Throughout history there have been assumptions made about Jews and money, including that Jews are greedy global capitalists; wealthy communists; socialists; and of course, that Jews unduly influence the world with their money. These stereotypes have permeated cultures globally and are rooted in antisemitism.

Antisemites allege that Jews, who are all wealthy, have an “insatiable appetite for money” and demand that others make sacrifices for their selfish benefit. This is manifested in a variety of slurs suggesting that Jews are stingy, greedy, miserly, or aggressive bargainers who take more than they need and hurt others in the process. In this way Jews are not only demonized but are also seen as unworthy of any success they achieve, which must have been attained by cheating, not hard work.  

These contradictions led historian Derek Penslar to explain that this conspiracy myth like with many other antisemitic tropes, is the "double helix of intersecting paradigms, the first associating the Jew with paupers and savages and the second conceiving of Jews as conspirators, leaders of a financial cabal seeking global domination."  

This myth dates back to the Middle Ages, when Christians were forbidden by the Church to lend money with interest. With many being relatively reluctant to do so, many Christians sought support from Jewish citizens who did lend money with interest. As Jews were not allowed to enter many professions or even own land, many became merchants, moneylenders, and tax-collectors. This, in turn, led to many harmful stereotypes of Jewish people as money-oriented, exploitative, wealthy, and controlling the world’s finances.

While this complicated and created tense relationships between Jews and Christians, it also made it easy for Christians to scapegoat Jews for financial woes and reaffirmed Christian suspicions that Jews were immoral and cheating non-Jews in business.  

As such, Jews were villainized in literature and portrayed as being “money-hungry,” with perhaps the most famous example being the greedy Jewish moneylender Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Unfortunately, this antisemitic trope has worked itself into the modern vernacular, as “to Jew someone down” means to bargain unscrupulously for a lower price.

There are also relatively recent manifestations of this myth. For instance, in September 2017, a Jewish family was kidnapped in Seine-Saint-Denis, France and was told: “You Jews have money, we have nothing. You Jews are spoiled by the earth, and we are left behind […] You are Jews, you are rich, you have money, we take from you to give to others.”

A similar incident occurred in France in 2006, when Ilan Halimi was kidnapped by assailants hoping to extort $500,000 in ransom money from his family. The assailants assumed that his family would be able to pay the ransom because he was Jewish. Unfortunately, Halimi died after three weeks of torture in captivity.

The myth also allege that Jews use money to control the world, thus furthering exuberating another antisemitic myth. As such, Jews are accused of using money to further their own interest and benefit “their own kind,” usually at the expense of the rest of the world.