An unprecedented poll conducted by the EU has found that 90% of Jewish in Europe see anti-Semitism as an increasing problem with British Jews expressing the highest levels of concern for anti-Semitism in politics.
Britain, Germany and Sweden saw the sharpest increases in those saying anti-Semitism is a “very big” or “fairly big” problem with 95% of French Jews seeing it as a problem. Interestingly, France, Germany and Sweden have been three countries most affected by mass immigration in recent years whilst Britain is said to be seeing the effects of the “Corbyn factor”.
Interestingly, Hungary, a country that is often accused of having an anti-Semitic government, showed that Jews thought anti-Semitism was less of a problem this year than it has been in previous years.
One of the most shocking parts of the survey found that whilst 28% of Jews say they have been harassed at least once in the past 12-months, almost 80% of these victims said they do not report serious incidents to the police, often because they feel nothing will change.
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.
“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 poll was conducted by the FRA, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, and surveyed more than 16,000 Jews in 12 European countries.
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.
To read an in-depth analysis of the findings, click here.
to read the report in full, click here.
