Anti-semitism in Europe

That was the ‘-phobia’ side, but what about the ‘-philia’ ?
From The daily ablution I see a report which indicates that the percentage of people having a “very” or “somewhat” favourable view of Jews is: 77% in the US and 81% in France…

I personally can’t take a questionnaire without thinking about how my answers will be interpreted and wich consequences they will have. Therefore I don’t do them anymore, unless I directly benefit from answering one of them.

How can someone answer I don’t favor Jews, when they should know that would be interpreted as being anti-semitic?
If you ask them are you an anti-semite they would probably answer differently.

I would suggest that the decline in the unfavorable attitude towards Jews (in Europe) is in part caused by an increased awareness of how this answer will be interpreted.

In polls where the questions are phrased a way that makes it more difficult to answer in a politically correct way, the negative number is higher.

http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism_domestic/

“17 Percent of Americans Hold “Hardcore” anti-Semitic Beliefs”

In that poll you have to make a distinction between positive and negative stereotypes about Jews. This number is quite a bit larger than the 8 percent of the US that has an unfavorable view of Jews from the Pew poll.

(I didn’t mean that as conspiracy theorizing. I meant that a lot of us really don’t like each other).

I’ve always blamed the Onion for the survival of such stereotypes.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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?

…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.

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).