Article in Forward objecting to the term "anti-Semitism"

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Since we’re debating labels, stop calling it anti-Semitism. It’s Jew hatred, by Stephen D. Smith, Forward, July 7, 2020.

After a brief preamble about the then-recent trend toward capitalizing the word "Black," this article says:

We live in a non literal NT world. I doubt that more than a minute percentage of people misunderstand the term to mean hatred of semites.

If we are going the presentism route, because of bad origins then it is time to retire “Autism” because the person that coined the term was an influential eugenist.

In the last few years most Jewish advocacy groups and mainstream media have dropped the hyphen. That is not remotely the hill I want to die on so I try to abide by the new way of spelling the term but occasionally out habit I write “Anti-Semitism” and if I realize it do not bother correcting it. Some Jewish advocates use “Jew Hatred” I use “Jew Hatred” interchangeably with “antisemitism”. Unlike “Jew Hatred”, “Antisemitism” has evolved into more of a catchall term meaning a variety of negative feelings, perceptions, and actions towered Jews. It could mean hatred but it can also mean thinking Jews are inferior, or being scared of Jews, or thinking Jews are cheap and greedy. Since people have a variety of motives “Antisemitism” in many contexts is a more accurate description of the phenomenon. Similar with “Islamophobic” meaning more than an irrational fear of Muslims.

Ive seen it.

Arabs rightfully asking Westerners "how can you can me an 'Anti-Semite' when Im a Semite myself?".

Arabs are very aware of the non-Semiticness of other middle eastern groups like Iranians, and Turks, even though said groups maybe fellow Muslims.

Antisemitism? Better Call It Judeophobia by Shlomo Sand, Haaretz, Nov 24, 2020:

"Judeo-phobia" (obviously derived from "Islamophobia") doesnt quite work.

The reason being is that both Jews and Gentiles regard Jews as being both a religion AND and as being an ethnic group ergo they arent quite analogous to either Muslims or Christians.

For most of the history of European "Jew hatred" it was just a matter of religion. Accept Christ and the Christians would accept you.

But there were moments when Jew hatred became a matter of not religion but also of "blood" or ancestry. And sadly this notion became more prevalent in the Nineteenth Centurey with its obsession with breeding and race.

So Mayer wanted a new word that would include...folks like himself...who would still hate a Jew even after he converted to Christianity.

Trouble is "Antisemitism" implies hatred of all Semitic speaking groups (Arabs and Jews). And some Gentile Whites in the West probably do. But its also a cumbersome term.

Jews are thought of as an ethnic group, a cultural group, a religion, a race, or some combination of the above depending on who you ask. This is not true for most other groups such as Irish-Americans or Muslims. This disagreement over who we are makes it practically impossible to find a term that is not flawed in some way.

A term that describes a variety of negative attitudes and actions is needed. Take Christians who love all people but thinks if Jews would accept Jesus as their savior or if they would not vote for the Democrats so much it would help them. Neither Jew Hatred nor Jewphobia describe these attitudes. Antisemitism is a catchall term that is arguably a less flawed.

While this discussion is appropriate for this section in general Gentiles telling or suggesting to Jews what words to use to describe prejudice against them is not nice.

Well, I have to decide for myself what terms I will use. And, to that end, I need to take into account the perspectives of not just one but two impacted categories of people, i.e., not just Jews but also non-Jewish "Semites" (primarily Palestinians/Arabs).

I hope you're not offended by my avoidance of the term "antisemitism".