WS MoreOrLess: Anti-Semitism

Summary

More or Less: Anti-Semitism

BBC Radio 4 | Host: Ruth Alexander | Date: August 18, 2014

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Overview

In this episode of "More or Less," host Ruth Alexander and reporter James Fletcher investigate claims that anti-Semitism is on the rise globally, particularly in the wake of renewed conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. By examining both international data and public sentiment, the episode seeks to clarify what's really known about anti-Semitic attitudes and incidents—exposing data gaps, the challenges of measuring prejudice, and differences between perception and reality.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recent Incidents and Media Headlines

• Context: The discussion is sparked by disturbing examples of anti-Semitic incidents in France, Australia, and elsewhere after the Gaza conflict.
  • France: Attacks on synagogues and Jewish businesses
  • Australia: Jewish school children threatened on a bus ([00:45])

2. Interpreting the Data on Anti-Semitic Incidents

• Short-Term Spikes: Data shows increased anti-Semitic incidents often follow major Middle East conflicts. However, caution is advised—heightened awareness and reporting may also contribute to these spikes ([01:14]).
  • Quote (James Fletcher): “Part of that rise could be that because in times of more conflict people are also more aware of anti-Semitism and therefore more likely to report it.” ([01:28])
• Long-Term Trends and Data Gaps:
  • The European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) reports that only about half of EU states collect data—and the quality varies.
  • Quote (Katja Andriesch, FRA spokesperson): “There are huge gaps in the data that's collected at the official level.” ([02:17])
  • "I'm not saying it's not on the rise. I'm saying we don't know. The gaps are just too large." ([02:31])

3. Country-Level Analysis of Anti-Semitism

• Germany: Decline in incidents up to 2011, then a slight rise in 2012.
• United Kingdom & France: Fluctuating numbers, but a clear step change upwards since the early 2000s compared to the 1990s.
  • Quote (James Fletcher): “The average level is a fair bit higher than it was in the 1990s. So that's to say there appears to have been a step change in the numbers of anti-Semitic incidents around the early 2000s.” ([03:26])
  • France Specifics: “Since 2000, the beginning of the second intifada...we've had an explosion of actions and threats against people identified as Jews...every time something goes on in the Middle east, the numbers flare up.” (Nona Mayer, [03:47])
• United States: FBI and Anti-Defamation League (ADL) data show a long-term decline, with incidents down 20% in 2013 ([04:13]).

4. Measuring Attitudes: ADL’s Global Poll

• ADL Survey: Claimed 25% of the world harbors anti-Semitic attitudes—based on agreement with 6 out of 11 given statements about Jews.
  • Methodological Concerns: Social scientists question the binary classification and the survey’s ability to distinguish types of bias.
  • Quote (Prof. Ryan Enos, Harvard):
    • “If one person answers five questions wrong, they're not an anti-Semite...Six of them, all of a sudden they become an anti-Semite. And that's a very sharp distinction...human attitudes...tend to work...on a continuum.” ([05:43])
    • On survey items: “People could have different interpretations of what the responses to these questions mean.” ([06:11])

5. Alternative Data on Attitudes

• France: Long-term surveys reveal a general decline in anti-Jewish prejudice; Jews now are the most accepted minority, but economic downturn since 2009 triggered a modest rise in prejudice.
  • Quote (Nona Mayer): “Actually, Jews are the better accepted minority in France...we see the same thing in Europe today. The group that people reject, it's Arabs, it's Muslims.” ([07:02])

6. Perception vs. Reality: Fear Among Jewish Communities

• Fear Remains High: In France, more than 85% of surveyed Jews feel anti-Semitism is on the rise, despite the relatively small number of violent acts.
  • Quote (Nona Mayer): “...a minority is enough to frighten, to say maybe it's going to happen to me or to my children.” ([08:13])

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Memorable Quotes & Highlights

• On Data Limitations:
  • (Katja Andriesch, FRA) “Not what we have, is all I can say. I'm not saying it's not on the rise. I'm saying we don't know. The gaps are just too large.” ([02:31])
• On the Nature of Prejudice:
  • (Prof. Ryan Enos, Harvard) “They [attitudes] don't tend to work that way. They're more on a continuum...if we treat them as these yes or no binary type attitudes.” ([05:43])
• On the Fear Within the Community:
  • (Nona Mayer) “A minority is enough to frighten to say, maybe it's going to happen to me or to my children.” ([08:13])
• On the Difficulty of Drawing Conclusions:
  • (Ruth Alexander) “It's a mixed picture. While there's been a spike in incidents recently, it's difficult to see clear evidence of a broad global or even Europe-wide upward trend in antisemitism.” ([07:45])

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Important Timestamps

• 00:18 – Introduction and recent high-profile anti-Semitic incidents
• 01:14 – Discussion of short-term spikes post-conflict
• 01:56 – EU data: gaps, limitations, and the challenge of detecting Europe-wide trends
• 03:26 – Country specifics: Germany, UK, France, North America
• 04:35 – Attitude data: reviewing the ADL poll and its critiques
• 06:52 – In-depth: French long-term survey on minority attitudes
• 07:45 – Distinguishing between incidents, attitudes, and perception in Jewish communities
• 08:13 – Testimony from France: high perceived fear despite relatively few violent acts

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Conclusion

This episode of More or Less delivers a nuanced look at anti-Semitism, showing that while upswings are seen during Middle East conflicts and there was a significant step-change upwards in the early 2000s (especially in France and the UK), the global picture is far from clear due to patchy data. Surveys warn against binary definitions of prejudice, and while Jews remain relatively well accepted, the specter of violence and harassment continues to inspire fear in communities. The overall tone stresses caution in interpreting statistics and urges ongoing scrutiny and better data collection.

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For further reading or feedback, listeners are encouraged to contact the show.

Transcript

[A]

This is the short edition of More or Less, first broadcast on the BBC World Service.

[B]

Thank you for downloading from the BBC. For details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use, go to bbcworldservice.com podcasts

[A]

hello, and welcome to More or Less on the BBC World Service. I'm Ruth Alexander. In the wake of the recent conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza, there have been reports from around the world of serious anti antisemitic incidents. That's hostility or prejudice against Jewish people. More or less is. James Fletcher is here. And James, we've seen people at protests about the Gaza conflict carrying signs which say things like Kill the Jews.

[C]

Yes, and that's not all. In places like France, synagogues and Jewish businesses have been attacked. And in Sydney, Australia, a bus carrying Jewish school children was targeted by teenagers who were shouting Heil Hitler. And threatening to slit the children's throats.

[A]

And it's incidents like these that have led to headlines and commentary around the world claiming that antisemitism is on the rise. But is it? We've been looking to see whether the evidence supports this claim that antisemitism's on the increase.

[C]

Now, to be clear, first of all, we know that antisemitism does exist. As we heard from those frightening examples. It can include violent attacks on people or property threats, anti Semitic graffiti or online expressions of antisemitism. And if we look at previous similar conflicts, such as the Israeli offensive in Gaza in 2009, we can see that anti Semitic incidents do seem to rise in the wake of those conflicts. But we should take some caution with that. Part of that rise could be that because in times of more conflict, people are also more aware of anti Semitism and therefore more likely to report it.

[A]

So that's the short term, but what about the long term trend?

[C]

Well, the European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency, or fra, publishes a report every year summarising data from governments and NGOs on antisemitic incidents. But its spokesperson, Katja Andriesch, told me only around half the EU states collect data on antisemitic incidents. And the quality of those numbers varies hugely.

[D]

It is very incomplete. There are huge gaps in the data that's collected at the official level.

[C]

What about this proposition that you do hear repeated in the media that antisemitism is on the rise? Does the data support that?

[D]

Not what we have, is all I can say. I'm not saying it's not on the rise. I'm saying we don't know. The gaps are Just too large.

[A]

So the data isn't good enough to show what the Europe wide long term trend is. But can we draw conclusions about any individual countries there?

[C]

Yes, the numbers are quite good for some countries. In Germany, for instance, we can see that anti Semitic acts declined in the decade to 2011 before rising slightly in 2012. In the United Kingdom they fluctuated up and down over the past 10 years. And in France, which is considered to have some of the worst or most worrying levels of antisemitism. In Europe, the official data shows that the number of incidents has also fluctuated up and down over the past decade, trending gradually upwards in recent years. But in France, and also in the uk, in places like Canada, you can see that although the numbers do go up and down over the past decade, the average level is a fair bit higher than it was in the 1990s. So that's to say there appears to have been a step change in the numbers. Numbers of anti Semitic incidents around the early 2000s Nona Mayer is president of the French Political Science association and a professor at Paris Sciences Po University.

[E]

Since 2000, the beginning of the second intifada, the revolt of the Palestinian against the Israeli occupation, we've had an explosion of actions and threats against people identified as Jews. And every time something goes on in the Middle east, the numbers they are collected by the police of actions taken against Jews flare up.

[C]

That's the situation in Europe. And it's also worth pointing out that in the United States, which is home to more than half the world's Jews who live outside Israel, statistics from both the FBI and the Jewish Organisation, the Anti Defamation League, both show a steady long term decline in anti Semitic incidents. According to the ADL, they were down almost 20% in 2013.

[A]

So that's actual incidents of antisemitism. But what about how people think and feel about Jewish people? Several commentators have referenced a global poll from the Anti Defamation League which suggests that a quarter of the world's population harbour antisemitic attitudes. I mean, that's a huge number. One in four people.

[C]

Yeah, that is a very big number. And that poll came out earlier this year. It surveyed people in 101 countries. But there are some concerns about that poll, the biggest of which is with the way the survey was constructed. The ADL presented 11 statements about Jewish people and asked respondents to rate them as either probably true, probably false, or to say they didn't know. The statements ranged from Jews have too much power in the business world to Jews are responsible for most of the world's wars. People who answered probably true to six or more of the statements were classified as anti Semitic by the Anti Defamation League. Professor Ryan Enos from Harvard University in the United States studies how different groups of people relate to one another. And he takes some issue with this way of determining antisemitism.

[F]

If you think about that, that can lead us to some rather unusual conclusions. So for example, if one person answers five questions wrong, they're not an anti Semite and we believe they're a good person with good values. And if they answer six of them, all of a sudden they become an antisemite. And that's a very sharp distinction. And with what we understand about human attitudes, they don't tend to work that way. They're more on a continuum. And it can lead to some strange conclusions if we treat them as these yes or no binary type attitudes.

[C]

And what about the questions themselves, the validity?

[F]

The questions themselves, they don't necessarily reflect the type of ways we would try to measure attitudes in social science surveys. Now, because you could say that people could have different interpretations of what the responses to these questions mean. So for example, there's a question, I believe in that survey that says something along the lines of does a person agree that it's mostly true that Jews have too much power or too much influence, I believe over the United States government. Now there are a lot of people in the United States that believe that. Some probably believe it for anti Semitic reasons, some probably don't. It's perhaps a reasonable debate for people to have as to whether or not those questions actually measure antisemitism.

[A]

So is there any more reliable data out there measuring people's attitudes?

[C]

Well, let's return to France because Nona Mayer from Sciences Po has been running a long term project surveying people's attitudes to Jewish people and other minorities.

[E]

We have many surveys even before 1990. What they show you is a global decline of prejudice towards minorities and especially towards Jews. Actually, Jews are the better accepted minority in France. But what we also see is that in a context of economic recession since 2009, prejudice, which was decreasing since World War II, has been going up again also for the Jews. But the Jews remain the most accepted group in France. And we see the same thing in Europe today. The group that people reject, it's Arabs, it's Muslims. And this is true not only in France, but all over Europe.

[A]

So it's a mixed picture. While there's been a spike in incidents recently, it's difficult to see clear evidence of a broad global or even Europe wide upward trend in antisemitism. But there's still a level of fear in some parts of the Jewish community.

[C]

There definitely is. The Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU has done a detailed survey of experiences and perceptions, perceptions of anti Semitism amongst the Jewish community in eight European countries. Here's Nona Meyer again.

[E]

It shows that among Jews in Europe today, there's real fright and more than in any other country. It's the case of France. We have something like more than 85% of the Jews who were interviewed who say that they have the feeling anti Semitism is on the rise and they're afraid for themselves. But I wouldn't put the opinions and the acts at the same level. How many acts of violence? 100 in the year of 2013. So a minority is enough to frighten to say, maybe it's going to happen to me or to my children.

[C]

So while the trends are harder to discern, the fact that anti Semitic incidents happen at the level they do is enough to make some Jewish people feel fearful.

[A]

Thank you, James. Do please get in touch with any numbers you'd like us to look into. You can email us at more or lessbc.co.uk and you can download previous editions of the program for [e-mail] More or

[B]

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