World

Survey: 31% of Europeans blame economic crisis on Jews

by tikun | February 10, 2009 at 10:12 am

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Anti-Semitic attitudes still prevail in Europe: An Anti-Defamation League report published on Tuesday showed that nearly half of the Europeans surveyed believe Jews are not loyal to their country and more than one-third believe they have "too much power" in business and finance.

The study further showed that 31% of the respondents across Europe blame Jews in the financial industry for the current global economic crisis.

The poll was conducted between the dates December 1 and January 13 among 3,500 adults in seven European countries: Austria, France, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.

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just_nora (not verified)

at 10:46 on February 10th, 2009

Can I just point out that there are over 300 million people across these 7 countries, I hardly think interviewing a mere 3500 of them constitutes a fair consulsion. It is unfair to make this kind of assumption based on the amount of information gathered.

mtammas

at 11:14 on February 10th, 2009

This survey demonstrates how old, old misconceptions die hard. When will people look to themselves for solutions rather than seek some else to blame?

tikun

at 11:34 on February 10th, 2009

Why does this ONE survey tick you off so much. 3500 is actually quite a large sample. But the point is to know what is going on while it happens rather then waking up one day and finding yourself being dragged away without warning. May you nor your family ever have to endure that horror. No more nor less.

Thanks for the comments

bernie havelson (not verified)

at 15:13 on February 10th, 2009

the study does not provide the result you wish to have people believe. if 31% of european countries claim america is to blame for global warming, it does not mean they are anti-american.

have you any statistics on the breakdown of wall street executives and their religion? that would help dispell the direct link you make, or support it.

Barry ORegan

at 16:05 on February 10th, 2009

I blame it all on crooks who got away with investors money, their names didnt sound jewish though~

Chris W (not verified)

at 16:12 on February 13th, 2009

Do Alan Greenspan and Bernie Madoff sound Jewish enough to you, cause they are AND they are the two names most people are associating with the derailment. One is the posterboy for systemic U.S. gov't deregulatory mismanagement and the other for wild Wall Street swindling. I think when you combine this with the festering civilian abuse done to the occupied Palestinians you can see where this anti Semitism comes from. Is it justified, no, it is not. Is that the way the world works, afraid so. And it is the world that feels this way, not just Europe.

Yellow Guitar

at 18:49 on February 13th, 2009

Hopefully a VERY small minority of the world Chris. Per capita antisemitism is a far greater blight in Europe than anywhere else with the exception of the Islamic world. Nonetheless it is appalling to think that anyone would generalize from a few high profile cases to a univeral antisemitic philosophy. It's moronic.

Many might also note that many of Madoff's (or 'Made Off') investors who lost millions were also Jewish (Stephen Spielberg certainly sounds Jewish enough to me) and for every Jewish investor who swindles his way to hell, there will be a thousand greedy goyim waiting for him. Not a pretty picture. All those thieving sheysters roasting like mutton... second thought, it's not an entirely unpleasant image...

Fripouille

at 08:18 on February 11th, 2009

I have lived mostly in France, a country where there are comparatively high levels of anti-jewish sentiment, for the last twenty one years. Whatever the merits or not of the survey mentioned in this post, I considedr that if that survey had been held in France only, it would have given significantly higher figures....

Yellow Guitar

at 17:17 on February 12th, 2009

There is no doubt in my mind that anti-Semitism is on the rise, and is openly on the prowl again in Europe and elsewhere. The Holocaust made it extremely unpopular to be openly antisemitic for a generation. But with the passage of time this terrifying truth becomes apparent: Judeophobia was not destroyed by the events of the 20th century. Rather it has been laying quiet, out of fashion but seething, and now it has reemerged as virulent as ever. After all, what has really changed in Europe? The character of the civilization? Did the Shoa alter the basic nature of European antisemites? I think not.

Antisemitism morphed via industrialization, nationalism and pseudo-scientific claims about 'blood' into its modern form over the past 200 years. Jews became targets and scapegoats for everything from job losses to moral anarchy during the industrial revolution; they were viewed with suspicion during the rise of nationalism; and their doom was sealed when the focus shifted from 'spiritual' heresy to 'blood' guilt. This is modern antisemitism. One would like to think that education would have dispelled these myths, but that's naive.

And by the way this has nothing to do with Zionism. It predates the secular Zionist movement but now feeds on it.