Three-Quarters of Jews in Europe Avoid Public Displays of Their Faith, New Survey Suggests

Three out of four European Jews fear displaying their Jewish identity in public spaces, a new survey finds. Conducted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the survey presents a grim picture of the experiences of Jews in Europe, with 76 percent reporting that they choose to avoid wearing items outside of their homes or synagogues that identify them as Jewish. Further, during the time that the survey results were collected, 96 percent of Jews reported facing antisemitism in the past year, with 37 percent saying they have been victims of verbal abuse and harassment. Given that data collection for the report took place between January and June 2023 — before October 7 — the organizers estimate that antisemitism in Europe has only gotten worse since then. “It does not give a full picture of the pain and suffering of all those affected since,” the authors note. “But it does show just how difficult the situation was in Europe for Jewish communities, even before the conflict escalated.” The survey paints safety as a major concern among Jews in Europe, with half of the respondents reporting that they worry about their security and that of their families due to their Jewish identity. One-third of respondents even report avoiding Jewish events or sites because they don’t feel safe there as Jews. The majority of those surveyed — 60 percent — also believe that their governments’ responses to antisemitism have been unsatisfactory. Further, nearly half of respondents reported considering emigrating because they do not feel safe as Jews in their current country. The survey comes just a few weeks after a prominent French babbi, Moshe Sebbag, decried that France “has no future for Jews” and advised young Jews to leave France for Israel. His suggestion follows the surprise parliamentary victory in France for the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, a political bloc that has been widely regarded as antisemitic. The leader of the far-left bloc, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has described antisemitism in France as “residual,” even as the country has reported a 300 percent increase in antisemitic attacks from 2023.

Three-Quarters of Jews in Europe Avoid Public Displays of Their Faith, New Survey Suggests

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