A/74/358 12. Aptly termed “the oldest hatred”, prejudice against or hatred of Jews, known as antisemitism, draws on various theories and conspiracies, articulated through myriad tropes and stereotypes and manifested in manifold ways, even in places where few or no Jewish persons live. This includes ancient narratives promote d by religious doctrine and pseudoscientific theories offered in the latter half of the second millennium to legitimize bigotry, discrimination and genocide of Jews. More contemporary forms of antisemitism employ narratives about the role of Jews in society, frequently informing or intersecting with other forms of bigotry, misogyny and discrimination. A. Historical narratives and tropes 13. Some of the oldest antisemitic narratives can be traced back to theologies that attributed collective guilt for the murder of Jesus to Jews, treating them as “malicious” and “evil”. Such tropes, which identify Jews as descendants of Judas or Satan and depict them as “cunning, controlling and powerful”, have been promoted through religious teachings and depicted in art, and they have sometimes motivated contemporary antisemitic acts. Other tropes reflect contempt for the Jewish religion, including the recurring false allegation that Jews engage in the ritual murder of non-Jews (the “blood libel”), and continue to pervade contemporary discourse. 16 14. Antisemitism is also often expressed in racialized terms, with Jewish people characterized as subhumans who must be excluded from “normal” human civilization. This pseudoscientific approach was used to justify the persecu tion of Jews in Nazi Germany and the subsequent acts of genocide committed by the Nazis and their accomplices against the European Jewish population, while antisemitic expressions of Holocaust denial seek to repudiate or minimize the harrowing historical f acts of that systematic murder of 6 million Jews. 15. Assertions that Jews are a “wandering” people without a land or nation, whose members conspire to advance their collective interests to the detriment of their “host” countries, or that Jews constitute a “powerful, global cabal” that manipulates governments, the media, banks, the entertainment industry and other institutions for malevolent purposes, are also expressions of antisemitic attitudes. Many of those negative stereotypes were promulgated in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a discredited forgery published in the early twentieth century and widely disseminated in the Middle East, alleging a secret Jewish plan for world domination. Those stereotypes often underpin modern conspiracy theories attri buting responsibility to Jews for everything from immigration to terrorist attacks. B. Trends in contemporary rhetoric 16. The Special Rapporteur is alarmed by the growing use of anti semitic tropes by white supremacists, including neo-Nazis and members of radical Islamist groups, in slogans, images, stereotypes and conspiracy theories meant to incite and justify hostility, discrimination and violence against Jews. 17. The Special Rapporteur also takes note of numerous reports of an increase in many countries of what is sometimes called “left-wing” antisemitism, in which individuals claiming to hold anti-racist and anti-imperialist views employ antisemitic narratives or tropes in the course of expressing anger at the policies or practices of __________________ 16 6/23 See e.g. Mark Weitzman, “Antisemitism: a historical survey”, available at www.museumoftolerance.com/education/teacher-resources/holocaust-resources/antisemitism-ahistorical-survey.html. 19-16257