Debunking Antisemitism: The 109 Countries Myth

Over the past few years, a meme has been going around claiming Jews were kicked out of 109 countries. And since Jews have been expelled from so many countries, the thinking goes, they must have done something really bad to deserve it.

This is a complete fabrication based on distortions of history, rooted in baseless Jew-hatred. Let’s break it down by touching on the biggest expulsions of the Jews: England, France, and Spain, as well as a few smaller ones.

Where did this “109 countries” meme come from? This antisemitic trope originated from a Holocaust-denying group in Australia, and has been turned into a meme on social media. Antisemitic accounts on social media will often use this trope as a way of reinforcing the stereotypes they push about Jews as being a bad influence on where they live.

History tells a completely different story if you look at the facts. First of all, the real number of big expulsions from an entire country is much smaller, closer to 12; not even close to 109. Antisemites use smaller-scale expulsions in the same countries to inflate the numbers. These expulsions were often driven by politics, economics and most of all – prejudice for being different. By claiming that Jews, the victims of the expulsions, deserved it, antisemites turn history on its head.

This slur is also a form of scapegoating, blaming a particular group for the problems of the past, as well as the present.

What really happened in history? Let’s look at the facts of these expulsions to uncover the truth.

Expelled from England

In 1290, about 2,000 Jews were expelled from England. In the times leading up to the expulsion, Jews were essentially property of the King of England. The King could tax Jews at will, such as when King Edward I also imposed a poll tax on the Jews to fund his war against Wales. Unlike Christian subjects, Jews were restricted from landownership and many trades. The King could take anything the Jews owned. So King Edward I expelled the Jews after years of taxing them into the ground.

Why? Money and prejudice. Due to the aforementioned ban on Jews entering trades, they were forced into moneylending. When nobles or knights couldn’t pay back the Jewish lenders, the King exploited this situation by expelling the Jews and taking over the debts for himself. This wasn’t about Jewish “crimes” – it was a royal cash grab wrapped in religious hate.

Expulsion from France

Like England, Jews were greatly restricted in their economic and legal rights. Their status was “servi camerae regis,” or servants of the royal chamber. This placed all Jews directly under the King of France’s direct authority, a power the King abused often for levying taxes whenever he saw fit.

In 1306, King Philip IV, or Philip the Fair expelled around 100,000 Jews. Why? After fighting wars against Flanders and England, France was broke and the King coveted the wealth of the Jews. He used piety as a pretext for his expulsion, claiming that lending on interest was a spiritual bane on the country. Again, like in England, Jews were forced into money lending since their participation in trades was very restricted. He confiscated their property, and canceled debts owed to them before. No evidence was involved in this decision, just scapegoating. These weren’t punishments for “bad behavior” – they were power plays by people who saw Jews as easy targets.

Expulsion from Spain

Spanish Grand Inquisitor Tomas de Torquemada had been lobbying the King and Queen for years to expel all of the Jews from Spain, arguing that their very presence was a threat to converts from Judaism to Christianity. The Spanish Monarchs rebuffed him until the Spanish capture of Granada, finishing reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula against the Muslims. This event greatly reduced the economic importance of the Jewish population. Only after their economic use was reduced did King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella issue the Alhambra Decree in 1492, forcing Jews to be expelled or forcibly converted.

Scholars estimate anywhere between 40,000-200,000 Jews were expelled. One Jew was given special permission to stay without converting: Don Isaac Abarbanel, a brilliant Jewish scholar as well as the Spanish Kingdom’s Finance Minister. Abarbanel even helped fund the war in Granada. They weren’t beyond breaking their own rules to serve their interests. Abarbanel refused, choosing to stay with his Jewish brethren, accompanying them out of Spain.

As with England and France, Spain gained incalculable capital from this expulsion through confiscation, forced asset sales, fines for leaving itself, and debt cancellations. The amount in modern currency could be anywhere between the millions and billions.

This pattern repeated itself over and over again. As a distinct minority, Jews were easy targets for abuse, extortion, and crimes against humanity. Jews were the subject of a pogrom in 1084 in Mainz, Germany, being blamed for fires that burned a big portion of the city. In 1421, the Jews of Vienna were subject to burning at the stake, expulsion and imprisonment on false charges of ritual murder and sacrilege. In 1442, Jews were expelled from Bavaria as a supposedly pious reaction to usury, yet confiscated Jewish wealth and cancelled debts, showing a clear earthly motive for the expulsion.

What ties these expulsions together? The false accusation of crimes, religious intolerance, economic greed, and political scapegoating. The medieval King and Queens of Europe, as well as mobs used Jews as punching bags and pawns to pretend to solve their own problems.

There you have it – the “109 countries” myth, debunked. It flips the script of reality, blaming the victims instead of the real culprits. History is complicated but one thing is clear: Antisemitic myths distort the past and fuel hate in the present. That’s why we it’s important to set the record straight.

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