Advertisement

Norway most anti-Semitic Scandi country: report

The Local Norway
The Local Norway - [email protected]
Norway most anti-Semitic Scandi country: report
The synagogue in Oslo. Photo: Det Mosaike Trossamfund

Norway is the most anti-Semitic country in Scandinavia, with more than one in seven people harbouring anti-Jewish sentiments, according to a new interactive report released this week by the Anti-Defamation League.

Advertisement

In comparison, less than one in twenty Swedes and less than one in ten Danes were classed as anti-Semitic in the organization's first ever survey of attitudes towards Jewish people in over 100 countries around the world.
 
However, Scandinavia came out as one of the world's least anti-Semitic regions, so Norwegians needn't feel too ashamed of their countrymen. 
 
According to the survey, as many 26 percent of adults worldwide count as anti-Semitic, with the proportion as high as 74 percent in the Middle East and North Africa (compared to 15 percent in Norway, four percent in Sweden and nine percent in Denmark). 
 
“For the first time we have a real sense of how pervasive and persistent anti-Semitism is today around the world,” Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said about the survey. 
 
The highest concentration of anti-Semitic views was found in the West Bank and Gaza, where 93 percent of respondents were classed as anti-Semitic, followed by Iraq at 92 percent. 
 
In the other Nordic countries, 15 percent of Finland's population and 16 percent of Iceland's were classed as holding anti-Semitic views. The most anti-Semitic country in Western Europe was Greece, with 69 percent classed as anti-Semitic, followed by France with 34 percent. 
 
The ADL researchers classed respondents as anti-Semitic if they answered 'probably true' to six out of eleven statements classed as "anti-Semitic stereotypes" in their questionnaire. 
 
The most commonly held anti-Semitic belief was 'Jews are more loyal to Israel than to [this country/the countries they live in]', which was seen as 'probably true' by 41 percent of respondents worldwide and 45 percent in Western Europe.
 
The survey, conducted between July 2013 and February this year,  was based on questionnaires filled in by 53,100 adults in 102 countries, accounting for 88 percent of the world’s adult population.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also