Antisemitic trope

Antisemitic tropes have often taken the form of popular libels,^[3][4][5] conspiracy theories,^[6] or the denial or minimization of past atrocities against Jews.^[7][8] Antisemitic tropes generally construct Jews and Jewish communities as sinister, cruel, powerful, or controlling.^[9][10] These libels, conspiracies and accusations often led to violence, vandalism, lynchings, or mass killings such as pogroms.^[11][12] Many antisemitic tropes or false accusations developed in societies practicing monotheistic religions which were themselves derived from Judaism, and date back to the birth of Christianity, such as the allegation that the Jews are collectively responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. These tropes are paralleled in later 7th century descriptions of Jews in the Quran which state that they were visited with wrath from Allah because they disbelieved in Allah's revelations, for taking usury, and condemned to punishment.^[13] In Medieval Europe, the scope of antisemitic tropes expanded and became the basis for regular persecutions and formal expulsions of Jews in England, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal. It was widely believed that Jews caused epidemics like the Black Death, or other illness^[14] by poisoning wells. Jews were also accused of ritually consuming the blood of Christians.


Starting in the 19th century, the notion first emerged that Jews were plotting to establish control over the world and dominate it by promoting capitalism and engaging in banking and finance. In the 20th century, other antisemitic tropes alleged that Jews were responsible for the propagation of Communism and trying to dominate the news media. Those antisemitic tropes, which had political and economic contexts, became political myths central to the worldview of Adolf Hitler, and persist to the present day.^{[10][15][16][17]} In the 20th and 21st centuries, the propagation of antisemitic tropes and libels have been documented in the anti-Zionist movement.^[18][19][20]


The denial and minimization of atrocities committed against Jews is also a classical antisemitic trope of its own, for example by Holocaust denial,^[8][21] or the denial of the Jewish exodus from the Muslim world.^[22] Holocaust denial may manifest intertwined with a conspiracy theory because of its position that the Holocaust was a hoax or misrepresentation and was designed to advance the interests of Jews and/or justify the creation of the State of Israel.^[8][23] More recently, denial of the 7 October attacks has emerged as an example of this type.^{[24][25][26][27]} Denial of particular attacks on Jews may focus on singular events as a broader way to deny the existence or prevalence of antisemitism in the society at larger scales.^[28]