NEW YORK—The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed deep concern with the European Union survey, presented Monday in Brussels, which found that anti-Semitism is pervasive and deepening across Europe, and it urged the EU to take action to protect Jewish communities threatened by an increasingly hostile environment.
The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) survey found that half of European Jews worry about being the target of verbal assaults and 40 percent live in daily fear of being physically attacked. The survey also found that as a result of those fears, 28 percent of those polled “always or frequently” avoid going to Jewish institutions or attending community events. And 38 percent of European Jews have considered emigrating from Europe for safety reasons, compared to 29 percent six years ago.
“The Fundamental Rights Agency report confirms what we’ve heard anecdotally in recent years: more than ever European Jews are fearing for their safety and questioning whether there is a future for them in their home countries. Not surprisingly, the looming threat of violent anti-Semitism is the root cause of their fear,’’ said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.
‘’This pervasive sense of insecurity is unacceptable and must end. The Jewish people should not have to live in a constant state of fear while going about their daily lives. Jews have every right to be able to live openly and freely as Jews and to be fully accepted in society. If they cannot, the risk increases that the Jewish communities of Europe will severely contract or even disappear from disaffiliation and emigration,’’ he added.
He called on all European governments ‘’to live up to and fully implement the commitments they made last week in the Council of the European Union’s unanimously adopted “Declaration on the Fight Against Anti-Semitism and the Development of a Common Security Approach to Better Protect Jewish Communities and Institutions in Europe.”
‘’Those commitments must translate into greater security for Jews across Europe, allowing them to live openly and freely as Jews,’’ Greenblatt said.
He recalled words from several European leaders that “Europe will not be Europe without its Jews.” The time has come to take decisive steps to prevent that outcome,” he said.
What are the main figures of the FRA survey ?
- 89% of Jews think Antisemitism is most problematic on the internet and on social media
- 28% of respondents have been harassed at least once in the past year;
- 79% of Jews who experienced antisemitic harassment in the past five years did not report this to the police or another organisation;
- 34% avoid visiting Jewish events or sites because they do not feel safe;
- 38% have considered emigrating because they did not feel safe as Jews in Europe;
- 70% consider that efforts by Member States to combat Antisemitism are not effective.