The FINANCIAL — As stated in Wikipedia – anti-Semitism is prejudice, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews as a national, ethnic, religious or racial group.
A survey of attitudes toward Jews in over 100 countries around the globe revealed that 1.09 billion people in the world harbor anti-Semitic attitudes, thus demonstrating that anti-Semitism is not simply an artifact of human history and that ill sentiments remain.
Measuring Anti-Semitism:
The data presented in this text below is based on the global survey of anti-Semitic attitudes, known as ADL Global 100. This study is the most comprehensive assessment ever of anti-Semitic attitudes, accounting for about 88.5 percent of the world’s total adult population and 96.9% of world’s GDP.
Respondents were asked a series of 11 questions based on age-old stereotypes about Jews, including classical stereotypes about Jewish power, loyalty, money and behavior. Those who responded affirmatively to six or more negative statements about Jews are considered to hold anti-Semitic attitudes. The Index Score for each country represents the percentage of adults in that specific country who answered “probably true” to a majority of the anti-Semitic stereotypes tested
Global findings:
26% of people in the countries polled harbor anti-Semitic attitudes and believe in a majority of the traditional, anti-Jewish, stereotypes and that’s over 1.09 billion people worldwide.
The three countries, outside the Middle East and North Africa, with the highest anti-Semitism Index Scores are Greece (69%), Malaysia (61%) and Armenia (58%).
The Middle Eastern country with the lowest anti-Semitism Index Score is Iran (56%).
The most widely accepted anti-Semitic stereotype worldwide is: “Jews are more loyal to Israel than to this country/the countries they live in.” Overall, 41 percent of those surveyed believe this statement to be “probably true.” This is the most widely accepted stereotype in five out of the seven regions surveyed.
The second most widely accepted stereotype worldwide is “Jews have too much power in the business world.” Overall, 35 percent of those surveyed believe this statement to be “probably true.” This is also the most widely held stereotype in Eastern Europe.
The highest concentration of respondents holding anti-Semitic attitudes was found in Middle East and North African countries (“MENA”), where nearly three-quarters of respondents, 74 percent of those polled, agreed with a majority of the anti-Semitic stereotypes that comprise the 11-question index. Non-MENA countries have an average index score of 23 percent.
The level of anti-Semitism in some countries and regions, even those where there are no Jews, is in many instances shocking,” said Barry Curtiss-Lusher, ADL National Chair. “We hope this unprecedented effort to measure and gauge anti-Semitic attitudes globally will serve as a wake-up call to governments, to international institutions and to people of conscience that anti-Semitism is not just a relic of history, but a current event.”
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND ANTI-SEMITISM
Nearly half of all Muslims surveyed around the world responded “probably true” to at least 6 of the 11 index stereotypes in the ADL Global 100. Likewise, Christians in Eastern Orthodox and Catholic countries are more likely to harbor anti-Semitic views than those in Protestant countries.
Key findings:
Among Muslims, which comprise 22.7 percent of the world population, 49 percent harbor anti-Semitic attitudes. In MENA, the number of Muslims holding anti-Semitic attitudes is 75 percent.
There are substantially lower levels of anti-Semitic beliefs among Muslims outside of MENA: with Asia at 37 percent; Western Europe at 29 percent; Eastern Europe at 20 percent; and Sub-Saharan Africa at 18 percent.
There were substantially higher levels of anti-Semitic beliefs among Christians in MENA, at 64 percent, compared with Christians outside of MENA.
Overall, 24 percent of Christians fall into the anti-Semitic category.
Other religions polled included Hindu, at 19 percent anti-Semitic; Buddhist, at 17 percent anti-Semitic; and “no religion,” at 21 percent anti-Semitic.
Christians in Eastern Orthodox and Catholic countries are more likely to harbor anti-Semitic views than those in Protestant countries. This was true of non-Christians in these countries too, so there are likely larger factors at work.
The Middle Eastern country with the lowest anti-Semitism Index Score is Iran (56%).
ANTI-SEMITISM IN POST-SOVIET COUNTRIES
Anti-Semitic attitudes are much more prevalent in post-Soviet countries compared with the world average. However, Estonia stands out as being one of the lowest-ranked countries among post-Soviet republics. Conversely, Armenians, based on the survey data, harbor the highest level of anti-Semitic belief in the post-Soviet sphere.
Georgia’s anti-Semitic sentiments ranked 4 percentage points higher compared to the global figure and 5 percentage points lower measured against the former-Soviet country average.
Based on this data, it is clear that various forms of anti-Semitism is prevalent worldwide. These prejudices include political prejudices such as the belief that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to their own countries, that Jews have too much power in the business world, or that Jews have too much influence in finance. Sadly, Georgia is no exception in this regard.
The Anti-Defamation League commissioned First International Resources to research attitudes and opinions toward Jews in more than 100 countries around the world. Fieldwork and data collection for this global public opinion project were conducted and coordinated by Anzalone Liszt Grove Research. GORBI is proud to be responsible for data collection in most of the ex-Soviet countries. All interviews were conducted between July 2013 and February 2014. The data is a result of 53,100 total interviews among citizens aged 18 and over, across 101 countries and the Palestinian Territories in the West Bank & Gaza. Expected margin of sampling error for the weighted global average is +/- 0.97%. In an overwhelming majority of the countries/territories polled, the samples are fully nationally representative.
As a regional hub for partner organizations and international clients, since 2003, GORBI is the only Georgian member of the Gallup International research network to have over two decades of experience in survey research in post-Soviet Union countries, as well as Mongolia and Iraq.
