- Throughout Jewish history, rulers of different regions and countries would persecute Jews for having a different religion, as was the custom at the time. This refusal to worship idols was seen as stubborn and was resented.
- The earliest recording of attempted Jewish genocide is in the Book of Esther, which takes place when all Jews lived were expelled from what is now Israel and lived under Babylonian rule. The King Ahasuerus is convinced by an antisemitic adviser, Haman, to kill every Jew in his kingdom, which was every Jew in the world at that time. The Jews are saved by the King’s new wife, Esther, who reveals that she herself is Jewish and the King orders Haman to be killed on the gallows he had prepared for Jews.
- Many American Christians are familiar with the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, which tells the story of Jewish resistance to antisemitism in Israel. Some of the earliest government persecution of Jews occurred under the Ancient Greek empire, when Jews began to be restricted from religious practice and certain legal rights. The story of Hanukkah chronicles the resistance of Jewish Maccabees who rebelled against Assyrian Greek conquerors that sought to stop Jews from practicing Judaism.
- Antisemitism has existed in most places where Jews have lived throughout history, but the severity of antisemitism varies drastically from time to time and place to place.
Sources:
https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/education-outreach/Brief-History-on-Antisemitism-A.pdf
https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/The-Book-of-Esther-A-political-analysis
