When a young Jew named Ilan Halimi was found dying on a railway siding three years ago, duct tape over his eyes and his body burned and slashed, the French police were reluctant at first to call it a hate crime.
Within a week, their caution gave way to a different and uglier conclusion, one that sent shock waves through a country that has wrestled with the demons of anti-Semitism for years.
The victim was targeted, investigators said, because he was Jewish.
I would note that the Semitic peoples include Arabas as well as Jews and, in fact, used to include Phoenicians, Assyrians, Canaanites and other groups.
I think that the term ‘anti-semitic’ is used as a somewhat euphemistic label because it is less blatant to say “anti-Jewish” -which of course it is. the term anti-Jewish conjures up, not only the nightmarish treatment of Jews by Hitler and the Third Reich, but the never ending treatment of Jews throughout history in much of Europe and certainly by Muslims of all colours and stripes, and that goes back to Mohammad’s ugly treatment to the Jews of Medina during his pogrom to cleanse the city