The anti-semitism envoy Jillian Segal now wants a national cabinet meeting “after summer attacks on Jewish Australians”. The attacks were as far as I know acts of vandalism, and not attacks on the persons of Jewish Australians, as implied by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) news article. No one has been arrested for these acts of vandalism and so who is responsible has not been established. We must keep in mind that in the context of a propaganda war, it is important to appear to be the blameless victim of evil people. Some might remember the young girl bawling her eyes out on American television claiming to have witnessed Iraqi soldiers throwing Kuwaiti babies out of incubators? Years later it turned out she had never even been to Kuwait, and that she received acting lessons to make her performance more convincing.
Today protesting against genocide is near illegal and attracts accusations of being “anti-Semitic.” I had to look up the meaning of Semitic because I always thought that Semitic includes the Arabs and their language. Like a lazy undergrad I banged it into the A.I. thing and found I was not mistaken, below is the A.I. answer.
The term Semitic originates from the name Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 10). Shem is traditionally considered the ancestor of a group of peoples and languages mentioned in the Bible, including the Hebrews, Arameans, Assyrians, and others.
Linguistic Origin
The term Semitic languages was first coined by German scholar August Ludwig von Schlözer in the late 18th century. He used it to categorize a group of related languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, and Akkadian. These languages share common linguistic features, such as similar root systems and grammatical structures. They were associated with peoples thought to be descendants of Shem based on the biblical genealogies.
Broader Usage
Over time, the term expanded in meaning:
- Linguistic: Referring to the Semitic language family, which includes ancient and modern languages such as:
- Akkadian (Babylonian and Assyrian)
- Hebrew
- Aramaic
- Arabic
- Phoenician
- Amharic and Tigrinya (spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea)
- Ethnic and Cultural: It was historically used to describe peoples speaking Semitic languages, though this usage is now less common due to its imprecision and potential for misuse.
Modern Considerations
The term “Semitic” today is most commonly associated with linguistics, but it is also linked to the concept of anti-Semitism, which specifically refers to prejudice against Jews. This usage arose in the 19th century but is misleading, as it implies hostility toward all Semitic-speaking peoples, which was not its original intent.
