In America, I think it mainly goes back to religion. E.g. Peter Stuyvesant (early governor of New Amsterdam) really didn't like them.

http://www.pbs.org/w.../documents_1.html

The first group of Jewish settlers in North America were 23 refugees from the Portuguese reconquest of Recife, Brazil, who arrived in New Amsterdam (present day New York City) in 1654. The colony's governor, Peter Stuyvesant, greeted them coldly and wished to expell them. He engaged in this pungent correspondence with the Dutch West India Company, overseers of the New Netherlands colony, seeking permission to eject the refugees.

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HTH a little.

Cheers,
Scott.