“Antisemitism” is antiquated. Not the pathology or symptoms of Jew-hatred, but rather the word itself. This has become increasingly apparent as discourse rages on the Iran war, with people deploying paranoid, nonsensical anti-Jewish rhetoric when discussing Israel, while also denying being antisemitic. Legitimate critiques of Israel can be made, but many are accusing Israel and Zionists of “controlling” the US government and forcing it into war with Iran, despite the Iran war being squarely in US geopolitical interests. And this is not even the most ridiculous anti-Israel conspiracy theory. The anti-Israel ideology we see today is not merely Jew-hatred, but a variation which deserves a clearer name: “geopolitical Judeophobia.”

Historically, “antisemitism” has become too closely associated with its most extreme expression in the twentieth century—Nazism—and thus, anything short of genocidal, systematic racism may seem to fall outside of the definition. Semantically, “antisemitism” simply makes no sense in the twenty-first century. The term itself was popularized by a nineteenth-century German journalist, Wilhelm Marr (founder of the League of Antisemites), as a scientific-sounding ideology based in an eighteenth-century theory of language groups. Marr stood in firm opposition to the assimilation of emancipated Jews in Germany, arguing that the “Germanism” of Indo-European language-speakers (“Aryans”) must be protected against influence and infiltration by peoples of West Asia (“Semites”). But within this arguably arbitrary linguistic framework, Arabic is included as a Semitic language, just like Hebrew. Therefore, the term, as has often been noted, literally applies equally to racism against Arab people as it does to racism against Jewish people. Moreover, more than half of the world’s Jews have returned to Israel in West Asia and speak Hebrew, posing no threat to dilute the languages of non-“Semitic”-speaking people with foreign “Semitism.” For these historical and semantic reasons, “antisemitism” has lost its core meaning. 

This lexical failure has been addressed by numerous authors, but it continues presenting a roadblock to productive discourse in 2026. We should therefore abandon the term “antisemitism” in favor of a clearer, more precise one. “Judeophobia” is the best option, coined by Leon Pinsker, an early Zionist leader and survivor of the Russian pogroms, in his 1882 treatise called Auto-Emancipation. The term “Judeophobia” better conveys the characteristically emotional paranoia inherent to the phenomenon of Jew-hatred, and the target of it: the Jewish descendants of Judea. 

Nevertheless, one can attempt to dismiss accusations of Judeophobia while simultaneously harboring unparalleled resentment toward Israel, the Jewish state, honestly believing themself to merely be critical of a government rather than exhibiting irrational hatred or paranoia of a particular people. Yet anti-Israel rhetoric consistently exhibits extreme vitriol and a delusional fear of Israel controlling or taking over the world, as well as having bloodlust against children, replicating the typical Judeophobic tropes of the past. UK Parliament Member Zarah Sultana posted on X about an Israeli strike in Lebanon saying: “They love killing kids.” Tucker Carlson said in a recent interview with journalist Saagar Enjeti about the Iran war: “The point, of course, is to build Israeli empire to replace American empire, which is dying.” Meanwhile, Candace Owens is relentlessly saying that the US government is under the control of Zionists she calls “satanic pedophiles.” All of these conspiracy theories are coalescing with Jeffrey Epstein’s horrible criminal operations and baseless claims that he worked on behalf of Israel to blackmail American politicians. Some even reach back in time, accusing Israel of having executed the........

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