New Survey Shows Extent of Worldwide Anti-Semitism
The results of the most comprehensive survey ever taken on global anti-Semitic attitudes were released recently by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and they have broad implications for world Jewry. They also show what Christians might expect in the accelerating war on Bible believers.
Conducted in 102 countries and territories, the survey found one in four people—a full 26 percent of respondents—were “deeply infected with anti-Semitic attitudes.” The percentage represents an estimated 1.8 billion adults worldwide.
As one would expect, the most pervasive anti-Semitism is in Middle Eastern and North African countries, with a concentration of 93 percent in the West Bank and Gaza. In nine other countries, all dominated by Islam, 80 percent to 92 percent of those surveyed were anti-Semitic.
It is noteworthy that in those countries, Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and the scurrilous Protocols of the Elders of Zion are bestsellers—a fact that defines the depth of animosity toward Israel and every-thing Jewish.
ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said 26 percent of American respondents also believe “the Jews have killed Christ.” That statistic is only four percent lower than in 1965. Foxman told the Ruderman Fellows Knesset Mission, “Jews are not as secured in this country [United States] as they pretend to be,” Arutz-7 reported. “We are not as powerful as they think we are nor as powerful as we pretend to be. There is a level of insecurity.”
Eye-opening worldwide findings include:
- 54 percent of those surveyed never heard of the Holocaust.
- 35 percent feel Jewish people have too much power in the business world.
- 74 percent never met a Jewish person, yet of that group 25 percent hold anti-Semitic views.
- 41 percent buy into the widely accepted stereotype that Jewish people are more loyal to Israel than the countries they live in.
The ramifications of these findings are obvious. In times of economic downturns, politicians historically play on the sentiments that Jewish people hold too much power in business and finance; the Jews become the most readily available people to blame for society’s problems. It’s an old story, too obvious to need to be defined.
If there is good news in the ADL global survey, it is that only 13 percent of the people living in English-speaking countries harbor anti-Semitic feelings (9 percent in the United States).
Foxman said,
We were profoundly disappointed about the resilience of anti-Semitism in many countries where we had hoped to see lower numbers, particularly some in Eastern Europe that experienced the war and the Holocaust firsthand. On the other hand, there is a silver lining in countries such as Denmark, the U.K., the Netherlands and Sweden—all Protestant majority countries—where we found incredibly low levels of anti-Semitic beliefs.
The views of respondents in Protestant-majority countries speak to these nations’ biblical heritages. The same can be said of other Western nations, such as the United States, where respect for Israel and the Jewish people has been part of the national fabric, transmitted through the Scriptures.
Problematic for the future, however, is the growing repudiation of the biblical heritage, along with efforts to purge Christian beliefs, traditions, and values from Western culture. It is not difficult to predict that turning from biblical Christianity will result in a rise in anti-Semitism.
As a matter of fact, much of the West, including the United States, is headed in that direction, as evidenced by efforts to turn people away from respecting Israel and its legitimacy as a Jewish state and persuading them instead to view Israel as an apartheid, international pariah.
The ADL survey clarifies one of the major issues of our time. It comes as both a warning and a wake-up call and reveals that much needs to be done to combat the plague of anti-Semitism.
