Anti-Semitism was coined by anti-Semites as pseudo-scientific cover for Jew-hatred.

Evidence

In any case, the term anti-Semitism was an invention of the anti-Semites, to provide a pseudo-scientific cover for Jew-hating and Jew-baiting, and was never intended to apply to any “Semitic” people besides the Jews. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1239 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The problem, however, is that the word ‘antisemitism’ does not belong to pre-modernity. It was, instead, the product of a very distinct context of political, cultural and economic strife in central Europe at the end of the nineteenth century. In an intellectual culture shaped by racial nationalist thought, and driven by a desire for racial purity as political panacea, self-declared Jew haters deployed the word as the name for their political movement: the Antisemiten-Liga of Berlin, founded in 1879. This is the deeply problematic origin of Hollande’s name for the anti-Jewish enemy. — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 73 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Anti-Semitism as a term was coined by anti-Semites to dignify Jew-hatred — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1239; The term antisemitism was coined by self-declared Jew haters in 1879 Berlin — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in…, 73; Anti-Zionism serves as a respectable cover for anti-Semitism where direct prejudice is discredited (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Anti-Semitism as a term was coined by anti-Semites to dignify Jew-hatred #corroborates (0.98) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1239
• The term antisemitism was coined by self-declared Jew haters in 1879 Berlin #expands (0.95) — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 73