(JTA) — Polling in Europe suggests a significant increase since 2017 in the prevalence of anti-Semitic attitudes in the continent’s eastern countries.
The Anti-Defamation League published on Thursday the results of polling this year of about 9,000 people in 18 countries.
The data largely agreed with a previous poll conducted in those countries in 2017. But Ukraine, Poland, Hungary and Russia showed major increases over 2017.
In those countries, 46 percent up from 32 percent in 2017 in Ukraine, 48 percent up from 37 percent in 2017 in Poland, 42 percent up from 40 percent in 2017 in Hungary, and 31 percent up from 23 percent in 2015 in Russia of a total of 2,015 people polled demonstrated what ADL considers anti-Semitic attitudes, the American anti-racism group said in a statement.
In Western Europe, Sweden ranked lowest on the anti-Semitism index, with four percent, and Spain was highest, with 28 percent. Belgium also had prevalent anti-Semitism with 24 percent, a three-point rise from 2017. In France, the rate was unchanged from 2015 and 2017 with 17 percent. It was 37 percent in 2014. In the United Kingdom, it was 11 percent this year, a one-point drop from 2017.
Outside Europe, a significant increase in the prevalence of anti-Semitism was recorded in Argentina, which rose from 24 percent in 2015 to 30 this year.
“It is deeply concerning that approximately one in four Europeans harbor the types of anti-Semitic beliefs that have endured since before the Holocaust,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO.
The poll was conducted based on respondents’ approval of rejection of statements about Jews, including: “Jews have too much power in the business world” and “Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars.”
