Was it because the Western Christian countries consider you to be the
killer of Christ that you were hated throughout the Western countries
– or is there more to it? How about this from the Spectator?
1. As money-lenders the Jews are as maggots and parasites, aggravating
and feeding on the diseases of the land. Once in the money-lender’s
clutches, rarely escapes till he is squeezed dry, when he is either
thrown aside, crushed and ruined, or cast into a dungeon, where,
fettered and starved, he is probably left to die a slow and horrible
death.
2. The Jew is no less active in profiting by the vices and necessities
of the peasant than by those of the noble. As sure as he gains a
settlement in a village the peasantry become poor.
3. It is chiefly as brokers or middlemen that the Jews are so
prominent. Seldom a business transaction of any kind takes place
without their intervention, and from both sides they receive
compensation. To enumerate some of their other occupations, constantly
denounced by the public: they are the principal dealers in spirits;
keepers of “vodka” (drinking) shops and houses of ill-fame; receivers
of stolen goods; illegal pawnbrokers and usurers.