Research shows as much as 25 % of the world advocates anti-Semitism

Global research conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) shows that one quarter of the world’s population evidently advocates anti-Semitism. In the Czech Republic, 13 % of the population is reportedly anti-Semitic. 

The main aim of the American nonprofit organization, established in 1913, is the fight against anti-Semitism. The results now published were obtained by surveying more than 50 000 people in 102 countries worldwide. 

The ADL warns that only 54 % of respondents to the survey knew about the Holocaust, i.e., the systematic murder of Jewish people during WWII. Two out of every three respondents had either never heard of it or do not believe it happened.

The criteria for identifying anti-Semitism was a list of 11 negative myths about Jewish people and their behavior. The percentage of those surveyed who marked more than half of the statements as "probably true" was reflected in the ADL’s Global 100 Index as indicating the percentage of persons with anti-Semitic attitudes in a given country or region. 

Anti-Semitism is understood to mean discrimination or enmity against Jewish people as an ethnic or religious group. "These data make it possible for us to look beyond mere anti-Semitic incidents and rhetoric; they make it possible for us to realize the extent of anti-Jewish attitudes worldwide," said ADL director Abraham Foxman. 

"We can now identify critical places, as well as countries and regions of the world where hatred of Jews simply does not exist," Foxman said. The ADL survey found that the lowest percentage of persons with anti-Semitic views occurs in English-speaking countries (13 %) and in countries of Protestant faith.

The survey classified countries from the least anti-Jewish (Laos, 0.2 %) to countries with the most anti-Jewish attitudes (Jordan’s West Bank and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, 93 %). The Czech Republic, at 13 %, is one of the least anti-Jewish countries in Eastern Europe. 

In its annual report for 2014, the Jewish Community in Prague said it considers anti-Semitism a fringe phenomenon in the Czech Republic but pointed out that there has been a sharp rise in the number of anti-Semitic statements in Czech online. Compared to previous periods, the number has doubled. 

The data for the ADL Global 100 Index was acquired through surveys conducted between July 2013 and February 2015, both in person and by telephone. The margin of error in most of the countries where 500 respondents were selected is +/- 4.4 %. 

In countries where 1 000 respondents were surveyed, the margin of error is +/- 3.2 %. Below is the regional breakdown of the ADL Global Index of anti-Semitism:

•Northern Africa and the Middle East: 74 %

•Eastern Europe: 34 %

•Western Europe: 24 %

•Sub-Saharan Africa: 23 %

•Asia: 22 %

•The Americas: 19 %

•Oceania: 14 %