Israel, the Jews, and Antisemitism

What we need to know about this matter:

That antisemitism has always been with us cannot be denied. The reasons for it are many and varied, but Christians of all people need to take this very seriously indeed. Sadly, too much of the Christian church over the centuries has been involved in ugly antisemitism and Jew-hatred. Here I want to quote from five books on this. Some are authored by Jews, some by Christians, and some by Messianic Jews. I present these quotes in that order.

Ryvchin, Alex, The 7 Deadly Myths: Antisemitism from the Time of Christ to Kanye West

In this brief book the Australian writer begins by seeking to define terms:

The term “antisemitism” is a modern creation and a wholly unsatisfactory one. The word was created by a German populist and agitator, Wilhelm Marr, in 1879 to give anti-Jewish activities a legitimacy and a sound of pseudo-scientific sophistication. Marr founded the League of Antisemites. It is often and incorrectly spelled with a hyphen and capitalization of “semitism” (anti-Semitism), which falsely suggests a hatred of Semites or Semitism. No such people exist, though the word “Semitic” refers to a linguistic family which includes Arabic and Hebrew. This has led to claims that antisemitism refers to hatred of both Jews and Arabs when in fact the term was created by Marr only with hatred of the Jews in mind. As in the cases of Kanye West and basketballer Kyrie Irving, self-identifying as a “Semite” has become a way of denying being antisemitic despite making remarks hateful towards Jews….

 

While numerous scholarly and working definitions of it have been developed and applied, in its essence antisemitism is a hatred of the Jews, which has been expressed variously as a hatred for the Jewish religion, and hatred of Jews as members of an ethnic, national and perceived racial group.

 

It should be noted that antisemitism is often expressed through the use of euphemism or coded language which deliberately avoids the use of the term “Jew” in order to elude accusations of racism and to bolster the appeal of this form of prejudice. The term “antisemitism” is itself an example of such obfuscation. Zionism, which refers to the political/national movement to re-establish an independent Jewish homeland in Palestine is the most commonly used euphemism in contemporary antisemitic speech. (pp. 22-23)

Prager, Dennis and Joseph Telushkin, Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism

The opening words of the book are these:

Hatred of the Jew has been humanity’s greatest hatred. While hatred of other groups has always existed, no hatred has been as universal, as deep, or as permanent as antisemitism. The Jews have been objects of hatred in pagan, religious, and secular societies. Fascists have accused them of being Communists, and Communists have branded them capitalists. Jews who live in non-Jewish societies have been accused of having dual loyalties, while Jews who live in the Jewish state have been condemned as “racists.” Poor Jews are bullied, and rich Jews are resented. Jews have been branded as both rootless cosmopolitans and ethnic chauvinists. Jews who assimilate have been called a “fifth column,” while those who stay together spark hatred for remaining separate. Hundreds of millions of people have believed (and in the Arab world many still do) that Jews drink the blood of non-Jews, that they cause plagues and poison wells, that they secretly plot to conquer the world, and that they murdered God. The universality of antisemitism is attested to by innumerable facts, the most dramatic being that Jews have been expelled from so many of the European and Arab societies in which they have resided…. (p. 3)

Spencer, Robert, Antisemitism: History and Myth

This is a very detailed and well-documented look at antisemitism throughout the ages. In his Epilogue he writes:

The line separating good and evil doesn’t pass between people of one ethnicity and another, nor between people of one religion and another. There are Jews who do good and Jews who do evil, just as there are Christians who do good and Christians who do evil, and the same can be said of people of every group. Only when Jews are involved in some enterprise or another, however, does their presence become evidence that the enterprise itself is a massive Jewish conspiracy. People have been captivated by this delusion throughout history, and it is on the rise again now.

 

This is an age of social contagions. There have been occasions of mass hysteria throughout the ages: the Salem witch trials, the COVID-19 panic, and many more. It is apparently an impulse deep within human nature: to be susceptible to suggestion that overpowers the ability to reason and leads to a stampede. Hatred of Jews is a persistent and recurring social contagion that is now cresting again, after people of goodwill around the world thought that it had been definitely laid to rest in the ashes of National Socialist Germany in 1945.

 

Against social contagions, rational argumentation is only of limited value. In this book, I have tried to show the fundamental irrationality and wrong headedness of some of the principal charges against Jews, but I’m well aware that attempting to argue rationally against those who insist that people are acting clandestinely on the basis of secret teachings is an unwinnable proposition. There is a sucker born every minute, said P. T. Barnum, and he could have said the same thing about antisemites and their theories. Since I began writing this book, new antisemitic conspiracy theories have been born, and some people will always be willing or even happy to be convinced.

 

The everlasting wellsprings of anti-Semitism that we have examined, in Christianity, Islam, and national and international socialism, are still active today and will continue to nourish bitter fruit. Imams are preaching about how the “genocidal” Jews are acting according to their nature in Gaza. Christians are claiming that the Jews secretly control US foreign policy (they apparently haven’t noticed the Biden administrations comprehensive in multifaceted betrayal of Israel) and are manipulating the Gentile leaders of the world like so many puppets on a string. All over the world, people believe, in line with the United Nations, that Israel is uniquely evil and deserving of far more attention in condemnation than North Korea, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and other violators of human rights. Jew hatred is as old as Judaism itself. It has persisted for centuries. It will not end. (pp. 361-362)

Brown, Michael, Christian Antisemitism: Confronting the Lies in Today’s Church

In these two important books Brown looks specifically at fellow Christians, and how the church has been far too much involved in ugly antisemitism. In the Preface to this book he states:

This is a book I wish I did not have to write, a book that I wish was not urgent and relevant. But it had to be written, and it certainly is urgent and relevant. Antisemitism is raising its ugly head again right within the church, including the evangelical church. Something that I rarely encountered in almost fifty years of walking with the Lord as a Jewish believer in Jesus is becoming increasingly common. How can this be?

 

It was one thing to document the ugly history of “Christian” antisemitism, an oxymoron if ever there was one. (Please note that, after the first reference to “Christian” antisemitism in the main text of the book, the quotation marks around the word “Christian” have been removed. But I trust our point is clear: you cannot be truly and consistently Christian while at the same time being an antisemite.) I have been documenting that history for years, most prominently in my book Our Hands Are Stained With Blood, first published in 1992.

 

Yes, it was one thing to talk about how early church leaders demonized the Jewish people, or to talk about Crusader armies marching through Europe who turned on their Jewish neighbors, or to talk about Martin Luther’s blatantly antisemitic writings. All that was in the past, so disconnected from today. All that was so different from what I experienced in congregation after congregation around the world for decades, where I encountered special love for Israel and the Jewish people. The “Christian” antisemites were rare, their sentiments quite fringe. But things have changed in recent years, and with what feels like ever-increasing intensity, the old lies are being spread and the standard libels are being embraced right within the church. “It’s those evil Jews who are destroying the world!”

 

How jarring it is to watch an evangelical Christian broadcast where the host talks about wanting to see Jewish people come to faith in Jesus and claims deep loyalty to the Lord, only to hear him spread vicious lies about the Jewish people in the next breath. I ask again: How can this be?

 

The purpose of this book, then, is to focus on contemporary “Christian” antisemitism, starting with a short, painful journey into the past and ending with a shocking arrival into the present. From there, we will define the term antisemitism, demonstrate how widespread this is in the church today, look at some of the major issues and key players, examine the key scriptures that are being misused, understand the role of modern-day Israel, and look ahead to the return of the King. (xi-xii)

Brown, Michael, Our Hands are Stained with Blood: The Tragic Story of the Church and the Jewish People

The whole debate about whether Israel has been replaced by the Church is a massive one. Brown wades into this, and makes a number of points, including this one:

Paul never said that Gentile believers were “true” or “spiritual” Israel. It was the believing remnant within Israel that was “true” or “spiritual” Israel. (Actually, the terms “true Israel” or “spiritual Israel” never occur in the Bible, and it might be helpful to completely avoid them.)

 

Many people have feelings and impressions about what the Scriptures teach. But the facts are facts: While the New Testament often describes Israel and the Church in similar terms —both are pictured as the children of God, the bride of God, the chosen people, etc.—on no definite occasion does the New Testament ever call the Church, “Israel.” In fact, out of the 77 times that the words “Israel” and “Israelite” occur in the Greek New Testament, there are only two verses in which “Israel” could possibly refer to the Church as a whole: Galatians 6:16, where Paul speaks of the “Israel of God,” and Revelation 7:4, where John speaks of the 144,000 sealed from the twelve tribes of Israel. This is saying something! Seventy-five “definites” and only two “maybes.” I wouldn’t want to side with the “maybes”! (p. 181)

See this introductory piece for more on that debate: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2023/10/20/on-replacement-theology-an-introduction/

For further reading

These 25 books are well worth exploring to get a better grip on these various issues:

Brown, Michael, Christian Antisemitism: Confronting the Lies in Today’s Church. Charisma House, 2021.
Brown, Michael, Our Hands are Stained with Blood: The Tragic Story of the Church and the Jewish People. Destiny House Publishers, 1992, 2019.
Chafets, Ze’ev, Double Vision: How the Press Distorts America’s View of the Middle East. William Morrow, 1985.
Dershowitz, Alan, The Case for Israel. John Wiley, 2003.
Dershowitz, Alan, Defending Israel. Hot Books, 2019, 2023.
Dershowitz, Alan, The Ten Big Anti-Israel Lies: And How to Refute Them with Truth. Skyhorse, 2024.
Frantzman, Seth, The October 7 War. Wicked Son, 2024.
Friedman, David, One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Humanix Books, 2024.
Gilder, George, The Israel Test. RVB, 2009.
Hammer, Josh, Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West. Radius Boog Group, 2025.
Journo, Elan, What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Post Hill Press, 2018, 2023.
Klein, Aaron, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Israel. Regnery, 2019.
Levy, Bernard-Henri, Israel Alone. Wicked Son, 2024.
Murray, Douglas, On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel, Hamas and the Future of the West. HarperCollins, 2025.
O’Neill, Brendan, After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation. Spiked, 2024.
Pipes, Daniel, Israel Victory: How Zionists Win Acceptance and Palestinians Get Liberated. Wicked Son, 2024.
Prager, Dennis and Joseph Telushkin, Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism. Touchstone, 1983, 2016.
Ryvchin, Alex, The 7 Deadly Myths: Antisemitism from the time of Christ to Kanye West. Academic Studies Press, 2023.
Senor, Dan and Saul Singer, The Genius of Israel. Constable, 2023.
Sieff, Martin, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Middle East. Regnery, 2008.
Simon, Jake Wallis, Israelophobia. Constable, 2023.
Smith, Mark, Israel Disarmed. Bombardier Books, 2024.
Spencer, Robert, Antisemitism: History and Myth. Bombardier Books, 2025.
Spencer, Robert, The Palestinian Delusion: The Catastrophic History of the Middle East Peace. Bombardier Books, 2023.
Tishby, Noa, Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth. Free Press, 2021.

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