FACT CHECK · ANTISEMITISM: DEFINITIONS AND TROPES
Claim: I'm Semitic, so I can't be antisemitic
FALSETHE ANSWER
'Semitic' is a language family. 'Antisemitism' was popularised in the 1870s-80s by German agitator Wilhelm Marr (pamphlet, 1879) to mean hatred of Jews specifically. Being an Arab doesn't change that.
SOURCE
Wilhelm Marr, 'Victory of Judaism over Germandom' (1879); German History Docs
germanhistorydocs.org
germanhistorydocs.org
PEOPLE ALSO SAY
- “I'm more semitic than you”
- “Arabs are semites”
- “I can't be antisemitic”
- “Arabs are semitic too”
- “Semitic people can't be antisemitic”