(Jewish Group) Anti-Semitism on the rise? Western European Jews think so

[Behind the Aegis]

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!)

The report entitled "Antisemitism and Immigration in Western Europe Today: Is there a connection?" presented findings and recommendations from a 2016-17 project involving five separate national reports from Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The research was commissioned by the Berlin-based "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" Foundation (EVZ) and led by the Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London.

The study examined various indicators of societal change, including increased immigration from predominantly Muslim countries in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). However, rather than measuring the number of anti-Semitic verbal or physical attacks, the team of researchers measured perceptions of anti-Semitism held by individuals from various religious, social and ethnic groups.

Notably, the report's findings indicated rising fear among Jews in every country studied. In Germany, for instance, 78 percent of German Jews noticed an increasing threat, according to a 2017 study.

Just shy of half (48 percent) of the readers of the Dutch Jewish weekly Nieuw Israelitisch Weekblad said last year they were concerned about security and anti-Semitism. In 2016, about two out of three (63 percent) French Jews had the impression that there was "a lot" of anti-Jewish sentiment in their country. In fact, Jewish people in France take the threat so seriously that quite a few have left: while about 1,900 French Jews emigrated to Israel in 2012, the number rose to 7,800 in 2015 and fell to 5,000 a year later — still more than double the number just a few years earlier.

Belgian Jews are also worried, with authorities in Brussels advising people in more than one case to no longer publicly show their religious affiliation. Jewish parents have also increasingly warned their children not to wear the Star of David since the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict.

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