:No, this is a mistake.  The meaning of the word anti-Semitism cannot be inferred from its components (there are no such thing as "Semitic people," only "Semitic languages" and we all agree that anti-Semitism is not a hatred of Semitic languages), but rather from how the person who coined it defined it, and how people have used it sence.  And they have used it to mean "hatred of the Jewish race."  There happen to be Arab anti-Semites, and anti-Semites who have no hatred towards Arabs, for example.  Of course it is quite possible for someone to be both an anti-Semite and a racist hater of Arabs.  But then calling that person an "anti-Semite" would be inadequate: you would have to say "that man is a racist: besides being anti-Semitic, he also hates Arabs."    |