The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a new poll regarding anti-Semitism throughout various parts of the world as part of its ADL Global 100: An Index of Anti-Semitism. Among the findings highlighted in the survey is that one out of four European said they believed in most of the anti-Semitic beliefs mentioned in the poll.
According to a press release from the ADL, the poll surveyed 9,056 people in 18 countries, including 14 European countries, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and South Africa from April to June. Respondents were asked if they subscribed to 11 anti-Semitic beliefs and attitudes.
The survey found that the most common anti-Semitic stereotype in Western Europe is the belief that Jews have dual loyalty to Israel, while in Central and Eastern Europe was the notion that Jews have an inordinate amount of economic power. About a third of Austrians and Germans believe that hatred of Jews stems from their behavior, not anti-Semitism.
Additionally, anti-Semitic attitudes among Muslims in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom were three times higher than the average population in those countries, but lower than attitudes among Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa. Thirty-seven percent of Muslims surveyed said that “people hate Jews because of the way Jews behave.”
Support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement were all 18 percent or lower except for South Africa, where 38 percent of respondents expressed support for BDS. The survey noted that South Africa has “troubling levels of anti-Semitism and support for BDS.”
Since the ADL conducted its 2015 survey, there were significant increases in anti-Semitism in Argentina, Brazil, Poland, South Africa and Ukraine, marked decreases in Austria, Canada and Italy, and little to no change in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. However, the survey pointed out that the decreases were largely due to “people saying they ‘don’t know’ whether stereotypes are true, not the result of people saying they’re false.”
The ADL tweeted that the survey showed that “hate is on the rise.”
Hate is on the rise. According to our ADL Global 100: An Index of Anti-Semitism, 1 in 4 Europeans polled are #antiSemitic. Learn which countries are home to the most pervasive anti-Semitic attitudes: https://t.co/gvASVcp563 pic.twitter.com/8d5FESae9W
— ADL (@ADL) November 21, 2019
