EUROPE: An opinion poll on anti-Semitism in Europe shows 46 per cent of those asked say Jews in their countries are "different" and 35 per cent think Jews should stop "playing the victim" for the Holocaust.
The poll, for Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera was conducted in Italy, France, Belgium, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, and Britain.
Asked if Jews had a "mentality and lifestyle" different from other citizens, 46 per cent said yes. About 40.5 per cent said Jews in their country had "a particular relationship with money". Nearly 18 per cent said they felt Judaism was "intolerant" and nearly 17 per cent did not consider Jews "real" compatriots.
Jewish leaders expressed concern over the findings."Obviously the virus of anti-Semitism is far more resilient and determined than we might have thought in the past," said Rabbi David Rosen, international director of inter-religious affairs of the American Jewish Committee.
Rabbi Rosen, a former chief rabbi of Ireland now based in Israel, said he believed there was a rise in anti-Semitism because of the half-century that has passed since the Holocaust."The moral implications of anti-Semitism simply don't speak to a younger generation of Europeans," he said. "What's more amazing than the percentage of people who hold those opinions is the percentage of people willing to express them."