[1] The term "Jewish oppression" will be used throughout this statement to refer to the specific oppression which has been directed against the Jewish people. The term "anti-Semitic" has specifically not been used in order to avoid any confusion over the fact that anti-Semitism can refer to the oppression of non-Jewish Semitic peoples as well as Jews. [2] The actual scapegoat mechanism and "visible agent" roles were more oven during feudal and early capitalist societies than during the present stage of advanced capitalism. However, the exclusion of Jews from certain occupations, the manipulation of some Jews to serve these roles, and the use of the Jewish community as a whole to serve as a scapegoat have gone on relentlessly in every period.      In the feudal period, for example, Jews were often prohibited from owning land and prevented from joining craft guilds which would have allowed them to integrate with the non-Jewish population. Jewish artisans were generally allowed to develop only those skills which were of use to the ruling classes or to their own communities. "Court Jews" served the king or feudal lords directly as tax collectors or as other public officials while the majority of Jews led impoverished lives.      With the development of capitalism, the former Court Jews became industrial entrepreneurs and merchants who filled roles as accumulators of capital and who helped break the patterns of the feudal economy. The vast majority of Jews, of course, earned their income from labor.      During the present period in advanced capitalist societies we find large numbers of Jews as teachers, social service and health care personnel, lawyers, bureaucrats, etc. Within these roles Jews exercise some degree of daily power and control over other groups, and they are seen as the obstacle to the advancement of other groups who compete for scarce jobs with Jews who are already heavily concentrated in these occupations. When this situation is combined with the periodic references to "Jewish power and influence" by government officials and others in the ruling classes and with other cultural myths and stereotypes which are perpetuated by right-wing publications and organizations, we begin to understand the actual vulnerability of the Jewish communities today.      The situation in Israel, which has been established and permitted to exist strictly within the context of worldwide Jewish oppression, will be treated in a later section. We will explain how Israel has been manipulated by Western imperialist nations into an antagonistic relationship with her Arab neighbors and turned into a convenient scapegoat for many reactionary Arab rulers who have been able to divert their peoples' attention away from the difficulties and contradictions within their own countries by rallying them against Israel. [3] The beliefs in salvation and redemption traditionally adopted by most religions whereby a particular religion insisted on its exclusive or superior path to salvation has been the major cause of intolerance and disrespect between all religious groups. These notions have been used to explain and justify the oppressive treatment experienced by minority religious groups in many countries. Jews have been subject to such abuse in countries with both Christian and Moslem majorities.      Although in its development, some of the leaders of Christianity sought to discredit Judaism, this was mostly a result of competition with Judaism for converts as well as part of the way they tried to distinguish Christianity from Judaism. The struggle between the early Church and Judaism created mutual antagonisms and intolerance. It was not until Christianity became the official state religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century that we find anti-Jewish religious myths and libels being used systematically by the rulers and their cohorts in the religious establishment.      Until the end of the first century C. E., in fact, the Romans made little distinction between Judaism and Christianity, considering the latter a sect or branch of Judaism. Both were, at times, considered subversive and threatening. Anti-Jewish attitudes and actions dating from these and earlier pagan times were intermittent and of a kind borne against all groups regarded as outsiders.      Although overt Jewish oppression has surfaced in countries with Moslem majorities, it has generally been sporadic and has never reached the severity which developed in the Christian world. Jews (and Christians) as "People of the Book" have enjoyed religious freedom and special "protection" although, as non-Moslems, they generally held an inferior status. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, however, overt oppression of Jews in countries with Moslem majorities has intensified tremendously (usually taking place alongside of severe anti-Israel activity).