Hatred of any race, religion or creed is abhorrent, but it seems Europe has a problem:
Antisemitism and Islamophobia are on the rise across Europe, according to a survey of global opinion released yesterday.
In contrast to the US and Britain where unfavourable opinion of Jews has been stable and low for several years at between 7 and 9%, the Pew Survey of Global Attitudes found that hostile attitudes to Jews were rising all across continental Europe from Russia and Poland in the east to Spain and France in the west.
The survey found that suspicion of Muslims in Europe was considerably higher than hostility to Jews, but that the increase in antisemitism had taken place much more rapidly.
I wonder how attitudes towards Israel rated in this study. In many previous results, negative feelings towards the Jewish state have been classed as anti-Semitic, which they may be, but are often not, merely opposition to Israel’s occupation policies.