ABSTRACT
In sum, critical argumentation, where anti-Semitism is concerned, requires clear definition of terms. The need for clarification of both the terms used and the functions of anti-Semitism itself is a hard nut to crack. The phenomenon demarcated by the term'anti-Semitism' is very narrowly defined and barely capable of capturing all the facets and complexities of the ambivalence towards Jews and Judaism. Over the course of history, anti-Semitism has changed not only its intentions, functions and forms but also the target and rationale of the ostracism it entails. We can genuinely speak of a phenomenon which, by definition, is difficult to define. To illustrate this point, let us refer to a conceptual absurdity: anti-Semitism in Europe, as a form of obsession and animosity with complex roots and as a historical manifestation of a racistcolonialist sense of mission, reaches a level of tragic irony against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, if one considers the meaning of the highly questionable linguistic constructs 'Semitic' and 'anti-Semitic'. The beginning of my analysis does not deal with these rather far-reaching connections but with summary references to the somewhat doubtful contribution of the academic disciplines in explaining and establishing what is 'anti-Semitism'.
