As a result the demonization, Jews were always persecuted, expelled, ridiculed, restricted, killed by the millions; used as scapegoats for the ills of societies. Today, Israel a small country of 5 million people that lived in a state of war for over fifty years and is fighting for its life, facing pervasive terror and blood shedding, is perceived as an oppressor, occupier, racists and is facing boycott and is becoming a pariah between nations.

The world applying double standards when dealing with Jews. In Jenin, Israel Defense Force killed 45 gunmen and the UN wants to investigate genocide. In Rwanda 500,000 people were brutally massacred and nobody paid attention; the churches remained silent, no boycotts, no protests on the campuses. Are the victims of Rwanda less human than the gunmen from JENIN? Where were the students from Berkeley when the when the Serbs massacred thousand of Muslims in Bosnia?

Anti-Semitism, without doubt is the main cause of mistreatment and victimization of the Jews, but the situation is more complex. 
 

ANTISEMITSM AND DEMONIZATION

For example St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Father of the Church wrote: 
The true image of the Hebrew is Judas Iscariot, who sells the Lord for silver. The Jew can never understand the Scriptures and forever will bear the guilt for the death of Jesus.

St. Ambrose of Milan (379-395 A.D.) advocated outright Jewish persecution, teaching the gospel of hate: 
The Jews are the most worthless of all men. They are lecherous, greedy, rapacious. They are perfidious murderers of Christ...The Jews are the odious assassins of Christ and for killing God there is expiation possible, no indulgence or pardon. Christian may never cease vengeance, and the Jews must live in servitude forever. God always hated the Jews. It is incumbent upon all Christians to hate the Jews.

Martin Luther wrote:
"First, . . . set fire to their synagogues or schools and . . . bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians."

The two thousand years of anti-Semitism became a pervasive, wide spread and percolated into the literature (Merchant of Venice), and folklore (blood libels). It created a subconscious, cultural anti-Jewish bias that we call DEMONIZATION. The Jews are not perceived as individuals but as "mafia" of pushy, aggressive individuals, responsible for each other's misdeeds. 

There is a fundamental difference between anti-Semitism and Demonization. Anti-Semitism is an active, intensive, conscious form of prejudices while the anti-Jewish bias in a culturally induced negative attitude toward the Jews. Demonization is a subtle, subconscious, archetype perception of Jews as evil and supernaturally powerful. Anti-Semitism is the visible tip of the demonization iceberg submerged undetected in muddy waters of our civilzation. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL ROOTS OF DEMONIZATION

Man is a social animal and each child is required to curb his instinctual drives, to adapt to life in the society. Curbing the powerful instinctual drives is not easy and it is convenient for the individual have a scapegoat, to be blamed for his shortcomings, tensions, conflicts and hatred. The Jews through the ages served as a convenient scapegoat.

During adolescence, the child starts the process of separation from his parents, the developing of this own identity, and at this time the instinctual drives started to be felt, especially the sexual drive. The child has to develop his own superego to check his instinctual drives. It is natural for the child to project all his inner tensions and conflicts on the Jews symbolizing the negative part of human nature and humanity. 

The importance of religious teachings lies in the fact that it leaves a mark in the tender psyche of the child, before economic and social factors enter the picture. The feeling of ambivalence and animosity toward the Jews makes it easy to target them as scapegoats, when frustration and conflicts arise in the adulthood. An adult from an affluent home will see the Jews as communist bent on world domination. The child from a poor home will see the Jews as financiers, media moguls, and shopkeepers, all bent of exploitation.
 

MYOPTIC ACCEPTANCE OF TERRORISM

It is sad, but the tacit acceptance of terror as a political weapon provides aid and comfort to nihilistic Muslim terrorists who hijacked the Palestinian conflict to bring down the hated Western civilization, a civilization they cannot join and cannot ignore. The writing is on the wall. Even Prince Abdullah (Saudi Arabia) sees it now.

Poor Muslim families have on average ten children. Two-wife families have about twenty children. The explosive population growth will further exhaust the limited resources bring anger and frustration and creating breeding grounds for suicide bombers. The suicide bombers attacking Israel today can bomb tomorrow Paris, New York, Oslo or Copenhagen. Our technological society with a market-oriented economy is based on trust and stability and is very vulnerable to disruptions. One suicide bomber with a few pounds of conventional explosive can cause a 25% drop in the Dow Jones, evaporating billions of dollars of accumulated wealth. The dangers are real and only a concerted effort of the world community of nations can eradicate this 21 Century scourge.