Anti-Semanatism

Anti-Semitism

When discussing a religion that is as vast and ancient as Judaism, it is hard to pick just one aspect that is especially interesting. After searching through many articles about the religion, there was one thing that constantly caught my attention; the hatred of Jews by so many people. Christians, Muslims, and other people of different beliefs have shown there hate for the Jewish religion over thousands of years.

In Peter M. Marendy’s essay, “Anti-Semitism, Christianity, and the Catholic Church: Origins, Consequences, and Responses,” one can learn how Christians have harbored a hateful relationship towards Jews for nearly two millennia. Marendy explains how Christian Gospels, mainly those of Matthew and John, when taken out of context can not only justify the hate and persecution of Jews, but also call for it. His essay explains how both Gospels blame all Jews for the death of Jesus, the key figure of Christianity, and how they also, according to the essay, even have Jesus himself cursing the Jews. In Peter’s essay he sights a passage from the Gospel of John were Jesus says of the Jews, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do”(Jn 8:44) pg. 3 Marendy

Peter Marendy also discusses in his essay, the hate for Jews by Christians throughout the middle-ages, this includes the eradication of Jews from Spain in 613 and ritual murder of Jews throughout Europe. He quotes many writings of Christian bishops and other prominent figures who take the views of the Gospels very literally. One such prominent person was Martin Luther in 1543, who calls for Germans to, “set fire to their synagogues or schools… their houses also be razed and destroyedвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ pg.13. Marendy

Marendy goes on to discuss more persecution of Jews by Christians up to the Holocaust. Once he reaches this point in history he begins to explain how Christian views seem to change and even ask forgiveness from the Jewish community for the atrocities done to them over the centuries. One figure the essay focuses on is Pope John Paul II. Marendy describes the Pope’s efforts as, “trying to build a fundamentally new and enduring relationship between the Catholic Church and Jews” pg. 18. Marendy

Another Article that I found was very interesting because I had never even heard of the material. The article was, “Hitler’s Mufti,” by David G. Dalin. This article was about anti-Semitism among Muslims, but it primarily focused on the connection of a prominent Muslim leader and Nazi Germany before and ruing World War II. That Muslim figure was Hajj Amin al-Husseini and he was Hitler’s mufti. Al-Husseini was called this because he was the grand mufti of Jerusalem from 1922 until the fall of the Axis powers of World War II.

Dalin’s article explained how al-Husseini became close friends with Adolf Hitler during the 1930’s and he supported Hitler’s views on extreme anti-Semitism. He urged the Arab people to not only embrace Nazism, but also Hitler’s “Final Solution”. Al-Husseini even contacted Nazi Germany to ask for help in the eliminating Jewish settlements in Palestine, in exchange for a pan-Islamic alliance with Germany. The article also discussed how al-Husseini had visited the gas chambers at Auschwitz and had, “admonished the guards running the gas chambers to work more diligently” pg. 2 Dalin.

Later in the article, Dalin explains how al-Husseini made Yassar Arafat his protÐ"©gÐ"© and brought a Nazi commando to Egypt to teach Arafat and others how to fight. After al-Husseini died, Arafat carried on the war against Jews in the 1960’s and 70’s. at the end of the article, Dalin explains how al-Husseini and his Hitler based idealism has become a hero for the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestine National Movement, and off radical Islamic leaders.

After reading these two articles on the history of anti-Semitism, I have to say that I am very happy that I chose this as my subject for this essay. I found both articles very intriguing and they have sparked enough interest within myself that I am going to try and continue researching the subject. This is not only because the material is interesting, but also because I fell like I