The Scourge of Anti-Semitism

Why does anti-Semitism seem so rampant in society today? The whole world took notice last December when a pair of gunmen opened fire on an outdoor Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, killing 15 and injuring another three dozen. In March of this year, at least eight violent attacks against synagogues were recorded across the United States and Europe.

Can we blame this on radicalized Islamists? While Islamic extremism plays a part, it doesn’t account for widespread anti-Semitic sentiments expressed throughout Britain and other Western nations in the wake of Hamas terrorists’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Within a week of the Hamas attack, the London Metropolitan Police had recorded a sevenfold rise in anti-Semitic incidents and attacks over the same period in the previous year (The Guardian). And note—this was before Israel had mounted its massive Gaza response to Hamas’ violence. So intense were the anti-Israel protests in London that the United Kingdom government declared Britain’s Palestinian Action group a terrorist organization and hence banned from operating in the UK.

The Roots of Anti-Semitism

Reasons for the outpouring of anti-Semitism vary depending on the part of the world we are discussing. Yet the sentiment behind the words Haman uttered to King Ahasuerus, ruler of the Medo-Persian Empire in the fifth century before Christ, still rings true in the minds of many around the globe: “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain” (Esther 3:8).

One can understand that Muslims—believing that Abraham’s blessings were delivered through Ishmael—would oppose the Jews’ understanding, as given in Scripture, that those blessings were passed to Isaac’s descendants. That’s a theological disagreement. But among the more radicalized it is considered a justification for murder.

And the Islamic world is not alone in expressions of anti-Semitism. Nominally “Christian” nations have a long history of anti-Semitic behavior, often justified by the religious authorities of the day as a deserved consequence of the Jews killing Christ. But most present-day protesters in the West are not religious in any way; secular universities and university-educated individuals have been at the forefront of protests against Israel. Something else is at work.

Consider the case of Ireland, which during the Holocaust refused entry to roughly 90 percent of the Jews who sought refuge there. Lest we be tempted to blame this on the nation’s Roman Catholic past, we must note that today’s Ireland has become quite secularized—and detached from history, with polls showing that about a fifth of the Irish deny the Holocaust or believe that it has been “greatly exaggerated.” And after calling Israel a “terrorist state,” Irish president Catherine Connolly took office last November, receiving 63 percent of the votes cast.

From Anti-Zionism to Anti-Semitism

So, why would a secular nation be inclined toward anti-Semitism? Experience shows that it is but a short hop from anti-Israel sentiment to anti-Semitism, since the nation of Israel so firmly grounds its identity in its understanding of Scripture. Whether religiously inclined or not, Jews in Israel see the Exodus from Egypt as a fundamental aspect of their ethos. Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not present himself as religiously devout, he is the only leader of the Western world who has used the Bible to justify his nation’s existence to the United Nations. He has also described Hamas’ Iranian benefactors as “Amalek,” an ancient enemy of Israel in the Bible.

Such a grounding in Scripture is out of step with modern Western sensibilities, but it goes deeper than that. When University of Austin professor Alex Priou visited Israel, he was struck by how widely Israelis used biblical concepts and instructions to frame and justify their way of life. Priou noted that not all Israelis are biblically literate, yet the Bible repeatedly informed their actions and decisions, though their nation was nominally founded on secular principles in the wake of World War II and the Holocaust. People today often fail to remember that the Soviet Union—no friend of religion—was the first nation to officially recognize the newborn state of Israel in 1948.

Indeed, David Ben-Gurion and the first generation of Israeli leaders espoused secularism. The socialist Labor Party dominated politics throughout most of the first three decades of the state’s existence. General Moshe Dayan’s controversial decision to relinquish control of the Temple Mount after it was captured by Israeli forces during the Six-Day War of 1967 is a case in point, as he clearly saw religious concerns as subordinate to the protection of the nation. Even Menachem Begin, leader of the opposition Likud Party, held the same view of a secular state. The early post-World War II returnees to Israel were primarily from Europe and had experienced socialism and secularism to some degree.

But when Mitzrahi Jews arrived from North Africa and from Middle East states such as Yemen and Iraq in the 1950s, they brought to Israel a very different experience—one in which the concept of secular assimilation did not exist. Often more devout than the secularized Ashkenazi immigrants from Europe, they changed the religious fabric of the state. This created a paradox—though it was persecution of the Jews that led United Nations member states to overwhelmingly support the partition of Palestine to create a Jewish homeland, the increasing role of Judaism in the Jewish homeland endangered much of that support.

Israel’s Factional and Religious Divisions

Former Israeli president Reuven Rivlin expressed a prominent feature of Israeli life in a 2015 address that has become known as the “Four Tribes” speech. Rivlin highlighted how Israeli society was tribalized, with the Secular, National Religious, Ultra-Orthodox, and Israeli Arabs forming separate groups that share little or no interaction. Bear in mind that three of the four groups are religious—and that the Secular group is shrinking. Unlike the rest of the Western world, there is no integration between these groups, each displaying fundamental differences in education, basic values, and how they see the nature of the State of Israel. And each of these incompatible identities is anchored to its particular perspective on religion.

For an example of how deeply religion plays a role in Israel, consider the March 12, 2026, Times of Israel blog digest. It led with an article titled “Are we building the Third Temple?” Eliezer Wolf writes, “Yes, Jews believe the Temple will one day be rebuilt—but contrary to viral conspiracies, Jewish tradition says we’re nowhere near building it now.” What is remarkable is that the author then proceeds to quote numerous passages of Scripture to justify his belief, setting out the factors that now prevent accomplishing that ideal.

A discussion about the rationale for building a temple in Jerusalem would not grace a front page of any Western newspaper. If it were run, it would be hidden away in some cultural section of the paper. That said, when the Jews do start to build a temple, the outrage against what will then be decried as a primitive practice may well be on the front page of every broadsheet and tabloid worldwide.

Secularism and Anti-Semitism Worldwide

Far from a religious phenomenon, the growth of anti-Semitism since the end of World War II can be linked primarily to the rise of secularism in our Western world. Melanie Phillips, a noted British/Israeli journalist and author, places the current rise of anti-Semitism at the feet of the most secular of all political philosophies—Marxism (Jerusalem Post). With the infiltration of Marxist ideas into the Western educational system, it is no wonder that, as we see a rejection of the Bible’s way of life for individuals and communities, we simultaneously see an increase in hatred against one community in particular—the Jews, who still anchor their identity and practice in their understanding of the Scriptures.

But the hatred of the Bible will increasingly have an effect on non-Jews as well. The rise in anti-Semitism is coming hand in hand with another phenomenon—the attempt by governments to treat the Bible as hate literature and hence limit its use. To the horror of Jews and Christians alike, governments in Scotland, South Africa, and Canada have proffered legislation that would effectively limit the Bible’s use. To date, much of this hate-crime legislation has sought to carve out careful exceptions for genuine religious use of the Bible, but the framework is in place—and is already being tested—to control religious populations by imposing more stringent restrictions.

Writing to the evangelist Timothy of the nature of society at the end of the age, the Apostle Paul spoke of the selfishness that would prevail and the consequence of persecution (2 Timothy 3:1–13). This will intensify a reality that Bible-believing Christians and Jews have faced over the centuries. Speaking of the persecution he had suffered, Paul stated plainly that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (3:12). Yet, despite that expectation of persecution, Paul encourages Timothy and those who value the Bible to continue following its instructions.

Jesus Christ also spoke to His disciples about the end of the age. He warned that His true followers would “be hated by all nations for My name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9). There would be tribulation and martyrdom on an unprecedented scale, a time of trouble that the world has never previously experienced (Daniel 12:1). Anti-Semitism is, at heart, a “trial run” for the even more widespread religious persecution that will come.

Whether the secular world wants to acknowledge it or not, there is a spiritual battle being fought on the earth—and both anti-Semitism and persecution of Jesus Christ’s true followers are manifestations of that spiritual battle. What we see today in the rise of anti-Semitism in the Western world is a preview of what will engulf human society as it continues to oppose the way of God outlined in His word, the Holy Bible. You can learn more about this increasingly vital topic by reading our free resources The Bible: Fact or Fiction? and Who or What Is the Antichrist? They will help you to see the place of the Bible in your life and to further recognize the anti-God deception that is growing around us.