Jewish group disturbed by results of survey on anti-Semitic attitudes in Europe
Monday, March 21, 2011  The European Jewish Press By EJP

The Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a think-tank associated with Germany's Social Democratic Party, found extremely worrying attitudes amongst a host of Europeans. The study  "Intolerance, Prejudice, Discrimination : A European Report" questioned roughly 1,000 people in Great Britain, Holland, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Poland and France.
When asked to respond to the statement that "Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians," 63% of the study's participants in Poland agreed with the statement, while in Germany 47.7 percent expressed agreement. Dr. Moshe Kantor, President of the EJC expressed incredulity at the results. "It is astonishing to see these figures and a damning indictment on efforts to fight hatred and intolerance in Europe," he said. "The governments of Europe, and the European Union, have to wake up to this before it is too late." The researchers also asked respondents whether they agreed with the statement "Jews try to take advantage of having been victims during the Nazi era." 72.2% of Polls, 49.8% of German's and 68.1% of Hungarians replied in the affirmative.
"For too long there have been some who have explained that they are not anti-Semitic, but merely anti-Israel, this study, along with many others, proves a significant correlation between the two," Kantor said.
"We need a unified standard of what is legitimate criticism and what is hate speech with regards to Israel and the Jewish people," the EJC president said.
Several years ago, the European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) created a working definition of anti-Semitism as it manifests itself with regards to Israel. According tpo Kantor, "these are very strong guidelines and should be adopted officially by the European Union."
"These results prove that we can no longer hide behind the mantra of free expression or couching anti-Semitic beliefs as mere criticisms of Israeli government policy. Hate speech is proscribed in every society and we need to legally define it as it relates to singling out the one Jewish state in the world."
Slobodni prijevod

"Rezultati ankete koju je proveo njemački "tink-tank" o evropskom odnosu prema Židovima i Izraelu je "duboko uznemirujući" rekao je Evropski Židovski kongres (EJC) Friedrich Ebert fundacija, "Tink-tank" koji je vezan s Njemačkom demokratskom partijom, našao je iznimno zabrinjavajuće ponašanje među Evropskim domaćinima. Studija "Netolerancija, Predrasude i Diskriminacija"- izvještaj za Evropu, ispitala je 1.000 osoba u Velikoj Britaniji, Nizozemskoj,Njemačkoj, Italiji, Mađarskoj, Poljskoj i Francuskoj. Kada je postavljeno pitanje o stajalištu "Izrael vodi rat eksterminacije prema Palestincima" 63% učesnika iz Poljske se složilo sa tom tvrdnjom, a u Njemačakoj 47,7%. Dr.Moše Kantor , predsjednik Evropskog Židovskog Kongresa (EJC) je izrazio sumnju u te rezultate: " Iznenađujuće je vidjeti te brojeve koji upućuju na  osudu napora u borbi protiv mržnje i netolerancije u Evropi" . "Vlade u Evropi i Evropska Unija se trebaju "probuditi" prije nego bude prekasno". Istraživači su također pitali ispitanike da li se slažu sa stajalištem: " Židovi pokušavaju iskoristiti kao prednost to što su bili žrtve u vrijeme nacistične ere" - 72% Poljaka, 49,8% Nijemaca i 68,1 % Mađara je dalo pozitivan odgovor. Bilo bi predugo da netko objasni da oni nisu anti-Semiti nego da su anti-izraelski raspoloženi,  ovo dokazuje signifikantnu korelaciju između ta dva stajališta- rekao je Kantor. "Mi trebamo jedinstveni standard o tome što je legitimna kritika,  a što je govor mržnje u odnosu na Izrael i Židovski narod" rekao je predsjednik EJC. Prije nekoliko godina  u Evropskoj Uniji "Monitoring centre on Rasism and Xenophobia (EUMC)" stvorilo je radnu definiciju anti-Semitizma kao manifestaciju odnosa prema  Izraelu. Prema Knatoru " to je vrlo jaka ideja vodilja i treba biti službeno primijenjena u Evropskoj Uniji". Ovi rezultati dokazuju da se mi više ne možemo sakrivati iza "zamke" o slobodi govora ili o izražavanja anti-semitskih vjerovanja kao kritizam politike Izraelske vlade. Govor mržnje je zabranjen u svakom društvu i mi trebamo legalno definirati da li se on odnosi i na jedinu židovsku državu na svijetu