Anti Semitism

I see in the wake of the new wave of atrocities committed in Paris and elsewhere, that anti Semitism is on the rise again not that it ever went away completely. The problem being that no one has ever been able to explain why to me. What have the Jews ever done to deserve the constant stream of hatred? They have been enslaved time out of number since the dawn of recorded history. In Medieval Europe they were forced to wear ridiculous clothing in order to humiliate them but why? I have had discussion on this over the years with both Jewish and non Jewish friends, and even a Rabbi and I have yet to get an answer that even partly covers this. There appear to be two main "camps" neither of which hold up.

Depending on their own religious belief the Jews killed Christ. Well no that isn't true. the Romans did that. As barbaric as crucifixion would seem to us now it was quite a common, even preferred punishment under Roman occupation. Christ was not by any means the only one to suffer such a fate. Nor was Christ born a Christian he was Jewish as well.

All Jews have money (more than a tinge of jealousy there I think) Again not all Jews have money and those that have are usually hard workers who make the most of their opportunities. If they choose to study and eventually qualify as doctors dentists Lawyers etc. and make money that way that is using their abilities to the full and they cannot, at least should not be blamed for that. There are well off families it is true, so how did they acquire this wealth? For centuries in Europe, Jews were only allowed to have one job and one job only, that of moneylender to the "nobility" Sometimes they didn't get paid back but even the nobility who did the borrowing realised that was just killing the golden goose so the Jews made money of course they did they were not allowed to do anything else. Once again, if fault there be the fault is ours not theirs.

So apart from those two ridiculous reasons can anyone tell me why the Jews are hated as they are. even the state of Israel is an affront to many and not only extremist Muslims. Then when we pulled out of Palestine and handed the place back The Palestinians were left controlling all the infrastructure while British Troops had been turning Jewish immigrants away and doing their best to ensure that no weaponry was left in their hands. It is hardly The fault of the Israelis if the Palestinians couldn't hang on to what they were given. The Jews who were to become Israelis should not have had a hope in hell. They once again proved their "survivability" factor. If there are any genuine reasons, I would love to hear them.

THOUGHT IT WAS BECAUSE JEWS WERE SEEN AS CHRIST-KILLERS.

Badboy wrote:THOUGHT IT WAS BECAUSE JEWS WERE SEEN AS CHRIST-KILLERS.

I quite agree Badboy, that Is one of the most common reasons I have been given over the years, but as I say it doesn't add up. The manner of his death (assuming the bible is corrrect in that) was barbaric by our standards but common enough in countries under the Roman Heel. The Jews didn't kill Christ. The Romans did. Of course it was the Jewish Authorities who handed him over. By the laws of the land pertaining in Palestine then, he had in fact broken several laws. Not the least of which was seen as turning the people away from the ruling authorities. He was by their standards a criminal. The best they could do was give him 49 lashes (50 was the limit, but they were afraid of miscounting so they stopped at 49)

If we accept the rest of it as gospel (no pun intended) nothing was done to him that wasn't inflicted on countless others. All that being by the by. They didn't kill him the Romans did. Even today in Saudi Arabia, a man is going to undergo a total of 1,000 lashes. Now that is truly barbaric. Something I have absolutely no desire to witness.

Off topic a little I know but when I worked in Taif, 3 of us took a Chevy Impala down into Jeddah. As the only one who had at that time driven on the right I was driving. None of us had a clue where we were at that stage. We were just tooling around. We came to this square, I happened to look at the dash clock and it was 11.45 ish. crowds were appearing from all over. I think it was Martin Pearson who twigged first that we were in "chop chop" square it was a Friday and approaching noon. We knew only that we had been warned that as expatriates, the civil police would give us a good seat at the front. None of us wanted that. Up until then, I didn't realise that a Chevy Impala could accelerate that quickly and get the hell out of there.