Antisemitism Through the Ages

The Oldest Hatred: How Antisemitism Was Tailored, From Pharaoh to Hamas, Why the World Still Lies About the Jews

Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash

Written By: Mahangani Thabelo.

From the very beginning of Scripture, the Jewish people stand as a chosen nation with a unique covenant. God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was not vague poetry, it was land, destiny, and continuity. The land of Israel was promised to their descendants, and the world has never forgiven them for it. From Canaanite kings trembling at the advance of Israel to modern parliaments voting against the Jewish state, the theme is unchanged: resentment, jealousy, and fear clothed in the garments of morality.

What began as rivalry in a desert tent between Ishmael and Isaac has cascaded through millennia into wars, massacres, propaganda, and boycotts. Antisemitism is not new; it is the world’s most recycled hatred. It simply changes uniforms. Once it was pagan lies about infant sacrifice, then medieval blood libels. Once it was the “Christ-killers” myth, then Nazi racial theories. Today, it wears the mask of “anti-Zionism,” with slogans of apartheid, genocide, and colonialism.

The Jews have been in the land of Israel for more than 3,000 years. Archaeological evidence, from coins, tablets, synagogues, and Hebrew inscriptions, testifies louder than any propaganda. Even Jesus of Nazareth, revered across continents, was a Jew born and raised in the land. Yet, the accusations persist, tailored for each era. In the 19th century, Jews were branded communists. In the 20th, they were labelled capitalists. In the 21st, Israel is called an apartheid state.

It is a grotesque cycle: lies weaponized, violence unleashed, Jewish perseverance despised. And yet, in every century, Jews have not only survived, they have contributed disproportionately to humanity. The irony is thick: those accused of being parasites have been fountains of innovation, medicine, ethics, and progress.

This is the story of how hatred was manufactured against the Jewish people, how it evolved into its modern forms, and why, despite it all, Israel and the Jewish nation still stand.

The Biblical Origins of Jewish Hatred

The hatred of Israel has its earliest roots in the Bible. When the Israelites entered the promised land of Canaan, their victories terrified surrounding nations. The kings of Moab, Edom, and the Philistines launched smear campaigns before swords. Lies were spread: that the Jews practiced child sacrifice, that they were dangerous sorcerers, that they were arrogant wanderers. It was the first PR war against Israel, a pattern that repeats in every age.

One of the most destructive myths in history emerged after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The Roman Empire executed Him by crucifixion, a Roman punishment. Yet, through centuries of distorted theology, Jews were scapegoated as “Christ-killers.” Never mind that Jesus was Jewish, His disciples were Jewish, and the earliest church was Jewish. The narrative was manipulated into a weapon against the very people who carried the Scriptures that Christians revere.

Meanwhile, Islam grew from the lineage of Ishmael. Many within that tradition refused to accept Isaac’s covenantal inheritance. This sibling rivalry, once about birthright, morphed into civilizational war. To this day, Islamic extremists deny the legitimacy of Jewish sovereignty. It is not simply politics, it is theological warfare, rooted in resentment that God chose Isaac, not Ishmael.

Thus, Jewish hatred was born in both theology and propaganda: accused of rejecting Christ by Christians, accused of usurping Ishmael’s legacy by Muslims. Both lies have fuelled rivers of blood.

Exile, Dispersion, and Medieval Lies

The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE by Rome scattered the Jewish people across continents. From Spain to Persia, they carried their scrolls, their Sabbath, and their hope for Jerusalem. Yet, wherever they went, the lies followed.

In medieval Europe, Jews were accused of poisoning wells during the Black Death. They were accused of “blood libel”, the distorted charge that they murdered Christian children to use their blood for Passover bread. These myths sparked massacres, from the Rhineland pogroms of 1096 to countless village expulsions.

Kings expelled Jews from England in 1290, from France in 1394, and from Spain in 1492. Their crime? Existing. In Spain, the Inquisition demanded conversion or exile, burning Jews who clung to their faith.

The stereotype of Jews as moneylenders took root because medieval laws barred Jews from most professions. Forbidden from land ownership, trades, or guilds, many were forced into finance, which the olden church laws restricted. Kings borrowed from them, then incited mobs to avoid repayment. Thus, the image of “greedy Jews” was manufactured not by Jewish choice, but by ancient Christianity policy.

In Eastern Europe, pogroms unleashed waves of terror. Villages in Russia and Poland were torched while Jews were slaughtered. These were not spontaneous, they were orchestrated campaigns of hate. The language always recycled: Jews as disease, Jews as Christ-killers, Jews as thieves.

And yet, Jewish communities continued to produce scholars, physicians, philosophers, and merchants. Amid persecution, they gave the world Maimonides, Rashi, Spinoza. Their resilience testified to a deeper covenant.

Modern Lies and Political Antisemitism

The Enlightenment did not end antisemitism, it rebranded it. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Jews were blamed for both socialism and capitalism. When Karl Marx emerged, his Jewish heritage was mocked to paint socialism as a “Jewish conspiracy.” Simultaneously, Jewish financiers like the Rothschilds became caricatures of capitalist greed. How could Jews be both? It did not matter. The point was to blame them for whichever ideology people hated.

The Russian secret police forged “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” in 1903, a fake document alleging a Jewish plot to control the world. Though debunked countless times, it fuelled antisemitism across Europe, inspiring Hitler himself.

The Nazis perfected the machinery of hate. Jews were branded “subhuman,” “vermin,” carriers of typhus. State propaganda painted them as greedy bankers, Bolshevik revolutionaries, and racial contaminants. The lies justified the Final Solution: six million Jews exterminated in gas chambers and mass graves.

Nazism industrialized antisemitism. But it did not invent it, it simply streamlined the ancient lies.

From Holocaust to Israel: A New Phase of Hatred

After the Holocaust, one would imagine antisemitism discredited forever. Instead, it mutated again. With the rebirth of Israel in 1948, antisemitism found a new disguise: anti-Zionism.

Arab states launched wars in 1948, 1967, and 1973 to erase Israel from the map. Each time, Israel survived. Unable to defeat the Jews militarily, enemies turned to propaganda. Now the Jewish state was called “colonial,” despite Jewish presence predating Islam by 1,500 years. Now it was called “apartheid,” despite Arab citizens voting, holding office, and serving in Israel’s parliament.

At the United Nations, Israel became the obsession. More resolutions condemn Israel than all other nations combined, including North Korea, Iran, and Syria. Hamas fires rockets at civilians, but Israel is condemned for defending itself. Hezbollah stockpiles weapons in schools, but Israel is condemned for striking back.

The world has resurrected the old script: blame the Jew. Now the Jew is a nation-state.

Jewish Contributions to Humanity

The irony is unbearable: those vilified as destroyers have been unparalleled builders.

In science, Albert Einstein transformed physics, Jonas Salk eradicated polio, Rosalind Franklin unveiled DNA’s structure. In technology, Jews pioneered Intel processors, Google algorithms, and navigation apps like Waze. Israel itself is called the “Start-Up Nation,” producing life-saving innovations in water desalination, agriculture, and cyber defence.

In ethics, Jews gave humanity the Ten Commandments, the prophets’ cry for justice, and the very concept of one God. Christian and certain Islamic civilizations stand on the foundation of Jewish revelation.

In charity, Jewish communities uphold “tikkun Olam”, repairing the world. From disaster relief to refugee aid, Jewish humanitarian groups quietly serve far beyond their numbers.

Jews are 0.2% of the global population, yet their Nobel Prizes, medical breakthroughs, and inventions shape daily life for billions. Antisemitism claims Jews are parasites; history proves they are creators.

The Modern Alliance: Islamists, Leftists, and the Woke

Today’s antisemitism is a coalition. Islamists provide the hatred, leftists provide the ideology, and woke culture provides the platform.

Hamas and Iran churn out propaganda portraying terrorists as victims. Western universities amplify it, shouting slogans of “decolonization” while ignoring Jewish history. Social media influencers, drunk on “intersectionality,” cast Israel as the villain in every script.

The Friedrich quote rings true: “If you kill a cockroach, you are a hero; if you kill a butterfly, you are evil. Morals have aesthetic criteria.” Hamas hides behind children and civilians, turning terrorists into butterflies. The mainstream media plays along, weeping for “journalists” who doubled as militants, while ignoring hostages raped, mutilated, and murdered.

This unholy alliance wages war not only on Israel, but on truth itself.

Conclusion

From Pharaoh to Hamas, from medieval blood libels to UN resolutions, the pattern is clear: antisemitism is the world’s most recycled hatred. It is tailored for each generation but fuelled by the same ancient resentment, that God chose Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that their descendants endure.

Today, 26% of the world’s population is Muslim, nearly 2 billion people. The Jewish population is 16 million, a mere 0.2% of humanity. Yet Jews have given the world immeasurable treasures in faith, ethics, medicine, science, and culture. Against every genocide, every exile, and every lie, they remain.

The world must wake up. The propaganda against Israel is not new, it is a rerun of ancient lies. To defend Israel is not merely political; it is to stand with life against death, with truth against propaganda, with covenant against chaos.

The Jews have outlasted Pharaoh, Rome, the Inquisition, Hitler, and Stalin. They will outlast Hamas and the modern chorus of hate. The question is whether the world will stand with them, or once again be complicit in the oldest hatred known to mankind….

Mahangani Thabelo is a multifaceted individual known for his work as a biologist, human rights activist, and former student leader at the university of the Witwatersrand. he is also recognized as a Pentecostal scholar and a vocal pro-Israel advocate. he engages in discussions about religious freedom, regional security, and the rise of extremism in Africa and the middle east.