21/Jan/2014

Dear Readers,
The information has been drafted from the World Book Encyclopedia (1999 edition) and the Hebrew Roots Issue: September/December 2013 newsletter article titled "Prophetic Perspectives - A Return to the 1930s"

Shalom Aleichem (Peace be unto you).

"Communicate to educate - to liberate."

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Who Are the Semites?

Semites are people who speak a Semitic language such as Arabic or Hebrew. They live mainly in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and North Africa; this also includes the ancient Assyrians, Babylonians, Canaanites, Ebanites, Hebrews, and Phoenicians. The Semite peoples gave the world the alphabet and the idea of a one (G-d)(Monotheism). These great religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, originated among Semite peoples. The origin of the Semites is unknown, but some anthropologists believe these people may have been nomads who lived on the Arabian Peninsula.

By about 3,000 B.C., the ancient Semites had moved to the lower part of Mesopotamia (now southeastern Iraq), the home of the Sumerian civilization. A Semitic ruler named Sargon founded the first Semitic empire around the 2,300 B.C. in Akkad, a city in Mesopotamia. Under Sargon's rule, Semitic and Sumerian culture spread throughout Mesopotamia. At about the same time, Semitic dynasties and states emerged in Syria almost 3,000 years ago; Semitic peoples established colonies in parts of Africa, Sicily, and Spain.

Semitic culture was later absorbed by non-Semitic people who moved into these three areas. The phrase "anti-Semitism" means hatred of Jews (Yehudim) or prejudice against Jews (Yehudim). But the term is misleading because not all Jews are Semites, and Semites include not only Jews but also Arabs and other people.

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The New Anti-Semitism

In a recent Jerusalem Post article (10-11-2013), David Jonah Goldhagen writes about what he calls the new phenomena of global anti-Semitism. He states that this is the third major era of anti-Semitism.

The first he identifies as a centuries-old one grounded in Christianity and Islan.

The second is the modern racist one that took full shape in the 19th century and culminated in Nazis anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.

This new global anti-Semitism began, he believes, in the 1990s and "now it surrounds us." He identifies five elements:
*"Jews (Yehudim) are fundamentally different from non-Jews.
*Jews (Yehudim) are noxious.
*Jews (Yehudim) are willfully malevolent.
*Jews (Yehudim) are powerful.
*Jews (Yehudim) are therefore dangerous.

Goldhagen says there is also an implicit sixth element: Jews (Yehudim) must be kept in check, at bay, or somehow eliminated...

Anti-Semitism, like globalization, spans the globe for the first time; there are many more anti-Semites than ever. More than 50% of the five hundred-million people in the EU (European Union) are profoundly anti-Semitic. The United States, where anti-Semitism is much lower, still has more than one hundred-million who espouse anti-Semitic notions. In the Arab and Islamic worlds, anti-Semitism is, in the countries surveyed, close to one hundred percent."

In the 17th century, the Jews (Yehudim) were said to be "stealthy manipulators." In the 19th century, they were accused of being a nation of "Jewish bankers" who controlled the purse strings of the Gentile nations. Now, in the 21st century, they have "morphed into the marauding killing Rambos, crushing Palestinian children under their boots or grinding them up in meat-grinders."

Of course, all of these stereotypes are absurd to anyone who has studied history and current events in any depth. Many of these accusations hearken back to an earlier claim that Jews (Yehudim) are "messiah killers" and that a good Christian can do YAHWEH a service by putting them to death.

Even if they were our enemies, which they are not, YAHSHUA made it clear how a believer should respond:

"You have heard that it was said, 'you should love your neighbor and hate you enemy.' But I say to you love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and prosecute you, (45) that you may be sons of your father [YAHWEH] in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (48) Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father [YAHWEH] in heaven is perfect." (Matt. 5:43-45, 48)

Goldhagen goes onto point out that today anti-Semitism is institutionalized: "It has captured the world's most central global institution, the United Nations, which has been conducting a concerted campaign to demonize Israel. Witness its Human Rights Commission's dishonest and obsessive focus on Israel in contrast to its virtual silence about the brutalities and mass murders of many dictatorships around the world."

Today's anti-Semitism has a distinctly political cast to it. Anti-Semitism governments throughout the U.N. actively promote anti-Semitism in an all-out effort to eliminate the nation of Israel and cut off the so-called "power" of the Jews (Yehduim).

According to the November 2013 issue of Moaz Israel Report, "The Human Rights Council passed 48% of all its resolutions against Israel, the only country it has ever specifically condemned by name." This is despite the many human rights violations perpetrated in the name of Islam throughout the Muslim nations of the world.

It is interesting that anti-Semitism today cuts across normally mutually exclusive boundaries. Thus, there are right-wing anti-Semites, let-wing anti-Semites, conservative anti-Semites, and liberal Christian anti-Semites, again, the Pslamist (in this case, David, the King from Judah [Yehudah]) lifts up his voice in a heartfelt appeal to YAHWEH:

"Have mercy on me O YAHWEH! Consider my trouble from those who hate me, you who lift me up from the gates of death, (14) that I may tell of all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice your salvation." (Psalm 9:13-14)

By: Oliver E. Lister II