A fifth of Europeans believe a secret Jewish cabal runs the world, damning report into anti-Semitism reveals
- 16,000 people from 16 European countries were surveyed on Jewish stereotypes
- A fifth agreed that a secret network of Jews influences politics and economics
- Fifth also said Jewish people ‘exploit Holocaust victimhood for their own needs’
- Jewish organisation called on Europe to do more to combat anti-Semitism
A fifth of Europeans believe that a secretive Jewish cabal controls world politics and economics, a damning report on anti-Semitism has found.
The same number also believe that Jews ‘exploit Holocaust victimhood for their own needs’, the European Jewish Association revealed at its annual conference in Paris.
The shock figures were revealed as Jewish leaders called on European governments to accept more responsibility for ending rising anti-Semitism on the continent.
A fifth of Europeans believe a secret Jewish cabal influences politics and economics while the same number also believe Jew exploit Holocaust victimhood, a survey has found (file image)
It comes just days after a far-right terror attack in Germany targeting Turkish people, by a killer who had also confessed his belief in various anti-Semitic conspiracies.
The same survey also found a quarter of respondents agreed with the statement: ‘Israel’s policies make me understand why some people hate Jews’.
More than a third agreed with the assertion that ‘during World War II, people from our nation suffered as much as Jews.’
The survey also concluded that Holocaust revisionism and belief in classic anti-Semitic stereotypes was more common in the east, while anti-Israel sentiment including anti-Semitic beliefs were more common in the west.
The Hungary-based Action and Protection League commissioned the survey, which was presented at the Paris conference on Monday.
Researchers interviewed 1,000 in 16 European countries including Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland between December last year and January this year.
The European Jewish Association have now called on all European leaders to adopt its action plan to combat anti-Semitism.
The plan includes adopting the the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism, which saw Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn criticsed after he initially refused to adopt it in full.
The same survey also found a quarter of respondents agreed with the statement: ‘Israel’s policies make me understand why some people hate Jews’
Other elements of the plan include appointing a special envoy on combating anti-Semitism; mandating schools include lessons on anti-Semitism; and legislating bans on anti-Semitic symbols in public, including Nazi imagery.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the association, said: ‘We as Jewish communities cannot eradicate anti-Semitism on our own.
‘After 20 years dealing with this subject, I’ve come to the understanding that no matter how many schools we visit, and no matter how many delegations we bring to Auschwitz, it’s all just a drop in the bucket.
‘Therefore we realized that the way to fight anti-Semitism is to pass on the responsibility to European governments.’
The survey comes against a backdrop of data which shows rising anti-Semitism across Europe.
France, Germany and the UK all recorded dramatic rises in the number of anti-Semitic hate crimes recorded in 2018, as well as in increase in violent attacks.
A study by the Anti-Defamation League also found rising anti-Semitism in Poland, Ukraine, Russia and Hungary between 2015 and 2019.
Meanwhile a study by the EU found that 89 per cent of Jews living in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK feel anti-Semitism has increased over the past decade.
Almost half worried about being insulted or harassed in public because they are Jewish, and more than a third feared being physically attacked.