90 percent of European Jews feel that since the publication of the last FRA report on the issues in 2012, anti-semitism has been on the rise in Europe. The report was based on asking 16,500 people who identify themselves as Jews in 12 countries of the European Union.
The survey showed that one quarter of the respondents said they have been the subject of harrassment in the past five years, 10 percent experienced some form of discrimination and 3 percent have been physically assaulted.
40 percent said they have considered emigration because they do not feel safe and 34 percent avoid Jewish events of locations. 70 percent of them deem the European Union’s anti-semitic stance as ineffective.
The percentage of those who think that anti-semitism is a major problem in their country is the highest in France at 65 percent, followed by Germany and Belgium with 43 percent each and Poland with 39 percent. In Hungary this ratio is 26 percent compared with the 45 percent European average.
The survey also showed that since the last survey in 2012 (which was conducted in seven European countries) the perception of anti-semitism has grown in France, Belgium, Germany and Sweden but lessened in Hungary, the UK and Italy.
The report also quoted representative views from individual respondents, one for each country. A middle-aged French woman said “at work in the media and social media anti-semitism is a daily and unrepressed occurrence” while a young man in Hungary said “there is no anti-semitism in Hungary, no matter how they try to paint this picture about this country. There are historical wounds, but these are healing beautifully.”
