For the Dreyfus Affair, How important was anti-semitism to the arrest of Dreyfus?

Opinions are mixed on how anti-Semitism played a part in
the Dreyfus Affair. Alfred
Dreyfus (1859-1935) was a French artillery officer who was accused of
spying and treason in 1894 (by giving military information to Germany) and was sent to
the infamous penal colony of Devil's Island in French Guiana, where he was placed in
solitary confinement. Dreyfus was of Jewish descent, born in Alsace, a French district
that borders Germany; the area of Alsace-Lorraine was once ruled by Germany. Dreyfus was
eventually freed and reinstated to the French army, where he served throughout World War
I.

Anti-Jewish sentiment was high in both France and
Germany at the time, and Dreyfus' religion no doubt played some part in his being the
scapegoat for this military drama. Theodor Herzl, who founded the World Zionist
Organization, believed that

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... the antisemitism and injustice revealed in
France by the conviction of Alfred Dreyfus... (persuaded) him that Jews, despite the
Enlightenment and Jewish assimilation, could never hope for fair treatment in European
society. 

However, others did
not agree.

In
the Middle East, the Muslim Arab press was sympathetic to the falsely accused Captain
Dreyfus, and criticized the persecution of Jews in
France.

Some Jews believed
that France had acted honorably.

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The Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas often
cited the words of his father: "A country that tears itself apart to defend
the honor of a small Jewish captain is somewhere worth
going."