Antisemitism

Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed at Jews. While the term's etymology may imply that antisemitism is directed against all Semitic peoples, it is in practice used exclusively to refer to hostility towards Jews as a religious, racial, or ethnic group.

The instances of antisemitism range from individual hatred to institutionalized, violent persecutions. Extreme instances of persecution include the Spanish Inquisition, eviction from Spain in 1492, from England in 1290, various pogroms, and the most infamous, Adolf Hitler's Holocaust. Antisemitism has been called "the longest hatred."