Anti-Semitism in its broadest sense refers to hostility towards Jews based on a combination of religious, racial, cultural and ethnic prejudices. Anti-Semitism is, in a limited sense, a specific form of racism because it refers to hostility towards Jews, defined as race, a modern term used by Jews in the mid-19th century defined as a religious group and its more developed expression , the Christian. be anti-Judaism. For his part, Pierre-André Taguieff suggests that all manifestations of hostility, aversion and hatred towards Jews that have arisen throughout history should be included under the concept of hostility towards Jews.
Anti-Semitism can manifest itself in a variety of forms, such as individual hatred or discrimination, attacks by nuclear groups for this purpose, or even police or state violence.
As Michel Wieviorka pointed out: “Anti-Semitism is a problem for all democrats, for all humanists, it is not just a Jewish problem. The same is true of all other forms of racism.
The meeting, which has been held since 2020 under the chairmanship of the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem for a group of scholars from around the world, to critically appraise the IHRA definition and try to clarify confusing issues. and together with five general guidelines and ten on Israel and Palestine of March 25, 2021, they propose the following definition of anti-Semitism:
“Anti-Semitism is discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews because they are Jewish (or against Jewish institutions because they are Jewish)”