Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis - Empire State O'Reilly: Breaking Down Anti-Semitism

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

Bill explains the existence of anti-Semitism through a historical perspective. Originally only available in the New York City area, Bill’s Empire State O’Reilly commentary addresses local New York issues, but those issues have implications, impact the country, and mirror problems in other states. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are more Jewish people in New York than any other city in the country by far. It is a Jewish center of commerce, and it is the second, I think, most authoritative Jewish city next to Tel Aviv. Jerusalem is obviously a symbol of the Jewish religion, but the political power is in Israel's capital. There's been a lot of anti-Semitic stuff thrown around, and I'm getting letters about where did this all start? Where did the anti-Semitism begin? Well, in the early part of Christianity, it was believed by some that the Jewish Sanhedron in Jerusalem wanted to kill Jesus, which was true. And because of that, the Romans actually executed the Nazarene, but because the Jewish authorities were so adamantly opposed to Jesus, some anti-Jewish feeling grew up in Christian precincts. But it wasn't until the dark ages and medieval times in Europe that anti-Semitism really flour.

and it's very interesting why in the christian religion back then you were not allowed to lend money to anybody with interest simony it was called and it was a grave grave sin so the only money lenders in europe were jewish and a smattering of asians but there weren't many Asians in europe at the time so jewish merchants set up shop in the big cities and lent working people, mostly Christians, money. And when those people couldn't pay it back, the Jewish lenders took legal action. That caused a major problem for the image of Judaism. Now, it's unfair.

if you have a money lending business and you give money under a contract to someone and that person doesn't pay you back, they're actually stealing from you. So you have a right if you're operating in a legal fashion, which most Jewish merchants were, to regain your money without being the object of hatred. But that's not the way the world works. The powerful people And the Chinese fit into this category in Asia. Chinese merchants were always far, far ahead of many people, and there was a lot of jealousy. You add to that, the Jewish customs were so different than Christian customs, and you have that kind of a situation, too, in Europe. So, anti-Semitism took root, and obviously we saw the extremism that Central Europe, not only Germany, brought in the 20th century toward Jews.

Remember, World War II was in the 1930s and 40s, that's not that far away. And it wasn't only the Nazis who were persecuting the Jews and murdering the Jews. In almost every European country, there were people sympathetic to the Nazis. And Ukraine, countries like that, Romania, the Iron Guard, they hunted down Jews. The Russians were the worst. The Russians put Jewish people in pogroms. So anyway, that is not gone from the planet. And that's where anti-Semitism lives in the world.

those kinds of terrible mindsets because you don't persecute a race. And the Jewish people themselves are entitled to protection, not only in Israel, but in the United States as well. They are a minority. There are very few Jewish people on the planet. And those of us in the majority, Christians, we have a duty to defend our Jewish brothers, and sisters. It's a duty. It's in the theology. So I hope I've clarified this a little bit. If you have any further questions, bill at bill o'Reilly.com, bill at bill o'Reilly.com. Name in town, please, so I know you're a real person. Thank you.