90% of European Jews feel anti-Semitism increasing

Unprecedented EU poll finds 90% of European Jews feel anti-Semitism increasing

ROBERT PHILPOT


Anti-Semitism ‘disturbingly normalized,’ says EU rights chief after massive survey of 12 EU states finds 85% of Jews rate it the biggest social problem in their countries

Illustrative: Nazi signs reading ‘Jews out’ and swastikas are painted at the entrance of a Jewish cemetery in Herrlisheim, eastern France, in this April 30, 2004 photo. (AP Photo/Gil Michel)

LONDON — Nearly 90 percent of European Jews feel that anti-Semitism has increased in their home countries over the past five years, and almost 30% say they have been harassed at least once in the past year, reveals a major European Union  report published on Monday.

The poll was carried out in 12 European Union member states, and was the largest ever of its kind worldwide.

Of the more than 16,000 Jews who participated in the online survey, 85% rated anti-Semitism the biggest social or political problem in the country where they live. Thirty-eight percent said they had considered emigrating because they did not feel safe as Jews.

Britain, Germany, and Sweden saw the sharpest increases in those saying anti-Semitism is a “very big” or “fairly big” problem. The highest level recorded was in France at 95%. Denmark saw the lowest level at 56%, while Jews in Hungary suggested that anti-Semitism was becoming less of a problem.

The UK results, experts suggest, may point to a “Corbyn factor” connected to the ongoing row over anti-Semitism in the British Labour party.

“Decades after the Holocaust, shocking and mounting levels of anti-Semitism continue to plague the EU,” said Michael O’Flaherty, director of the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), which published the research. “In many ways,” he suggested, anti-Semitism had become “disturbingly normalized.”

The research is a follow-up to a 2012 survey conducted by the FRA. The 12 EU countries surveyed — Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom — are home to 96% of the EU’s estimated Jewish population. The online survey was conducted from May to June this year.

Anti-Semitic graffiti reading ‘Jewish scum live here,’ on a building in Paris. ‘Notably on the third floor,’ it adds on the other side of the door, above a drawing of a target. (Twitter)

The report was released after a major poll for CNN last month found that one-fifth of Europeans believe Jewish people have too much influence in finance and politics, and a third said they knew nothing at all or “just a little” about the Holocaust.

Nearly half of those participating in the FRA survey said they were worried about becoming the victim of an anti-Semitic verbal insult or being harassed in the next year, while over one-third suggested they avoided visiting Jewish sites and events because they do not feel safe. Forty percent fear being physically attacked in the next 12 months and 3% report they actually have been over the past five years.

Over one-third suggested they avoided visiting Jewish sites and events because they do not feel safe

While the 28% of Jews who said they had been subject to harassment at least once in the past year (a figure which rose to nearly 40% in the five years before the survey), almost 80% said they do not report serious incidents to the police — often because they feel nothing will change. Seventy percent believe national governments’ efforts to combat anti-Semitism are ineffective, although more than half positively assessed their work to ensure the security needs of Jewish communities.

“The survey findings suggest that people face so much anti-Semitic abuse that some of the incidents they experience appear trivial to them,” argues the report.

Around 90% of those surveyed said anti-Semitism was most problematic online and on social media. Seven in 10 cited public spaces, the media and politics as common sources of anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitic Facebook post posted by an employee of German aid organization GIZ. (Screen capture: Hadashot news)

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