Comments on: Anti-semitism in Europe

By: Heather

Heather — Sun, 21 Mar 2004 18:50:41 +0000

Not sure if this is still an active discussion, but having read rv. agnos’ comment I’m thinking that they aren’t biased against any religion — they hate them all! I thought some readers might be interested in this joint declaration by Germany’s main Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish organizations in anticipation of “The Passion” starting in German cinemas (unfortunately I can’t find it in English).

By: mc

mc — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:18:49 +0000

I wonder what percentage of Jews answer “unfavorable.” LOL, classic

By: Christophe B.

Christophe B. — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 08:09:03 +0000

…exactly the type of bigotted generalization the questions are meant to measure. Well, if we weren’t sure what that might mean in practice, you’ve given us a succinct demonstration.

By: Phill

Phill — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 04:01:43 +0000

I find it somewhat interesting that people can read these polls and come up with conclusions of the form ‘Europeans are anti-semites’ – exactly the type of bigotted generalization the questions are meant to measure. Then we get the folk whose ideology leads them to leaps of logic of the form ‘there are anti-semites in France, therefore it is legitimate for Israel to build settlements in the occupied territories’. Or the good old, ‘some people who oppose Israeli policies are anti-semites, therefore all people who oppose Israeli policies are anti-semites’. It is like the scenes of George Bush campaign ads with faux firefighters carrying flag draped coffins. The fact that he is so eager to cynically exploit the deaths of 9/11 for partisan advantage calls into question his claims of outrage. If there is a link between Israel and anti-semitism it has been mostly forged by those who use anti-semitism to deflect all criticism of Israel. The fact is that a Jewish state with privileges reserved only to Jews is as loathsome as a whites-state or a Catholic state or and Islamic state. The Palestinian refugees are in reality the victims of a campaign of ethnic cleansing committed at the birth of the state. It is impossible to justify any state based on such a practice compounded by citizenship laws based on ethnicity. Over the past few days the right has been desperately trying to convince the world that the result of the Spanish election was a victory for Al Qaeda while simultaneously trying to claim that it is essential to deny any victory of that kind. Rather than look at the fact that the polls were close anyway and the voters were reacting to the governments opportunism rather than to the bombings the terrorists are handed a propaganda victory by the right because it suits their partisan interests. Its the same type of situation here, the bridge between anti-semitism and Israel is there when it suits the interests of the right, but on all other occasions it not only disappears but claiming it might exist is anti-semitic.

By: Christophe B.

Christophe B. — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 03:01:29 +0000

It makes me convinced that the Israeli government has been using claims of increased anti-semitism in Europe to negate opposition to Israel’s actions against the Palestinians. Can’t trust those “zionists”, eh Blowback?

By: test

test — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 02:08:49 +0000

while they have longer term reports with more countries available If they have, they do a pretty good job to hide that on their website and in their current reports. It most interestingly did not profile Germany or France. Perhaps you were referencing another poll? It compares the results with a previous poll in which they did survey Germany and France, but not with the same method. It is in the last chapter. Germany and France don’t stand out, positively nor negatively. http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/EuropeanAttitudesPoll-10-02.pdf previous poll: http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/European_Attitudes.pdf

By: Sebastian Holsclaw

Sebastian Holsclaw — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 00:33:13 +0000

I’m not attacking the ADL’s method generally, I’m suggesting that you are relying on one of their more narrow reports, while they have longer term reports with more countries available. And the poll you cite surveyed Switzerland, Spain, Austria, Italy and the Netherlands. It most interestingly did not profile Germany or France. Perhaps you were referencing another poll? I know the one you reference was the first time they had used ALL of those questions together, but many of the questions they have been using for more than a decade. Like the international finance question.

By: blowback

blowback — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 00:00:41 +0000

In September 2002 (I think), the Israeli government were banging on about how they feared for the safety of Jews in France and how they were shortly expecting a mass exodus of Jews from France in the near future. A year and a half later this has still not happened. It makes me convinced that the Israeli government has been using claims of increased anti-semitism in Europe to negate opposition to Israel’s actions against the Palestinians. I would be very interested to see the results if Pew repeated this poll in that least anti-semitic country, the U.S.A.

By: Conrad Barwa

Conrad Barwa — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 22:11:22 +0000

which suggests that anti-Semitism has actually declined significantly in France and Germany since 1991. I imagine that much of the decline, especially in Germany, can be traced to older anti-Semites dying as time progresses. I wouldn’t say that the decline is all that significant, though it is a clear downward trend. It would be interesting to see comparable points for changes over time for the UK/US as well. I’d like to see a breakdown of the difference between former East and West Germany (some 500 people were polled – probably enough to make a decent first attempt at identifying sub-national differences). My suspicion is that there are substantially higher numbers of people from former East Germany with anti-Semitic views. They missed out on most of the collective self-recrimination about Germany’s behaviour towards Jews in the 1933-1945 period (the East German regime preferred to propagandize the martyrdom of Communists in the concentration camps, for obvious reasons). This is a possibility, as would the socio-economic problems, I imagine that the former DDR is having since reunification. On the other hand, there is an element of the Far Right that I think still blames the actions of the Red Army and by extension the later Soviet Regime on displaced targets. I was surprised to see the relatively high unfavourable rating for Turkey, it goes against the anecdotal evidence I have come across and the normalised state of relations. In a reverse manner, I would have also thought that this figure would have been higher in Russia than cited. Still these surveys don’t reveal much wrt other important indicators; public and social acceptability if anti-Semitism being one; which I hazard a guess is higher in some countries than others. In many ways this is what matters, since there will always be an anti-Semitic minority, just as there will always be a racist minority, but what is of more concern is when this kind of overt behaviour passes without any recrimination by the majority who aren’t or is regarded apathetically. To a great extent, the perception of Jewish communities, like that of all minorities will be influenced by actions in this sphere; which are harder to measure. There is also the separate issue of Israel and the Palestinian question; if the question was re-framed to test views of Israel, as opposed to Jews, then the results might be expected to be somewhat different with possibly higher percentages returning an unfavourably verdict. Though there is some conflation, I would think that, this difference is what dominates perceptions to a great degree as well.

By: Dan Simon

Dan Simon — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 21:32:19 +0000

As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m also inclined to disbelieve the claims of a sudden, rapid rise in anti-Semitism in Europe (or anywhere else). It’s easy, after all, to think of the many incidents that have received so much publicity lately, but harder to remember the many similar events from past years and decades. However, there certainly is a perception in many circles that anti-Semitism has lately been on the rise worldwide. I attribute it to the period between 1993 and 2000 (the “Oslo years”), during which the world’s Jews were lulled into complacency by the false appearance of Israel’s having been at last accepted into the world community—and therefore of the world’s Jews having become safer and more accepted as well. There was, of course, no shortage of open manifestations of anti-Semitism all over the world during that period—probably no fewer than these days, in fact. But they were ignored because they seemed insignificant in comparison with the reassuring developments in the Middle East. Now that that region has shown itself to be essentially unchanged from fifty years ago, the same level of anti-Semitic activity suddenly seems much more menacing.

By: test

test — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 21:32:00 +0000

The ADL poll has been asking a number of their questions for years so you can just track them year to year. From that ADL report, This index of 11 questions was employed for the first time in Europe in September 2002. As in the United States, those respondents who agreed with six or more of the statements listed below were considered “most anti-Semitic.” And then you attack the ADL on their methodology? Also note the 5 countries in Europe which were polled in the report you cite. Notice any glaring omissions? Note that it is not weighted by population? In the last chapter they compare the results to results from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Denmark, and Belgium. Draw your own conclusions.

By: Rv. Agnos

Rv. Agnos — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 20:48:39 +0000

Germany also has the highest “unfavorable” rating for Jews and Christians in Europe. I’m thinking that they aren’t biased against any religion—they hate them all!

By: Sebastian Holsclaw

Sebastian Holsclaw — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 20:47:38 +0000

The ADL poll has been asking a number of their questions for years so you can just track them year to year. The difference is in actions, not beliefs. The ADL has some report on violent anti-semitism floating around which illustrates the difference. Also note the 5 countries in Europe which were polled in the report you cite. Notice any glaring omissions? Note that it is not weighted by population?

By: test

test — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 19:53:50 +0000

The ADL report illicts a shocking number of Europeans who think that Jews ‘have too much influence in international finance’ which is pretty much the key conspiracy theory belief on which Jews have been murdered for the past 100 years. But if you want to interpret this fuzzy study as more important than the precise one, feel free I suppose. The difference between US and 5 countries in Europe, 17 vs 21 % having “Hardcore” anti-Semitic Beliefs”, isn’t that big, so why the Europe bashing? http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/EuropeanAttitudesPoll-10-02.pdf The ADL poll doesn’t have any trends so it does not give any information about a rise or decrease in anti-semitism. Maybe the process of giving politically correct answers is a local phenomenon – the Netherlands ended up with 7% in that ADL poll.

By: Sebastian Holsclaw

Sebastian Holsclaw — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 19:05:57 +0000

This study is much less precise than the ADL study because it has just a 3 point favorability scale instead of asking specific questions which try to reveal anti-semitic attitudes. Furthermore it mostly seems to show a noticeable shift from the middle catagory into the very favorable catagory—a point which doesn’t really address what is going on with people who might lean toward anti-semitism. It seems to me that a study designed to pinpoint specific anti-semitic ideas is going to be much more revealing than one that merely asks “Please tell me if you have a favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable opinion of Jews”. Oh and look at this interesting statistical artifact. The break out very favorable and somewhat favorable but combine both of the unfavorable ratings. The very unfavorable ratings for France in 1991 and present are precisely the same. But really my my complaint is that I suspect a mere favorability scale is far less revealing than questions about actual beliefs about Jews. The ADL report illicts a shocking number of Europeans who think that Jews ‘have too much influence in international finance’ which is pretty much the key conspiracy theory belief on which Jews have been murdered for the past 100 years. But if you want to interpret this fuzzy study as more important than the precise one, feel free I suppose.