Gerry, those of us arguing against the proposition are not denying that it's impossible to come to that interpretation, but we do disagree that it's "reasonable".

Just because the Bible calls the Jews "a holy people" does not mean that any reference to "the holy people" must always therefore refer to the Jewish people. That's a big step, particularly when viewed in context - it's about "the holy people" objecting to Jesus breaking the Sabbath to cure the lame, and I would argue that a more reasonable interpretation would be that it means the priests and religious authorities who enforced the Sabbath.

The verse in question falls into two distinct sections, each telling a different and unrelated part of Jesus's story. It's possible to conclude that "they" in the second part refers to "the holy people" in the first part, but is it reasonable? I don't think so. But even if you do accept that interpretation, that's still just a summary, necessarily abreviated, of the Gospel story - the (Jewish) religious authorities brought Jesus before the (Roman) civil authorities as a means of ridding themselves of a troublemaker. They weren't responsible for the act of crucifixion, but they were responsible for bringing it about.

I don't believe it's anti-semitic to tell a historical story just because it may show Jews in a bad light (we'll leave aside the question of whether the Gospels are accurate history) - what is anti-semitic is to then use it as an excuse to persecute the entire Jewish people, but there's nothing in the song to suggest that. As I said, I believe the two halves of the verse are unrelated and the more obvious interpretation is that "they" just means those in power.

Gerry, it's possible to come to the conclusions you do, but I think it takes some effort and ignores the more obvious interpretations. If some wish to go to that effort in order to take offence, that's up to them, but don't expect the rest of us to agree. In particular, don't expect the rest of us to adopt lyrically inferior words just because some are over-sensitive.

A final point: LOTD is a Christian song, and Christianity and Judaism, whilst they have much in common, are inevitably in opposition as they disagree over the fundamental question of whether or not Jesus was the Messiah. That is not to excuse anti-semitism of any sort, but it is inevitable that any expression of Christian belief has the potential to be offensive to Jews, and vice versa. Both sides should learn to live with it, like many of the Jews who have expressed an opinion on this thread, rather than seek out petty offence when there are many more real and intentional examples of anti-semitism to address.