Almost half of young Jewish Europeans experience anti-Semitism – survey

Nearly half (44 per cent) of young Jewish people in Europe have experienced anti-Semitic harassment in the past year, although four out of five do not report it, according to a new, wide-ranging EU report on young Jewish identity and perceptions of anti-Semitism in Europe.

Four per cent of the young people surveyed said they had experienced a physical anti-Semitic attack in the last 12 months.

Nine out of ten think anti-Semitism is most problematic on the internet and on social media, but many of these harassment incidents were perpetrated by a “teenager or group of teenagers”, or a “colleague from work or school/ college”. Victims of anti-Semitic harassment or violence are most likely to describe their assailant as “someone with a Muslim extremist view”.

That growing sense of insecurity has meant that the same proportion (44 per cent) choose not to wear, carry or display distinguishable Jewish items in public because there are concerned about their safety. And 38 per cent have considered emigrating because they did not feel safe living in Europe as a Jewish person.

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More than 2,700 Jewish Europeans aged 16-34 were polled in 12 EU states – Ireland not included – where 96 per cent of the bloc’s Jews live, for the 2018 survey by the union’s Vienna-based Fundamental Rights Agency.

The report finds that eight out of ten young Jewish Europeans declare largely having a strong Jewish identity.

Ninety five per cent see the remembering of the Holocaust as central to that identity, 20 percentage points more than “supporting Israel”. Just over half see “believing in God” as key to their identity as Jews.

Israel

Although identifying an increase in anti-Semitism, eight out of ten linked the issue to the rise in racism and Islamophobia in Europe, with three quarters also perceiving an increase specifically of anti-Muslim hatred.

Eighty-five per cent of young people interviewed said that people in their countries accuse or blame them for anything done by the Israeli government at least “occasionally”.

Their perception of what constitutes anti-Semitism differs – most young Jews reject the notion that general criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. But a sizeable majority believe it becomes so when manifested in particular ways – for example, in boycotts of Israel or Israelis (70 per cent) and, even more so, in drawing comparisons between Israelis and Nazis.

Tropes most likely to be regarded as anti-Semitic by young Jewish Europeans include those relating to Holocaust denial or trivialisation, as well as those suggesting nefarious uses of power by Jews or that Jews bring anti-Semitism on themselves.

At least 90 per cent of young Jewish Europeans maintain that non-Jews expressing such ideas are either “definitely” or “probably” anti-Semitic.

Seven out of ten consider that efforts by EU member states to combat anti-Semitism are not effective.

Europe's million-strong Jewish community, most notably based in France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Hungary, is much reduced. The surviving remnant now constitutes less than 10 per cent of the world's Jewish population, down from 90 per cent of the total in the second half of the 19th century. Close to four in five of them were born in the European countries where they currently reside, with almost 90 per cent holding citizenships of those countries.