A new shocking poll reveals that three-quarters of European Jews hide their Jewish identities to avoid antisemitic attacks and harassment.
Three-quarters of Jewish people in Europe hide their identity https://t.co/YYPoECbhV3
— n est Egg (@J_H_5) July 12, 2024
A European Union human rights agency recently conducted a poll, which found that Jewish communities across EU member states are in the “rising tide of anti-Semitism” due to increased tensions over the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Although similar surveys were conducted in 2013 and 2018, the latest survey comes as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reaches a boiling point.
In the survey, 76% of the respondents said they hid their Jewish identities “at least occasionally,” while 34% said they took care to avoid Jewish events or places as they felt they were not “safe” there.
Sirpa Rautio, the director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), warned that the “spillover effect of the conflict in the Middle East is eroding hard-fought-for progress,” adding that “Jews are more frightened than ever before” and growing antisemitism was also at risk of disrupting the EU’s first-ever strategy to address the issue.
40% of European Jews polled live in fear of being physically attacked daily. For many in Europe, hiding their identity is the only way to protect themselves. We must acknowledge #antiSemitism isn’t diminishing — it’s growing. We must fight it together. pic.twitter.com/VGhn1zyHCj
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) July 11, 2019
The agency’s study, which compiled data from 12 Jewish organizations, found that 96% of European Jews had encountered at least one antisemitic incident in 2023. The survey covered 13 EU member states which account for 96% of the EU’s Jewish population: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Sweden.
The vast majority of the survey’s data had been collected before the October 7 attacks that claimed the lives of 1,200 Israelis. It ignited a deadly war between Israel and Hamas that left over 30,000 Gazans dead.
Of particular concern was France, home to the largest population of Jews in Europe, where 74% of the respondents felt the ongoing war in Gaza affected their sense of security. These results also came after a 12-year-old girl was raped and subjected to violence last June for being Jewish, which sparked outrage across the Western European nation.
A stunning 79% of Jews in Sweden say they avoid identifying openly as Jews occasionally, frequently, or all the time – more than in any other country surveyed by the EU in 2013. (https://t.co/FfYXd8ChXw) pic.twitter.com/VRaMxRwLpM
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) December 9, 2017
80% of the respondents said they felt antisemitism in Europe worsened in recent years, and negative stereotypes or conspiracy theories about Jews were a growing concern, such as claims they were “holding power and control over finance, media, politics or [the] economy."
Others also encountered Europeans who denied Israel’s right to exist, while 4% said they had been victims of physical antisemitic attacks in 2023, a twofold increase from a previous 2018 study by the same agency. A further 60% also said they were unhappy with the way their national governments were dealing with antisemitism.
“FRA’s consultation with national and European Jewish umbrella organizations in early 2024 shows a dramatic surge [in anti-Semitic attacks],” Rautio also said.
