Was Gandhi an anti-semite

Answer 1

NO. Gandhi for all of his moral confusion on the topic of the Jews, does not actually intend them ill or mistreatment. He simply and naively assesses the "power" of non-violence in the face of tyranny and promotes Jewish integration over Zionism. Gandhi's views on Jews are primarily as follows: (1) He believes Zionism (the creation of Israel) to be an immoral project because it will disrupt the lives of the indigenous Arabs and holds that Jews should seek to become citizens of the countries where they live. (2) He believes that Jews should engage in "non-violent resistance" against Nazi Germany and by the nobility of their sacrifice (when the Nazis inevitably kill them) arouse the world to come to the support of the Jews. (3) This world support must not involve war.

Of course, any person who reads these three points (and has a brain) will see the immediate moral problem here. He is advocating for mass collective suicide for the Jews with no serious means of halting the Nazi menace. Were Gandhi to have this realization as well, he could be said to be Anti-Semite arguing from a position of apparent friendship with wicked intentions, but his genuine failure to understand that he is advocating for Jews to sign their own death warrants and allow the evil of the Nazi German regime to prevail is what prevents him from having this more sinister motive. Gandhi honestly believes that the glorious sacrifice of the Jews will compel German Gentiles to rise in defense of the dignity of the Jews and stop the massacre.

See: 'THE JEWS', BY GANDHI - FROM HARIJAN, NOVEMBER 26, 1938