If you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve undoubtedly come across the word “anti-Semitism”. It has been featured in all sorts of news stories, both here in the U.S. and abroad. So, in the library’s role of educating the public, I’m going to delve into that word — and some others that are relevant to it. Be aware, in this relatively short column, this will in no way be an exhaustive take on the subject.

So, let’s start with the word itself: anti-Semitism. Britannica defines it as “hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group”. The term was coined in 1879 by German journalist, racial socialist, and politician Wilhelm Marr (who was anti-Semitic, himself).

However, there is another word that should be considered in this discussion: Semite. Again, according to Britannica, “Semite” is a “name given in the 19th century to a member of any people who speak one of the Semitic languages, a family of languages spoken primarily in parts of western Asia and Africa. The term therefore came to include Arabs, Akkadians, Canaanites, Hebrews, some Ethiopians, and Aramaean tribes.” And, in further detail, Britannica defines Semitic languages as “languages that form a branch of the Afro-Asiatic language phylum. Members of the Semitic group are spread throughout North Africa and Southwest Asia and have played preeminent roles in the linguistic and cultural landscape of the Middle East for more than 4,000 years. In the early 21st century the most important Semitic language, in terms of the number of speakers, was Arabic.” Wikipedia says that the word “Semitic” “was coined by German orientalist August Ludwig von Schlözer in 1781 to designate the Semitic group of languages - Aramaic, Arabic, Hebrew and others - allegedly spoken by the descendants of Biblical figure Shem, son of Noah.”

A couple of other words that enter into this discussion are “Jew” and “Judaism”. Going back to our friends at Britannica, a Jew is “any person whose religion is Judaism. In the broader sense of the term, a Jew is any person belonging to the worldwide group that constitutes, through descent or conversion, a continuation of the ancient Jewish people, who were themselves descendants of the Hebrews of the Bible (Old Testament).” And, Judaism is a “monotheistic religion developed among the ancient Hebrews. Judaism is characterized by a belief in one transcendent God who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, and the Hebrew prophets and by a religious life in accordance with Scriptures and rabbinic traditions. Judaism is the complex phenomenon of a total way of life for the Jewish people, comprising theology, law, and innumerable cultural traditions.”

Of course, the name “Israel” comes into the picture. This is the State of Israel, founded in 1948 out of the former Mandatory Palestine (under British rule). It has the largest Jewish population in the world, and is the only country where Jews are the majority, but including 21.1% Arabs and 5/3% “others”. In terms of religion, the population is 73.6% Jewish, 18.1% Muslim, 1.9% Christian, 1.6% Druze, and 4.8% other, including “religiously unclassified.”

And, a couple of more related terms are “Zion” and “Zionism”. A definition of the two terms are provided in this single entry by Britannica: “Zionism [is a] Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews. Though Zionism originated in eastern and central Europe in the latter part of the 19th century, it is in many ways a continuation of the ancient attachment of the Jews and of the Jewish religion to the historical region of Palestine, where one of the hills of ancient Jerusalem was called Zion.”

Which brings us to the terms “Palestine” and “Palestinian”. Again from Britannica: “Palestine [is the] area of the eastern Mediterranean region, comprising parts of modern Israel and the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip (along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea) and the West Bank (west of the Jordan River).” And further: “The word Palestine derives from Philistia, the name given by Greek writers to the land of the Philistines, who in the 12th century BCE occupied a small pocket of land on the southern coast, between modern Tel Aviv–Yafo and Gaza.” Wikipedia defines Palestinians as “an ethnonational group descending from peoples who have inhabited the region of Palestine over the millennia, and who today are culturally and linguistically Arab."

So, what do we take away from all this? I would offer a couple: (1) this is a very complex issue, with the competing “sides” historically and culturally intertwined with one another; (2) this complex issue has been around for a long, long time; and, (3) when using the term “anti-Semitism”, it is helpful to remember that it can be applied to a broader group of people than the way it is normally used.