Blood Libel: The Conspiracy Theory That Jews Are ‘Anti-Human’

The roots of the present-day anti-Semitic motif go through the Middle Ages and all the way back to antiquity.

Anti-Semitism has many exceptional qualities. Unlike most forms of racism, it is a conspiracy theory. Like all conspiracy theories, it is a search for the Devil, or for the Devil’s agents on earth. They are imagined not as an underclass to be exploited and despised but as a preternaturally powerful elite that enslaves and destroys humankind. The anti-Semite “punches up” at the Jews who close the road to deliverance from oppression....