate Jews? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 8, 2004, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711 "2004-12-08T06:58:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/21 "2004-12-08T17:58:57Z")
I’ve been reading more of that argument on [http://www.aish.com/seminars/whythejews/](http://www.aish.com/seminars/whythejews/) . If I could take a picture of it, I’d put it in the dictionary under “sophistry.” Repeat after me: _Different people have different reasons, & traiditions gain a life of their own. Anti-Judaism survives on momentum & its own reputation, & different anti-Jewish people have different rationales._ Also, _Oy._ ---
**Author:** ![WeRSauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@WeRSauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WeRSauron)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/22 "2004-12-08T18:02:02Z")
Well, it is possible to be against Israel but not against Jews, although the line between the two is pretty thin, considering how much Jews identify with and support Israel. After all, there are many Jews who are adamantly opposed to the establishment of the State of Israel (and many Jews who oppose the Israeli government’s policies), but they cannot be called anti-Jews. (In response to **Staggerlee** : Problems and the solutions thereof with any people lie within themselves. Victimization is counterproductive because it basically says that they are powerless to do anything, which is false. Deliverance comes from within; one should not wait for deliverance from outside. Fouad Ajami of Johns Hopkins University, himself an Arab, explains this well.) WRS/Thû ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/23 "2004-12-08T18:09:51Z")
Um, is anyone else weirded out that _the Necromancer_ (may his name be defamed & adopted by a reptilian comic-book character) is professing his support of Israel? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/24 "2004-12-08T18:24:33Z")
I believe jgroub hit the nail on the head. For two thousand years Christians have been taught that the Jews were responsible for the death of Christ. The trail starts with the Gospels, whose writers went out of their way to exonerate the Romans, and leads, one might almost say inevitably, to the gates of Auschwitz. Look at Martin Luther’s [The Jews and Their Lies](http://www.humanitas-international.org/showcase/chronography/documents/luther-jews.htm) , if you can stomach it. The Nazis were heirs to a long tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/25 "2004-12-08T18:31:05Z")
Basically being a dispersed group is tough. I imagine that the Gypsies have taken it on the chin about as much as the Jews have, they just aren’t as literate or wealthy so we hear about it less. And a lot of antisemitism isn’t that mysterious. For example, in the middle-ages and Rennisance the jews were treated about as poorly or even maybe a little bit better then anyother non-mainstream religion. The Cathers or the Lollards, for example, probably wished they got the soft treatment the jews got. The Catholics and Protestants spent two hundred years trying to wipe eachother out, and the musliums treated the jews and christians as protected people, at least when compared to how they treated other pagans. And as others have said, much of todays antisemitism stems from anti-israeli setiment. The Palestinians hate the jews for the same wholesome reasons any two peoples have hated eachother throughout history, their direct competitors for the same lands and resources. The wider arab world hates the jews because they have taken possession of land that was traditionally arab, and because the israelis trounced them in several consecutive wars. Hitler hated the jews because they were non-aryan, it is easy to forget that he killed many other groups as well. His siganling out of the jews early on was probably a function of their being both more prominant then the gypsies and slavs in German society, and because they had a lot more stuff to steal so killing them was more profitable. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/26 "2004-12-08T18:39:27Z")
Not a reason to hate, but several Jewish actions may have caused resentment towards Jewish peoples and communities over the years. Jewish people are I believe meant to offer different credit terms within the Jewish community than to outsiders, and Jewish people are meant only to marry within their community. This sort of thing is of course not uniquely Jewish, but I think it may have caused resentment to those who deal with people from within the Jewish community. Ksoher food rules may also have a similar effect in that a non Jewish person may purchase food from a Kosher store, but a Jewish person might only buy food from a Kosher store, again benifiting the Kosher food store over the non Kosher store. I don’t know why Jewish people sem to specialise and dominate in certain trades in certain areas, but this also might cause a feeling of resentment by non-Jewish people in such trades. I have seen evidence of Jewish buisnesspeople dominating within the Tayloring and Jewelry buisness, I have no real idea as to why. I have obviously heard about Jewish buisness people dominating within Banking but have not seen any evidence for this myself. So resentment might be through Jewish skill in certain trades, and in their somewhat closed community. This is of course not a Jewish only thing, such groups as Upper Class English, Hindus communities outside India, Muslims communities outside of Muslim countries, and just about any sizeable ex-pat community have a similar situation. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/27 "2004-12-08T18:48:05Z")
If you have a community that is closed… keeps to itself and makes sure the money stays in their community as much as possible… dresses wierdly, doesn’t work saturdays… and talk in a wierd language… is it that strange to think of them as “wierd” or “outsiders” ? I don’t think so. Hating is bad… but the reasons seem apparent to all. Jews have up to a point made themselves into outsiders… and the hatred and persecution probably made this “isolation” even greater. Plus the fact that you’re only a Jew if your Mom is… In modern times I think its more jealousy than before… Jews are so well educated… I was impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Abe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f1d935/32.png) [@Abe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/28 "2004-12-08T19:55:40Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Anti-Americanism, while stupid, is not comparable to anti-Semitism. Anti-Americanism can have a tenuous connection to rationality in those that condemn Americans for the faults of the US. While you can hardly find a rational reason to damn all Jews as a group – especially when it includes believers and non-believers. What possible rational motive could exist that allows you to hate a secular Jew in Hong Kong as well as a faithful Jew in Yemen? No one said reasons have to be rational. In response to the assertion that anti-semitism is on the rise, I posit the reasons for anti-whatever (in this case anti-Americanism) as an illustration of cause and effect. In the present case, the actions and policies of Israel in recent history have provided more than enough animus to fuel anti-jewish sentiments (ditto with regards to the US). I won’t pretend to be able to resolve the much bigger question of why the Jews, but I think a number of likely explanations have already been brought up. I am merely pointing out that it is hardly surprising that anti-jewish sentiment is on the rise, just as it is not surprising that anti-American sentiment is also on the rise. There is rarely such thing as hate for hate’s sake. Usually there are triggers or at the least contributing factors – whether they be the insularity of a culture, perceived arrogance, anecdotal or real economic advantages, projection of power, etc., this is often all the reason people need. There are often reasons for ethnic and religious tensions and conflict. Not necessarily morally or rationally valid ones, but at least partially explanatory nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/29 "2004-12-08T19:58:31Z")
> [@WeRSauron](#): > > Well, it is possible to be against Israel but not against Jews, although the line between the two is pretty thin, considering how much Jews identify with and support Israel. After all, there are many Jews who are adamantly opposed to the establishment of the State of Israel (and many Jews who oppose the Israeli government’s policies), but they cannot be called anti-Jews. The line is not thin at all; it’s rather well-defined. One can easily be critical of the Israeli government’s policies without being anti-Semitic. In fact, one could even be against the existance of the Israel without harboring a hatred of Jews. Of course, many anti-Semites excoriate Israel to the point of utter vilification, but that hardly means one can’t criticize Israel legitimately. And, no, the fact that many Jews are pro-Israel does not change this. A non-Jew has as much a right to censure Israel as a Yid. One might question their motives if they are overly critical, but that does not render their objections moot. > [@](#): > > (In response to **Staggerlee** : Problems and the solutions thereof with any people lie within themselves. Victimization is counterproductive because it basically says that they are powerless to do anything, which is false. Deliverance comes from within; one should not wait for deliverance from outside. Fouad Ajami of Johns Hopkins University, himself an Arab, explains this well.) > > WRS/Thû Fouad Ajami [has](http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2001/12/21/ajami/index.html) his [detractors](http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030428&s=shatz): > [@](#): > > Despite his training in political science, Ajami often sounds like a pop psychologist in his writing about the Arab world or, as he variously calls it, “the world of Araby,” “that Arab world” and “those Arab lands.” According to Ajami, that world is “gripped in a poisonous rage” and “wedded to a worldview of victimology,” bad habits reinforced by its leaders, “megalomaniacs who never tell their people what can and cannot be had in the world of nations.” There is, to be sure, a grain of truth in Ajami’s grim assessment. Progressive Arab thinkers from Sadeq al-Azm to Adonis have issued equally bleak indictments of Arab political culture, lambasting the dearth of self-criticism and the constant search for external scapegoats. Unlike these writers, however, Ajami has little sympathy for the people of the region, unless they happen to live within the borders of “rogue states” like Iraq, in which case they must be “liberated” by American force. The corrupt regimes that rule the Arab world, he has suggested, are more or less faithful reflections of the “Arab psyche”: “Despots always work with a culture’s yearnings… After all, a hadith, a saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, maintains ‘You will get the rulers you deserve.’” His own taste in regimes runs to monarchies like Kuwait. The Jews of Israel, it seems, are not just the only people in the region who enjoy the fruits of democracy; they are the only ones who deserve them. > > Once upon a time, Ajami was an articulate and judicious critic both of Arab society and of the West, a defender of Palestinian rights and an advocate of decent government in the Arab world. Though he remains a shrewd guide to the hypocrisies of Arab leaders, his views on foreign policy now scarcely diverge from those of pro-Israel hawks in the Bush Administration. “Since the Gulf War, Fouad has taken leave of his analytic perspective to play to his elite constituency,” said Augustus Richard Norton, a Middle East scholar at Boston University. “It’s very unfortunate because he could have made an astonishingly important contribution.” > [@](#): > > Ajami’s vocal critics don’t so much condemn Ajami’s findings as argue that by showering him with so much attention, the media presents a distorted picture of how most experts perceive the Arab world. > > “The United States media is giving its audience a misleading view of what mainstream Arab scholars say,” says Hafez Al-Mirazi, the Washington bureau chief for Al-Jazeera. “I don’t see many Arabs with that much access unless they’re willing to reinforce old stereotypes.” > > … > > “Dr. Ajami is clearly very bright. He writes extremely well and he has a great deal of insight into the Middle East,” says DePaul University’s McCloud. “But on these television programs there is not a conversation between diversity of Muslim opinion. I say don’t exclude Ajami’s voice, but don’t make it the only one.” Essentially, the point here is not that Ajami isn’t a respectable scholar, but that he has been elevated to a sort of mythic status as a dissenting voice in the face of an Arab blackout on anyone who does not toe the party line of anti-Westernism. No one is disputing his authority or his credibility, but there are issues on which others may reasonably disagree. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/30 "2004-12-08T20:10:56Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > . > Jewish people are I believe meant to offer different credit terms within the Jewish community than to outsiders Cite? Not one of the rabbis I’ve ever studied under mentioned a thing about this. Nor have I ever walked into a Jewish bussiness/bank and given the secret signal in order to get 5% off. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/31 "2004-12-08T20:58:55Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Cite? > Not one of the rabbis I’ve ever studied under mentioned a thing about this. > Nor have I ever walked into a Jewish bussiness/bank and given the secret signal in order to get 5% off. Not at all sure, I heard that since money lending was illegal amongst Jews that there was a significant ammount of zero interest money borrowing within the community, but I am not in any way claiming this to be true or a fact. Even then a rumour of it would cause the same sort of resentment I was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/32 "2004-12-08T21:03:08Z")
> **[Does any major branch of Christianity still consider usury a sin?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=282007)** > > …or any minor one, for that matter? I actually mean this more as a General Question, but due to the subject matter, I figured it’s safer in GD. In some of my literature and history courses, I’ve come across a lot of Medieval literature condemning... post #4 is where I had got the idea that Jews were not allowed to lend money to other Jews at Interest. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/33 "2004-12-08T21:10:54Z")
> [@WeRSauron](#): > > Arabs can take care of themselves without the patronage of WASPs, thankyouverymuch. Can’t Israel do the same thing? ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/34 "2004-12-08T21:16:50Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Not at all sure, I heard that since money lending was illegal amongst Jews that there was a significant ammount of zero interest money borrowing within the community, but I am not in any way claiming this to be true or a fact. Even then a rumour of it would cause the same sort of resentment I was talking about. Jews are forbidden to lend money to one another on interest. However, they can lend money to (and borrow from) non-Jews on interest. IOW, it works both ways - non-Jews can make money off of our borrowing just as we can off of their borrowing. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/35 "2004-12-08T21:44:17Z")
Sweet, loan me a $50, Zev! ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/36 "2004-12-08T21:58:55Z")
Neither a borrower nor a lendor be! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/37 "2004-12-09T00:33:12Z")
> [@Abe](#): > > Indeed, as is anti-Americanism. One wonders in both cases if approach and policy can have _anything whatsoever_ to do with it? > > On the other hand it is a lot easier to be intellectually bankrupt and express disingenuous victimhood based on externalized loci of control, by saying things like “they hate us because we exist/are better off than them/have freedom”. > > It’s never that simple or one-sided. I think it’s possible to be, say, less-than-thrilled with Ariel Sharon’s policies, or rather ambivalent about Zionism, and still avoid being a rabid Jew-hater. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/38 "2004-12-09T01:03:18Z")
> [@Abe](#): > > In response to the assertion that anti-semitism is on the rise, I posit the reasons for anti-whatever (in this case anti-Americanism) as an illustration of cause and effect. In the present case, the actions and policies of Israel in recent history have provided more than enough animus to fuel anti-jewish sentiments… Well, that certain explains the history of anti-Semitism prior to 1948. > [@](#): > > There is rarely such thing as hate for hate’s sake. Usually there are triggers or at the least contributing factors – whether they be the insularity of a culture, perceived arrogance, anecdotal or real economic advantages, projection of power, etc., this is often all the reason people need. Maybe we could ask the black posters here whether there is such a thing as hate for hate’s sake, or to describe what “triggers” or “perceived arrogance” they’ve supplied to spur on racism. I am pleased though, to hear that Jews have an official “policy”, as you described earlier. Oooo, is there a website? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![OliverTwistofLime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b487fb/32.png) [@OliverTwistofLime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OliverTwistofLime)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/39 "2004-12-09T02:05:54Z")
Lets talk Nobel Prize winners for example: 20% of the World’s population are Muslims = 1.6 Billion people Nobel prize winners to date about 5 including Yasser Arafat’s Nobel Peace Prize. 0.20% of the world’s population are Jews = around 15 Million people. Nobel prize winners to date approximately 127. Because of, generally speaking, they are unusually bright, they are more often than not successful as doctors, lawyers, accountants, business, scientific fields. If a non Jewish employee for any reason loses his job, its common to say that the Jewish boss canned me whether this is true or not. As a result, many millions of people are suspicious of a Jew’s motives and the seeds for antisemetism blow in the wind. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711/40 "2004-12-09T03:30:35Z")
> [@Rashak Mani](#): > > If you have a community that is closed… keeps to itself and makes sure the money stays in their community as much as possible… dresses wierdly, doesn’t work saturdays… and talk in a wierd language… is it that strange to think of them as “wierd” or “outsiders” ? I don’t think so. Hating is bad… but the reasons seem apparent to all. > > Jews have up to a point made themselves into outsiders… and the hatred and persecution probably made this “isolation” even greater. Plus the fact that you’re only a Jew if your Mom is… To add: Any statistically tiny group that holds itself apart from others and succeeds wildly out of proportion to its numbers–and we’re talking wealth and privilege here–is going to be resented, period. Especially when said group embraces distinct customs and frequently worries aloud about the “threat” of assimilation with mainstream America–this at a time when assimilation is widely perceived as a good thing. It’s hard to reconcile the fact that ~20-25 percent of Ivy League student bodies are Jewish and that the proportion of Jews in American medical and law school are 15-20 times their representation on a national per capita basis. Objectively, it’s difficult to explain to bright, industrious students why Jews succeed in getting into the best colleges, far out of proportion to the national average. Ask any African American, gay or woman, and they’ll confirm that job discrimination exists. Just as gentiles discriminate against Jews, Jews discriminate against gentiles, by preferentially hiring from “their own tribe,” as one Jewish acquaintance recently said. When you concentrate wealth within your own narrow group at the expense of other groups whose wealth you solicit, it invites resentment. (We’re not talking affluent WASPs here; we’re talking middle-class Americans.) One could argue that preferential hiring is rational, but the trend in the US has been toward fairer, more impartial practices. Try talking about this issue in a rational way and you can find yourself being shouted down and smeared with pejorative labels. The media won’t touch this topic in any serious way, which itself is odd, considering that most everything is fair game these days and generating controversy is the name of the game. Ditto at universities. Instead of exploring an issue that should be of interest, there’s just silence. There are other factors, both contemporary and historic, many outlined above. Anti-semitism is hardly American or German. It is global and spans centuries. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-hate-jews/278711.md?page=3)