The Associated Press (AP) announced on April 23 that they have changed the spelling of “anti-Semitism” to “antisemitism.” The AP tweeted that they are now spelling the word without the hyphen or capitalizing the “s” in “Semitism.”
We now write antisemitism (n.), antisemitic (adj.), without a hyphen and with no capitalization.
This is a change from AP's previous style: anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic.#ACES2021Online— APStylebook (@APStylebook) April 23, 2021
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has argued that the spelling is important because “there is no such thing as a Semitic peoplehood” and “one could speak a Semitic language and still have anti-Semitic views.” Additionally, the ADL noted that Jew-hatred “goes beyond any false perception of a Jewish race; it is wrapped up in complicated historical, political, religious, and social dynamics.” “While removing a hyphen by itself won’t defeat antisemitism, we believe this slight alteration will help to clarify understanding of this age-old hatred,” the ADL wrote.
Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt celebrated the change, tweeting: “When you fight prejudice & hatred, you don’t win many battles. But we won this one. Bravo AP.” She added that in her book “Antisemitism Here and Now” she had written that “nothing this absurd deserves a capital letter.”
When you fight prejudice &hatred, you don't win many battles. But we won this one. Bravo AP on de-hyphenating antisemitism & using a lower case. There's no thing as "semitism" & as I said in Antisemitism_Here_and_Now, "nothing this absurd deserves a capital letter." @AP https://t.co/w3APJ2gnJh
— Deborah E. Lipstadt (@deborahlipstadt) April 25, 2021
StandWithUs similarly tweeted that it was an “important move” and that the AP is “joining the many who fight against Jew hatred.”
Important move! The Associated Press has changed its spelling of the word “antisemitism,” now writing it without a hyphen — joining the many who fight against Jew hatred.https://t.co/ORBlbi8BAX
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) April 27, 2021
The Journal will also be implementing this change.
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