If Jews hate Christians and Muslims - why do they hate them?

Answer 1

Answer 1

I cannot speak for all of the groups mentioned, but a true Christian does not hate Jews. Jesus Christ was a Jew; the Word of God came through the Jews, and Jesus will be returning to Israel. So it makes no sense whatsoever for any Christian to hate Jews. God loves them! Therefore, those who hate them and claim to be Christian are not.

Answer 2

A historic view

Even ignoring the present time, there is good historical evidence for this question. Many Jews fled from Christian Europe to Spain, to escape persecution by the Christians. During the German Crusade of 1096, part of the First Crusade, peasant crusaders attacked European Jews, who were perceived as just as much of an enemy as Muslims. In the Second Shepherds' Crusade of 1320, the main targets were Jews. The Jews were driven out of England in 1290, out of France in 1394, and out of numerous districts of Germany, Italy, and the Balkan peninsula between 1350 and 1450. The perpetrators were people who would have considered themselves as good, even devout, Christians.

It is said that one of Muhammad's greatest disappointments was when the Jews of Medina refused to accept him as a prophet. Although most of the Jews at Medina would never be reconciled with Muhammad, some of the Jews in the smaller clans were friendly and enhanced Muhammad's knowledge of Jewish scripture. The first real signs of friction between Muhammad and the local Jews was when the Qaynuqah tribe of Jews staged an unsuccessful rebellion in 625. However, in the long term, Jews seem to have been treated better under Muslim control than Christian.

We can readily establish a historical context for persecution, perhaps hatred, of Jews. The reasons are more complex and harder to define. One reported reason that some Christians hated Jews is that they have always been blamed for the crucifixion of Jesus.

Answer 3

Anti-Semitic views may be caused by ignoring what The Bible says about the Jews and their importance to God. They are His chosen race, and deserve respect for that alone, quite apart from the other biblical teachings which remind us we are one blood.

Answer 4

The hate is mainly towards those who are perceived as stealing other peoples' lands, homes, lives, and made people run to the deserts, with no shelter, as refugees. It is human nature to hate those who destroyed your life, and made you homeless, whoever they were, whatever religion they may have.

Answer 5

The Question needs to be addressed from a number of angles, but one reason is the effective use of Propaganda by anti-Semites. Goebbels was given a whole ministry to spread anti-Jewish rants; and the Soviets also used hatred of Jews to distract the populace from their own enormities. Answer 4 (above) is an example of this. The Israelis warn residents near terrorist facilities of upcoming air raids (what other country has ever taken this humanitarian step?), whereas Hamas targets Israeli civilians. But whom do the propagandists blame for all the self-created problems?

Answer 2

Answer 1

Some adherents of several religions are (some would say naturally) suspicious of adherents of other religions. Basically, each religion thinks it is the best or only true religion, so can't truly understand anyone belonging to another religion. But that doesn't mean they hate them.

A Jewish Answer:

Judaism doesn't teach that there's only one path to God. Rather, according to the teachings of Judaism, there are different paths for different people. Therefore, Judaism has no issue with the existence and observance of other religions among non-Jews.

Specifically as concerns Christianity and Islam, Judaism typically follows the opinion of Rambam (Maimonides) on this matter when he says that Christianity and Islam are part of God's plan to extend the knowledge of Himself across the world in a way that the Jews could not do alone. Therefore, not only are Christianity and Islam tolerable, they are desirable (albeit for non-Jews; as Judaism is still seen as desirable for Jews).

Given the above, Jews do not hate Christians and Muslims on a blanket basis. Such a hatred would be an emotional reaction that is not based upon a Torah-outlook.

Chosen-Ness

Just to address a common misconception, Jews believe that they were chosen, but this does not connote superiority.

It is worth noting that many non-Jews (as well as less-educated Jews) misunderstand the concept of "chosen-ness". It is not a statement of ethnic superiority in the vein of the übermensch or "White Pride". The Jewish understanding is that the Jewish people were charged with a distinct mission/task that the rest of the world was not assigned and this is to elevate the spiritual character of the world. This charge is very similar to that which monks and nuns take on in Catholicism and nobody chastises them for this act because we understand the hardship that comes out of that level of dedication. Jews are compelled to be so dedicated. That's it. Jews do not claim non-Jews to be inferior, unimportant, unworthy or lacking full rights in this life, or even unworthy of entering "the good place" after death. They, in fact, advocate exactly the opposite (that non-Jews are equal, critical, worthy of rights, have a reserved place in the "good place" after death provided they are good people).

(Another more pop-culturally modern version of this is the idea of the "Fellowship of the Ring" in the "Lord of the Rings". The members of the Fellowship are in no way superior or better than the rest of the inhabitants of Middle Earth, they just have a specific task to which they have been assigned and upon which the entire world depends. People outside the Fellowship are more than capable of helping this mission, and some of them (like King Theoden of Rohan and Faramir of Gondor) certainly do. It is just that the onus of responsibility lies on the Fellowship.)

Political Antagonism

Unfortunately, in the modern age, religion is still very strongly tied to political beliefs and aspirations. Jews see Israel as an extension of their Jewish Identity and there are many groups of people who are strongly critical of Israel. Now, most Jews are not opposed to substantive criticisms of Israeli policy, procedure, or history. However, many Jews look at the way that, especially Muslims, declare their state wholly illegitimate, use overt and incendiary images, and Anti-Semitic rhetoric to buttress an Anti-Zionist view, and see it as an attack on Judaism and the Jewish People as an ethnic group. A lot of Jews feel anger and antagonism towards those who would use such language and terms to describe what to them is the realization of centuries of hopes and dreams.