History of Antisemitism
| Term | Contextual note | Time/Region | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| abbie/s
abe/s abie/s |
Deriving from the name Abraham, origins in 1950s North America. | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | |
| ashke-Nazi | Highly offensive perm for Ashekenzai Jews, used mostly by Mizrachi Jews | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | |
| blood libel
ritual murder charge |
False accusation that has been made since the Middle Ages that Jews have murdered non-Jews (i.e. Christian children) in order to use their blood in rituals. Remains an influential myth in the 21st century – more commonly manifesting itself as a widespread claim of Jews for unconnected murders and other horrific crimes (such as organ harvesting in Israel). | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| Christ killer
Christ-killer |
An allusion to ‘Jewish Deicide’, a historic belief that claimed that Jewish people were collectively responsible for the death of Jesus Christ | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | |
| clannish | Referring to Jews as ‘clannish’ is an antisemitic stereotype claiming that Jews only associate with ‘their own kind’ to keep non-Jews from having a fair chance. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| conspiracy theory
control |
Many conspiracy theories are rooted in antisemitic myth. Jews were accused of poisoning wells in 14th century Europe causing the Black Death, faking the Holocaust for sympathy, and in 21st century America they were charged with being the ‘hidden hand’ responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| control | False reports that Jews ‘control’ the media, banks, and governments are part of a longstanding conspiracy of secret Jewish power. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| cowardice | The erroneous accusation that Jews lacked patriotism. This became a prominent trope in the aftermath of World War One, when it was suggested that Jews were responsible for national defeats. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| creatures | Illustrations and images that depict Jews as vermin, tentacled creatures, reptilian men, and other ‘subhuman’ monsters. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary
Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza - Anti-Semitism Explained | |
| disease/s | Jews were often accused of spreading diseases and were compared to diseases (such as lice) that needed eradicating. | Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza - Anti-Semitism Explaine
AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| dual loyalty
split loyalty |
By accusing Jews of being disloyal citizens whose true allegiance is to Israel or a hidden Jewish agenda, anti-Semites sow distrust and spread harmful ideas about Jews. For centuries, antisemitic accusations of disloyalty have led to the harassment, marginalisation, oppression, and murder of Jewish people. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| echo | Part of coded antisemitism that is used online. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| feuj (French) | French term for Jewish people | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | |
| fifth column | Myth that Jews are a traitorous “fifth column” | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| globalist | Used to promote the antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jewish people do not have allegiance to their countries of origin. Hitler often portrayed Jews as ‘international elements’ who ‘conduct their business everywhere’. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| The Goyim Know
Goy Goyim Goyum (sometimes followed by “Shut it Down”) |
A catchphrase used to impersonate and mock Jews and the antisemitic conspiracy theories connected to them. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary
| |
| greed
greedy Pigs |
The association of Jews with greed has fuelled antisemitism throughout history – from Shakespeare’s sinister Jewish merchant caricature and Nazi propaganda on Jewish economic control to Rothschild schemes of world domination. Antisemitic images of Jews often feature diamonds and jewels. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – 500 Years of Antisemitic Propaganda | |
| heeb
hebe |
Term for Jewish people derived from the word ‘Hebrew’ | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | |
| Holocaust denial
holocaust (small “h”) holohoax |
An attempt to negate the facts of the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people, sometimes referring to the Holocaust as the “holohoax”. Attempts to compare the horrors of the Holocaust to defensive actions taken by the state of Israel are similarly antisemitic. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| hymie
heimie |
Term for Jewish people used in the US. Derives from the personal name Hyman. | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | |
| Ikey
Ike Iky Ikey-mo Ikeymo |
Derived from the names Isaac and Moses. | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | |
| Illuminati | According to conspiracy theorists, the “hidden hand” behind every conflict, war, and rebellion in modern times has been Illuminati Jews plotting to create a New World Order. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| Jap | Acronym for ‘Jewish American Princess’, a pejorative stereotype of certain Jewish American females as maternalistic or pampered | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | |
| Jewboy | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | ||
| Jew down | An antisemitic term for haggling or bargaining for a cheaper price. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| Jewish features | For centuries, Jews have been depicted as having exaggerated or grotesque facial features. This has been a staple theme in antisemitic propaganda used to portray Jews as subhuman or disfigured. The trope of Jews having large noses dates back to the 12th century. | 1100– | Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza - Anti-Semitism Explained
AJC - Translate Hate Glossary |
| Jewish figures | The use of public Jewish figures to spread antisemitic ideas about Jews as an overall group. By focusing attacks on a single person, antisemites create a coded language in which that person’s name or face becomes synonymous with dangerous antisemitic conspiracies or tropes. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| Jidan | Romanian term for Jewish people | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | |
| Khazars | A Turkic ethnic group once existing as a nation in the Caucasus and southeastern Russia that later adopted Judaism. Conspiracy theories about the Khazars emerged from the 8th or 9th centuries, spurring antisemitic beliefs that they were building a secret empire which sought widespread control through financial gains. The Khazar trope is used to suggest that the Ashkenazi Jews (Jews descending from Eastern Europe) are not ‘real Jews’. It is also used to undermine the Jewish connection to Israel. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary
Kadir O. | |
| kike
kyke |
US term for Ashkenazi Jewish people | USA | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs |
| kosher tax | The idea that food companies and consumers are forced to pay money to support the Jewish religion or Zionist causes and Israel through the costs of kosher certification. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| New World Order | The New World Order conspiracy theory becomes antisemitic when it’s followed by a reference to a Jewish business leader or political official with a secret agenda who is seeking global control. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| oven dodger | Reference to the Holocaust | WWII- | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs |
| Protocols of the Elders of Zion | A fraudulent document attributed to the secret police of Tsarist Russia, first disseminated in the early 20th century and still circulated today, that serves a pretext for antisemitism. In the mid-1920s, Henry Ford brought this text to the USA, thus propagating antisemitic falsehoods that Jews were using ideals of communism and their control over financial institutions to damage the US economy and cause moral harm to the American people. In many Arab nations today it is sold as an authoritative text. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| scapegoat/s
scapegoating |
Antisemites have been using Jews are ‘scapegoats’ for thousands of years, blaming them for the murder of Christ, the Plague in the Middle Ages, Germany’s loss in World War One, 9/11, and the 2008 financial crisis. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| sheeny | 19th century term in the US for an ‘untrustworthy Jew’ | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | |
| Shylock | Jewish people, specifically ‘greedy Jews’. From the antagonist character of Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | |
| silencing | One of the longest standing antisemitic attacks levelled against Jews is the ‘silencing’ of their opponents. The false accusation that Jews wield the power of the antisemitic label to gain sympathy and silence the opposition in offensive. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary | |
| ‘smirking merchant’
‘happy merchant’ ‘le happy merchant’ ‘merchant face’ ‘Jew face’ |
An antisemitic cartoon (and internet meme) portraying a Jew based on stereotypes and derogatory tropes – a large hooked nose, a scheming smirk and pose, frizzy hair, and grimy beard. This image is often paired with misattributed quotes. | Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza - Anti-Semitism Explained | |
| Yid | Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs | ||
| Zionist/s
Zio |
A supporter of Zionism; a person who believes in the development and protection of a Jewism nation in its historic homeland of Israel. Today, ‘“Zionist” and anti-Zionist language are often used pejoratively and are widely perceived by Jews as a form of antisemitism. Anti-Semites often use “Zionist” or “Zio” as short for Jew. | AJC - Translate Hate Glossary |