Fernando Alcoforado*
This article aims to present the causes of anti-Semitism, its evolution throughout history and its future perspectives, as well as proposing how to definitively bury anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is a term historically associated with Jews. An anti-Semite is, according to the dictionary, someone opposed to the Semitic race, the Semites, especially the Jews. In the article Por que há quem veja a Paixão de Cristo como origem do antissemitismo (Why there are those who see the Passion of Christ as the origin of anti-Semitism), published on the website <https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-47984366>, its author Alejandro Millán Valencia asks the following: Would it be the narrative of Passion of Christ source of modern anti-Semitism? Alejandro Millán Valencia states that anti-Semitism arises with anti-Judaism in the beginnings of Christianity. There are documented records of several ancient writings that speak of “rejection” and “fear” of the Jewish people – what is defined as classical anti-Judaism. There are records of writers who blamed the Jews for the death of Christ. In the Roman Empire, the monotheistic character of the Jewish religion was not well regarded, nor was “the belief that the Jews were God’s chosen people”. It is true that the Romans did not take kindly to Jewish customs, nor to the fact that they worshiped only one God. The Jews were seen by Christians as people who killed Jesus. After the death of Christ and the publication of the first versions of the gospels, the feeling was even greater due to texts such as those by Justin and Saint Augustine. Justin, who died around 168 AD, is recognized as one of the first to have an anti-Jewish stance, having indicated in several texts that the Jews were guilty of persecuting Christians, and that they had been doing so since “they had killed Jesus”. Saint Augustine, one of the main Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages, highlighted the need to promote peaceful coexistence with the Jews, but researchers remember that Saint Augustine pointed out that “they cannot escape the divine punishment of being guilty of the death of Christ”. Since the 2nd century, the Catholic Church has developed a theology highly hostile to Judaism. What developed was called “Replacement Theology” with the arrival of Christ. God would have replaced the old choice (or preference) for the Jews with his new favoritism for Christians. Many historians reject the version that the gospels, the writings of Justin – which gave special emphasis to the role of the Jews in Jesus’ passion and death – and some texts by Saint Augustine generate anti-Jewish sentiment. According to them, the origins of anti-Semitism lie in the early years of Christianity, but not so much because of the Passion of Christ, but because of the centuries-long debates between Judaism and the new Christianity. This means that the competition between Judaism and Christianity would be the origin of anti-Semitism.
In the article Antissemitismo: aprendendo as lições da história (Antisemitism: learning the lessons of history), published on the website <https://pt.unesco.org/courier/2018-1/antissemitismo-aprendendo-licoes-da-historia>, its author Robert Badinter states that antisemitism does not It is a contemporary phenomenon. It’s a centuries-old evil. Since the capture of Jerusalem by Emperor Titus in 70 AD, since the dispersion of the Jews, mainly throughout the Mediterranean basin, when they were sold into slavery in such large quantities that market prices (to use a modern economic term) plummeted in Roman Empire – the condition of the Jews for two millennia, especially in Europe, never ceased to involve exclusion, suffering and persecution. Robert Badinter states that, since that distant Roman period, we have known three forms of anti-Semitism that sometimes merge: religious, nationalist and racial. The first form of anti-Semitism is religious. Since the Edict of Milan, by Emperor Constantine, which recognized Christianity as the official religion in the year 313, anti-Semitism has always been fueled by hatred of the Jews, the people who killed Jesus Christ. With the rise of modern nations, anti-Semitism became essentially nationalist. Jews, even when they were natives of the countries in which they lived, were always foreign and suspect. The fact that the Jews assumed their responsibilities quite naturally, despite the ostracism inflicted on them, and that they occupied eminent positions in the political, economic and financial spheres, made them, in the face of the slightest national crisis, potential traitors – always in service of a mythical “international Jewish conspiracy” imagined by anti-Semites. By the end of the 19th century, the mentality had evolved. Anti-Semitism sought a scientific basis in the fashion of modern disciplines. It then became racial: the Jews were defined as a “race” of mysterious Eastern origins, which could not be assimilated by the people among whom they settled – especially those who claimed to belong to a superior Aryan race, the german, who felt threatened with degeneration by the presence among them of Jews, with their countless defects. Since the 19th century, the Jewish people began to be seen by Germans as an economic and political threat that needed to be eradicated. This is when people start talking about modern anti-Semitism, which reached its peak with the Nazi Holocaust.
In the article Antissemitismo (Antisemitism), published on the website <https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/anti-semitismo.htm>, its author Professor Daniel Neves states that the origins of antisemitism have as a starting point what we know as Jewish diaspora which was the flight of Jews who abandoned Palestine due to the persecution they suffered from the Romans in the region. Jews inhabited the Roman province of Judea, and their struggle to end Roman domination led to strong repression by the Romans in the 1st century AD. Many of the Jews who fled the region settled on the European continent, and, throughout the Middle Ages, This large presence caused them to be gradually persecuted. This is because the Jews’ sense of belonging was not linked to the land (since they had to leave theirs), but rather to their culture and religion. Thus, even integrated into the European continent, the Jews made a point of differentiating themselves by preserving their traditions and religion. The difference in religion is considered by historians to be one of the reasons for the persecution of the Jews during the Middle Ages. At that time, they largely maintained Judaism while Europe was Catholic. The fact that the Jews were seen as Jesus’ executioners also reinforced this persecution. This explains why some places in Europe decided to expel all Jews from their territories, as was the case in the United Kingdom (in 1290), Spain (in 1492) and Portugal (in 1497). The persecution of this population in Europe extended from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. During the bubonic plague pandemic, the Black Death, Jews were accused of causing the disease and were persecuted for it. Several villages inhabited by them were attacked during the period. The development of the modern state and capitalism was accompanied by the enrichment of the Jews. This enrichment was also accompanied by a small process of integration of Jews into European societies. Thus, they managed to form prosperous businesses and even rise to positions within the bureaucracies of European states. Furthermore, as bankers, they became creditors of national states. However, anti-Semitism gained a lot of strength from the 19th century onwards.
Anti-Semitism reached its highest level in Nazi Germany. In the book A chegada do Terceiro Reich (The arrival of the Third Reich), published by Editora Planeta de São Paulo in 2016, its historian author Richard J. Evans presented the panorama of anti-Semitism in Germany at the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century. Jews were a minority group in German society, but were generally well-off financially and had a high cultural level. This position made them the target of anti-Semitic speeches. Another important point is that anti-Semitism is no longer just a religious and social component and has become racial. After the First World War, anti-Semitism became widespread in Germany and was increased by a series of conspiracy theories that blamed the Jews for the German defeat in the war and that claimed that there was an international conspiracy of Jews for domination of the planet. When the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933, the persecution of Jews left the field of discourse and began to become common practice. One of the manifestations of the Nazis’ anti-Semitic policy was the Nuremberg Laws, which stripped German citizenship from all Jews (ethnic or religious) sanctioned in Germany in September 1935. Throughout the 1930s, a series of attacks against Jews occurred In Germany, Jewish businesses were boycotted, and the Jewish population was increasingly marginalized. Violence reached a major scale in November 1938, when Crystal Night occurred, which was a coordinated attack against Jews organized by the Nazi Party, which authorized people across Germany to attack Jewish homes and stores, in addition to destroying synagogues. Nazi anti-Semitism was responsible for one of the greatest genocides in human history. The anti-Semitic actions promoted by the Nazis became actions of deliberate extermination of the Jews of Europe throughout the Second World War. This situation was the result of the “Final Solution”, the Nazi plan for the total extermination of Jews on the European continent. To this end, the Nazis imprisoned Jews in concentration camps, placing them in deplorable conditions and enslaving them. Little by little, they eliminated them by shooting. It is estimated that Nazi anti-Semitism killed six million Jews, in addition to other minority groups also executed throughout the Holocaust.
Contemporary anti-Semitism is closely related to the Israel-Palestine conflict that has existed since the end of the First World War. The defeat of Turkey (Ottoman Empire), an ally of Germany defeated in the First World War (1914-1918), which exercised domination over Palestine, had decisive consequences for the future of this region. After the world conflict, the Mandates system was created by article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations on June 28, 1919, which was intended to determine the status of colonies and territories that were under the control of the defeated nations. The Mandate for Palestine under the responsibility of the British was approved by the Council of the League of Nations on July 24, 1922. The Mandate for Palestine no longer considered the objective of bringing the population that then inhabited it to full independence, that is, the population Palestine. Instead, he promoted the creation of a Jewish national home, that is, the creation of a Jewish state with people who, for the most part, were still scattered around the world and, therefore, had to be brought in from outside. Great Britain, the hegemonic power at the time, promised the Zionist Federation that it would do everything possible to establish “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine with the so-called Balfour Declaration. The obstacle that prevented the process of Palestine’s independence was, therefore, the privilege given to the Jews to create the “national home for the Jewish people” in that country. After the Balfour Declaration, Jewish organizations took advantage of the administrative and economic infrastructures that the British Mandate made available to them to accelerate the realization of the project of creating the Jewish State in Palestine. To this end, the immigration of Jews from eastern and central Europe intensified, at three main moments: in 1919-1923, 1924-1928 and 1932-1940. In 1931 Jews numbered 174,610 out of a total of 1,035,821 inhabitants of Palestine. In 1939, there were already more than 445,000 and in 1946 they reached the number of 808,230 out of a total population of Palestine of 1,500,000 and 1,972,560 respectively. In practice, there was a progressive occupation of Palestine by Jews. The way in which the winners of the First World War decided the fate of Palestine, using the League of Nations to do so, configures the arrogance that characterizes international relations.
The Palestinians saw the denial of their right to independence in the sponsorship given first by Great Britain and then by the League of Nations to the project of creating a Jewish national home in Palestine. Palestinians felt dispossessed. Naturally, the Palestinians opposed the project of creating a Jewish national home in Palestine from the first moment – as soon as they became aware of the Balfour Declaration and tried, by all means, to prevent its realization, as they feared that it would result in their submission, not only political, but also economic to the Jews, thus passing from Turkish to Jewish rule, with a British break. Palestinians lodged protests against the Balfour Declaration with the Paris Peace Conference and the British Government. The first popular demonstration against the project to create a Jewish national home in Palestine took place on November 2, 1918, the first anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. This demonstration was peaceful, but the Resistance soon turned violent, expressing itself in attacks against Jews that degenerated into bloody clashes. There were riots in 1920, during the San Remo Conference that distributed the Mandates, in 1921, 1929 and 1933. In general, the outbreaks of violence were increasingly serious as the British Mandate prolonged and Jewish colonization extended and strengthened. Events unfolded according to a sequence that became customary. The Palestinian Resistance also took place in the 1936-1939 uprising. In April 1936, local disturbances between Arabs and Jews degenerated into a widespread Palestinian revolt. The revolt no longer aimed only at Jewish colonization. It was directed, above all, against the British authorities, the foreign power, from which the Palestinians demanded the constitution of a national government. The British authorities responded with violent repression and the Jews with reprisals. Having reached the conclusion that the Palestinians would not renounce their independence, in 1937 the British considered the possibility of dividing Palestine into two states, one Palestinian and the other Jewish. This solution did not satisfy either party.
The Jews, who rightly saw this plan as a deviation from not only British but also international official policy, did not accept the idea of creating the Jewish state only in a part of Palestine, which would apparently mean renouncing the claim to the entire country. The Palestinians, in turn, did not renounce their territory. This divergence continues to this day. The Jewish diaspora ended in 1948, when the State of Israel was created. With the formation of the State of Israel, in May 1948, there was the occupation of Palestine by the Jews when many displaced people from the Second World War and Jewish refugees migrated to the new sovereign state. It is estimated that 170,000 war displaced people and refugees immigrated to Israel in the period between the end of World War II and 1953. These are the origins of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The State of Israel was established and strengthened with the political and military support of Western powers, especially the United States, which transformed it into the spearhead of its interests in the Middle East. The map of Palestine has changed over the years with Israel’s advance into Palestinian territory. As a result, Israel usurped, occupied and built buildings on land that did not belong to Israelis and had regular and legal Palestinian owners. Palestinians demand to establish a sovereign and independent Palestinian State. A discussion around this solution took place during the Oslo Accords, signed in September 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which allowed the formation of the ANP (Palestinian National Authority). Despite the return of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank to Palestinian control, a final agreement still needed to be reached. To do this, it would be necessary to resolve the main points of contention, which are the dispute over Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the end of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Despite several other agreements and peace plans, such as those at Camp David and the negotiations of the so-called Quartet for the Middle East (United States, European Union, Russia and UN), the situation is still at an impasse.
One fact is evident: Israel’s history has revolved around conflicts with Palestinians and neighboring Arab nations that have been shaken by wars and clashes between Jews and Arabs who do not agree with the territorial division of the former Palestinian lands, as established in the current moment. Since the creation of the State of Israel, the conflict opposing it to the Palestinians has been the epicenter of a conflict between Israel and all Arab countries, with strong global repercussions. There were wars with Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, but without the tension in the region decreasing. During this period, Israel occupied the Sinai peninsula, the West Bank, the Gaza strip, the Golan Heights and southern Lebanon after the Six-Day War against Egypt, Syria and Jordan in 1967. The evolution of the conflict between Jews and Palestinians caused Israel to progressively conquer the territory of Palestine from 1947 to the present day. This situation cannot continue because it generates permanent conflict between Jews and Palestinians. Currently, Israel is facing the Palestinians of Hamas in the Gaza Strip with its powerful army that has been massacring Palestinian civilians with ultra-advanced weapons. The carnage that we see today in the Gaza Strip is nothing new, because it has already occurred countless times in the past throughout Palestine, although, this time, the horror of crimes against humanity reaches new and shameful records. With this further slaughter, Israel is moving further and further away from the possibility of being accepted by its neighbors as a regular, permanent state in this region. To integrate with its Middle Eastern neighbors and survive as a nation, Israel depends on being accepted by the people living in Palestine and the Arab world. There is only one solution to the conflict in the region: Jews and Palestinians celebrate peace and conciliation. Until this conflict is resolved, anti-Semitism tends to increase and spread throughout the world.
Anti-Semitism is growing in the world due, in large part, to the warmongering stance taken by the state of Israel towards the Palestinians since its creation in 1948. The explanation given by Israel’s leaders is that they have acted with violence throughout history in response to violence by Palestinians and Arab countries since the creation of the Jewish state. However, it is the extremists who have governed Israel who contribute to the existence of extremist groups among Palestinians, such as Hamas, among others. To build peace between Palestinians and Jews, the initiative should come from Israel, which can only happen if the Jewish people in Israel and throughout the world politically repel the extremist sectors that exercise power in the country and form a government that seeks conciliation among the Jews with the Palestinian people. To end anti-Semitism in the world, the State of Israel and rich Jews from all countries in the world should collaborate in the creation of the Palestinian State and finance the reconstruction of the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip and compensate the Palestinians who lost their families and their properties . This would be the path that would definitively bury anti-Semitism in the world and enable fraternal coexistence between the Jewish and Palestinian peoples.
* Fernando Alcoforado, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, of the SBPC- Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science and of IPB- Polytechnic Institute of Bahia, engineer from the UFBA Polytechnic School and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, college professor (Engineering, Economy and Administration) and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, regional planning, urban planning and energy systems, was Advisor to the Vice President of Engineering and Technology at LIGHT S.A. Electric power distribution company from Rio de Janeiro, Strategic Planning Coordinator of CEPED- Bahia Research and Development Center, Undersecretary of Energy of the State of Bahia, Secretary of Planning of Salvador, is the author of the books Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018), Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019), A humanidade ameaçada e as estratégias para sua sobrevivência (Editora Dialética, São Paulo, 2021), A escalada da ciência e da tecnologia e sua contribuição ao progresso e à sobrevivência da humanidade (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2022), a chapter in the book Flood Handbook (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida United States, 2022), How to protect human beings from threats to their existence and avoid the extinction of humanity (Generis Publishing, Europe, Republic of Moldova, Chișinău, 2023) and A revolução da educação necessária ao Brasil na era contemporânea (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2023).
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