Esther 3:6

And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone, revenge on this one man alone seemed too insignificant a matter to him; for they had showed him the people of Mordecai, the despised race of the Jews; wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. By exterminating the entire race of the Jews, a proceeding by no means without a precedent in the history of the cruel and revengeful Orientals, he not only wanted to express his contempt of the Jews in an adequate manner, but he also intended to prevent any further display of contempt on their part.