Antisemitism’s source lies in the nation-state’s development and Jews’ state functions.

Evidence

The simultaneous decline of the European nation-state and growth of antisemitic movements, the coincident downfall of nationally organized Europe and the extermination of Jews, which was prepared for by the victory of antisemitism over all competing isms in the preceding struggle for persuasion of public opinion, have to be taken as a serious indication of the source of antisemitism. Modern antisemitism must be seen in the more general framework of the development of the nation-state, and at the same time its source must be found in certain aspects of Jewish history and specifically Jewish functions during the last centuries. If, in the final stage of disintegration, antisemitic slogans proved the most effective means of inspiring and organizing great masses of people for imperialist expansion and destruction of the old forms of government, then the previous history of the relationship between Jews and the state must contain elementary clues to the growing hostility between certain groups of society and the Jews. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 81

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the book’s core framing move: modern antisemitism must be explained through the nation-state’s structure, not through Jewish characteristics.
• XREF: This reverses the psychology-of-prejudice frame and connects directly to how Islamophobia readings treat anti-Muslim animus as structurally produced by state formation rather than by Muslim identity itself.