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Expanded article, added sections.
Anti-Semitism (or antisemitism) is discrimination or hatred of [[Jews]].
Anti-Semitism (or antisemitism) is discrimination or hatred of [[Jews]].
One of the oldest instances of anti-Semitic claims was made in the first century AD by Apion who claimed Jews sacrificed Greeks in their temple in a ritual known as a blood libel. Christianity later brought this up again in England in 1144, after William of Norwich was found murdered. William was called a martyr and created a second wave of anti-antisemitism, this time in Europe. It was mostly popularized with the story of Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, and was even present in the Canterbury Tales. This continued on for many centuries until modern times. This "[[blood libel]]" accusation has survived the centuries and is today seen in Muslim anti-Semitic propaganda.
==Origins of Anti-Semitism==
The first [[Christian|Christians]] were [[Jews]], as [[Jesus Christ]] was. The story of Jesus was remembered and retold in the synagogues. Splits appeared very soon after the death of Jesus between the Orthodox party and the Revisionist Jews. The Gospel of John was written quite soon after he and other revisionist Jews were barred from the synagogue by the Orthodox party. The references to Jews in the Gospel according to St John does not refer to Jews as a whole, but to the Orthodox party. However, this was not well understood by later readers, and once the early generations of Jews had died out John's gospel was often used to justify acts of anti-Semitism.
==Early Anti-Semitism==
One of the oldest instances of anti-Semitic claims was made in the first century AD by Apion who claimed Jews sacrificed Greeks in their temple in a ritual known as a blood libel. Christianity later brought this up again in England in 1144, after William of Norwich was found murdered. William was called a martyr and created a second wave of anti-semitism, this time in Europe. It was mostly popularized with the story of Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, and was even present in the Canterbury Tales. This continued on for many centuries until modern times. This "[[blood libel]]" accusation has survived the centuries and is today seen in Muslim anti-Semitic propaganda.
Anti-semitism was rife in Europe well into the twentieth century. Anti-semitic references were common in the popular literature of both the 19th and early 20th centuries. In [[Russia]], [[pogroms]] (mass slaughter) were carried out against the Jews. When [[Adolf Hitler]] needed a scapegoat on which to blame the inflationary problems of [[Germany]], he built on a bedrock of anti-Semitism that was already there. The consequence was the [[Holocaust]], called by Hitler the [[final solution]] to the 'Jewish problem'.
==WWII to the Gulf War==
==WWII to the Gulf War==