European study shows 10 per cent of people don’t want Jews in their countries

Via Jewish Chronicle:

More than 10 per cent of central and eastern Europeans do not want Jews as citizens of their countries, according to a new report.

The study, carried out by the Pew Research Centre, found that while 80 per cent of people surveyed would accept Jews as fellow citizens, the rest were not sure or declined to answer.

Less than half from the 18 countries surveyed would accept Jews as family and fewer than three quarters said they were happy to have them as neighbours.

The study, entitled Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe, found that Jews were a lot less popular in some countries than others.

In Armenia a third of respondents said Jews should not be citizens.

Countries which had large Jewish populations before the Holocaust were more likely not to want Jews as citizens.

Lithuanians surveyed were against the idea at 23 per cent, while in Romania 22 per cent said they did not want Jews as citizens.

In the Czech Republic the figure was 19 per cent, and in Poland, 18 per cent.

Respondents from more educated backgrounds were more likely to accept Jews as family, neighbours and citizens, researchers found.

read more