The League of Antisemites was created by a German journalist in 1897. The ideas espoused weren’t new, with the same old anti-Jewish lies and bigotry—but as atheists, the league looked for a definition to their hatred that could no longer be explained along religious lines. Thus the term “Semite,” a Middle-Eastern cultural grouping, was coined. This has created a new realm of confusion in the modern day, when some of those enemies are themselves from the Mideast.
But the roots of this hatred harks way back further to the original settlers of Canaan.
From the prophecy of Bilaam in the Torah, Bamidbar 24:17-19:
17. I see it, but it is not now; I behold it, but it is not close. A star-like figure rises from Jacob, and a staff of global authority will arise from Israel who will crush the princes of Moav and uproot all the wicked people on earth who are all descendants of Shait, son of Adam.
18. The world superpower represented by Edom [Rome] shall be possessed by King Moshiach and its capital city Seir shall become the possession of its sworn enemies [the Jews]. And the Jewish nation will triumph.
19. A ruler shall come out of Jacob and destroy the remnant survivors of the city, leaving no trace of evil on earth.
