Abstract: A new national study has revealed that, while Portugal maintains high levels of religious tolerance and broadly positive perceptions of the Jewish community, a profound lack of knowledge, persistent stereotypes, and growing international polarisation may create conditions conducive to the future rise of antisemitism if not addressed through education and public awareness.
The study, “Social Distance and Tolerance in Portugal: the place of the Jewish Community – conceptual literacy, antisemitism, religious tolerance and comparison with other social groups in Portugal”, was conducted by Pitagórica at the request of the Jewish Community of Lisbon (Comunidade Israelita de Lisboa, CIL). It surveyed a representative sample of 1,200 residents in mainland Portugal and the Autonomous Regions, aged 18 and over.
The research shows that Portuguese society remains broadly open and tolerant:
68% of respondents feel comfortable living with people of different cultures or religions.
92% support cultural and religious diversity, provided fundamental national values are respected.
94% defend freedom of religious practice for all faiths in compliance with Portuguese law.
The Jewish community is among the most positively perceived groups in the study. Nearly half of respondents consider its contribution to Portugal to be positive, and only 4% identify Jews as one of the most discriminated communities in the country.
However, the study highlights a striking paradox: strong acceptance coexists with very limited knowledge. Only 3% of respondents say they know the Jewish community well, while 75% admit to knowing little or nothing about it.
The findings point to significant gaps in conceptual and historical literacy:
19% have never heard of the term antisemitism, and only 40% correctly define it.
40% are unfamiliar with the term Zionism.
55% believe Holocaust education in schools is insufficient.
The study also identifies the persistence of stereotypes, with around 40% agreeing with statements suggesting that Jews have “too much economic power” or “excessive influence in politics and international media”.
While 59% of respondents say it is important to distinguish between Jews in Portugal and the State of Israel, almost half (49%) believe that events in Israel negatively affect the image of Jews more broadly. At the same time, 80% reject the idea that Jews outside Israel should be held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government.
The digital sphere emerges as a key area of concern:
52% believe the Jewish community is targeted by online hate speech.
37% report perceptions of vandalism against property.
30% mention physical attacks.
The study also finds that 52% of respondents consider online hate speech against the Jewish community likely to increase, while 34% anticipate further vandalism and 31% foresee potential physical attacks in the future. The main drivers identified are hate speech on social media (46%) and religious extremism (35%).
A further significant finding is that 67% of respondents are unaware that Lisbon’s synagogue currently requires permanent police protection.
Awareness of institutional frameworks is extremely limited:
90% are unaware of the European Strategy to Combat Antisemitism and Foster Jewish Life.
99% do not know the national coordinator of the strategy.
75% are unaware of which government ministry is responsible for the file.
According to the authors, the data suggest that Portugal does not exhibit signs of structural rejection of the Jewish community. On the contrary, attitudes are generally positive and levels of declared tolerance remain high.
However, this positive baseline is accompanied by three interlinked vulnerabilities: widespread ignorance about Jewish life in Portugal, the influence of international conflicts on perceptions of Jews, and the persistence of stereotypes in digital spaces.
As a result, perception tends to be shaped less by direct social contact and more by abstract associations and online narratives.
According to David Joffe Botelho, President of the Board of Directors of the Jewish
Community of Lisbon, “the objective of this independent study was to produce a robust and
comparable diagnosis of the place of the Jewish community in Portuguese society,
identifying protective factors, vulnerabilities and trends relevant to the development of
education, communication and prejudice prevention strategies,” since, adds the leader,
“Portuguese political leaders have not given due attention to this issue, and the urgent
adoption of a national strategy, aligned with the European strategy, is necessary to combat
antisemitism and promote Jewish life.”
Additionally, he also states, “our goal was to have a comparative portrait with other social
and religious realities, so the study, beyond the specific dimension related to antisemitism,
can be used by those in government to design and implement public policies based on
concrete and measurable data and not on mere perceptions.”
The study concludes that the principal challenge in Portugal is not widespread rejection of the Jewish community, but rather the combination of low levels of knowledge, limited direct contact, and exposure to polarised global narratives.
In a context where 72% of respondents believe tensions between social and cultural groups have increased in recent years, the report warns that these conditions, if left unaddressed, may gradually create an environment more susceptible to antisemitic attitudes.
It therefore calls for strengthened educational initiatives, improved Holocaust and religious literacy in schools, and closer alignment with European strategies aimed at combating antisemitism and promoting Jewish life.
Source : European Jewish congress
Abstract: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Spanish Right on Jews and Israel (1978–2014) offers a groundbreaking analysis of how Spain’s main right-wing parties – from the post-Franco era to the mid-2010s – have transformed their political discourse on Jews and Israel.
Drawing on critical discourse analysis and extensive primary sources, it traces the evolution from suspicion and ambivalence to overt philosemitism and symbolic alliance. By unpacking historical narratives, ideologies, and political discourses, the book illuminates how the Spanish right strategically recast Israel’s image to serve changing political identities and foreign policy goals. Readers will benefit from a nuanced understanding of how narrative, politics, and ideology interact to shape modern alliances. The book’s critical perspective reveals not only the Spanish case, but also broader mechanisms by which political actors across Europe redefine their national and international relationships through discourse.
Aimed at scholars and students of political science, history, discourse studies, and Jewish studies, as well as policymakers and readers interested in European politics, this volume offers unique insights into the intersection of memory, identity, and foreign policy.
Abstract: В статье рассматриваются фольклорные версии, объясняющие ненависть Гитлера к евреям. Рассматриваемые тексты зафиксированы в основном на территориях, входивших в черту оседлости, от людей старшего возраста, которые или сами контактировали с евреями, преимущественно до войны, или много слышали о них из уст родителей. Версии сводятся к одной из трех объяснительных стратегий: среди ближайших родственников Гитлера или его сослуживцев был еврей, на которого Гитлер был сильно обижен и по этой причине стал мстить всему народу; или ненависть вызвана особенностями самих евреев, которые, согласно этническим стереотипам славян, умнее, хитрее, ленивее немцев и славян, а также могут понимать немецкий язык. Наконец, Катастрофа может объясняться евангельскими событиями. Во всех трех случаях в рассказах о причинах, повлекших Холокост, используются разработанные традицией механизмы осмысления окружающего мира: этноконфессиональные стереотипы, сюжетные клише традиционной квазиисторической фольклорной прозы, объединенные с попытками индивидуальной интерпретации.
Topics: Antisemitism: Right-Wing, Antisemitism: Muslim, Attitudes to Jews, Attitudes to Israel, Islamophobia, Antisemitism: Jewish Perceptions and Experiences, Holocaust Commemoration, Authoritarianism, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Populism, Politics: Political Parties, Politics
Abstract: In the early 2020s, two seemingly unrelated political developments came to a head in the Netherlands. First, in January 2020, then-Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the center-right VVD party issued an official apology on behalf of the Dutch government for its complicity in the deaths of more than 100,000 Dutch Jews in the Holocaust. Second, in the November 2023 national elections, Geert Wilders’s anti-Muslim, pro-Israel PVV party won the highest percentage of votes, leading to the formation of a far-right cabinet under Prime Minister Dick Schoof in July 2024. In this article, we argue that this double consolidation of the historical legacy of the Holocaust and of racist, right-wing politics has put Dutch Jews in a dangerous bind. On the one hand, the memory of the Holocaust and the contemporary safety of Dutch Jews have been elevated as a paramount concern in Dutch institutional, legal, and political life. On the other hand, Dutch Jews have been positioned as the perennial would-be victims of violent antisemitism—virtually always, it is falsely imagined, at the hands of Dutch Muslims. The historical persecution of the Jews in the Holocaust is now used to underwrite a “proprietary” form of Jewish victimhood in the present: non-Jewish white Dutch people position themselves as the saviors of Jews, and thereby claim ownership over their past, their collective fate, and the political means to secure their safety.
Topics: Ukraine-Russia conflict (2014 onwards), Pilgrimage, Tourism, Main Topic: Other, Sexism and Misogyny, Gender, Antisemitism, Attitudes to Jews, Prejudice, War, Security: Jewish Sense of Security/Insecurity
Abstract: Our report on Greek textbooks shows an accurate and respectful approach to Judaism, Jewish tradition and the Holocaust. The study finds that the curriculum reflects Greece’s commitment to international standards for peace and tolerance education.
Judaism is presented with balance and care within Religious Education textbooks, including lessons on the Torah, Jewish festivals, and beliefs. The Holocaust is taught with exceptional depth, most notably in a Grade 12 History textbook that devotes a full chapter to the genocide, includes survivor testimonies, and highlights the courage of Greek citizens and clergy who protected Jewish communities during the war.
The report notes positive curriculum updates, including the removal of antisemitic and unbalanced material from a Junior High School textbook, reflecting a commitment toward fairness and accuracy. However, the study also identifies areas for further development. Antisemitism itself is not directly addressed, and prewar Greek Jewish life, Zionism, and the establishment of Israel receive little attention. Expanding on these themes would further strengthen the Greek curriculu
Abstract: The monograph contains the results of the author's research on the European Union's (EU) policy regarding the "Jewish question", as well as the characteristics of contemporary Jewish communities in Europe. It analyzes current issues related to the development and implementation of the EU Strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life (2021–2030).
It is argued that the development of new legislation to combat antisemitism, based on the definition of antisemitism proposed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), as well as the implementation of effective measures to support the development of Jewish life (the term "Jewish life" refers to the development of the traditional way of life of the Jews), are important tasks not only for the EU but for the entire civilized world. European efforts in these areas can serve as a benchmark and model for the United States, Canada, and other countries where such practices are just beginning to be established.
The author also analyzes the challenges of combating antisemitism in the EU and the reasons for the increasing emigration of Jews from the European continent. The monograph is intended for political scientists, historians, civil servants from EU countries and EU candidate countries, students of humanities, and all those interested in Jewish Studies.
Abstract: En dépit d'une ancienne présence sur le territoire de la France, les Juifs, parmi les diverses populations assemblées dans la construction historique de la nation française, semblent n'avoir pas été, pendant longtemps, considérés comme un élément constitutif du groupe national. La recherche se propose d'examiner cette dissonance entre la mémoire nationale et l'histoire, à travers ce que l'Ecole, pièce essentielle d'un dispositif de transmission, a retenu des Juifs dans l'histoire enseignée depuis plus d'un siècle, et qui se trouve à présent conservé dans les manuels scolaires. Ceux-ci, en effet, sans avoir été conçus pour cet usage, témoignent des termes dans lesquels une société élabore son passé historique et souhaite le transmettre aux générations ultérieures, dans une forme où se mêlent une préoccupation d'éducation civique et une volonté de diffusion de la connaissance. Des débuts de la Troisième république à nos jours, les manuels permettent d'observer quelle sorte de représentation des Juifs la mémoire historique de la France, modelée par une conception puissamment unitaire, a pu élaborer ; comment et selon quels mécanismes ces images perdurent, s'effacent ou se modifient. Les Juifs de l'histoire de France apparaissent alors étroitement liés à l'idée même de nation.
Abstract: Swedish textbooks take a respectful and structured approach to complex historical subjects, including Jewish identity and the Holocaust, according to IMPACT-se’s Swedish textbook review. The study finds that Swedish textbooks generally align with curriculum guidelines and present Jews in a historically, demographically, and religiously neutral way. The Holocaust is comprehensively covered, with clear recognition of Jewish victimhood and historical events. Judaism is treated on equal footing with other world religions, and Jewish history and culture are described in detail. Stereotypical or prejudicial depictions are avoided.
However, the report also includes recommendations to further improve the curriculum. These include a critical refutation of antisemitic stereotypes and a full exploration of the reasons behind historical and modern antisemitism. Similarly, while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is included with the intent of balance, it is frequently oversimplified, and consequently greater explanation of ideological perspectives and clarity around key terms is recommended.
Abstract: IMPACT‑se’s France Textbook Review—part of our eight‑country Europe research program—examines how Jews, Judaism, Israel and antisemitism are portrayed across the national history curriculum (Grades 4–9) and leading high school textbooks (Grades 10–12), measuring alignment with UNESCO standards for peace and tolerance.
While the report finds solid content on Jewish-related themes including antisemitism, the Holocaust and Israel, it also highlights gaps that obscure the fuller story of Jewish life. In particular, there is room for expansion on Jewish contributions to French society, Napoleon’s Jewish emancipation and Vichy collaboration during the Holocaust. Due to France’s strict separation of state and religion, Jewish content is included only in historical and civic contexts.
France hosts Europe’s largest Jewish community (about 446,000 people), but antisemitic incidents have surged—from 436 in 2022 to 1,676 in 2023—and high‑profile attacks such as the 2012 Toulouse school shooting and the 2015 Hypercacher supermarket massacre underscore the importance of accurate education.
Abstract: W 2022 roku na zlecenie Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN przeprowadzono trzyetapowy projekt badawczy. Jego celem było stworzenie mapy najważniejszych kodów kulturowych kształtujących obrazy Żydów we współczesnej kulturze polskiej, a także analiza związanych z nimi zagrożeń.
Raport "Kogo widzą Polacy, kiedy widzą Żyda?" podsumowuje prace badawcze. Wyniki wskazują, że antysemityzm, zwłaszcza ten nieuświadomiony, jest żywo obecny w naszej zbiorowej wyobraźni. Co więcej, jest nie tylko narzędziem dyskryminacji konkretnej grupy mniejszościowej, ale jest też powielanym schematem dyskryminacji różnych mniejszości.
Wiedzę wyniesioną z badań Muzeum POLIN wykorzystuje w programie edukacyjnym, skierowanym do decydentów i multiplikatorów: parlamentarzystów i polityków samorządowych, policji i innych służb porządku publicznego, przedstawicieli środowisk prawniczych oraz mediów i edukatorów.
Abstract: This thesis looks into representations of Palestinian and Israeli-Jewish non-elite civilians in the liberal press
in Britain, namely the Guardian and the Independent newspapers. The period examined in the research
follows the al-Aqsa Intifadah (since September 2000) and the Arab-Israeli conflict during the 2000s (2000-
2010). The research findings look specifically into the coverage of the peace months of July and December
2000. The primary proposition of the thesis follows the burgeoning literature regarding the parallel,
centuries-old histories of the Arab, Jew and the Idea-of-Europe in tandem, in one breath as it may (e.g.,
Anidjar, 2003, 2007; Kalmar and Penslar, 2005; Boyarin, 2009). This theorisation finds the Arab and Jew
as two formational Others to the Idea-of-Europe, with the Jew imagined as the religious and internal enemy
to Europe and the Arab as the political and external enemy (Anidjar, 2003). This research enquires how
liberal-left forms of racialisations (not only extreme right racialisations) towards the Arab and Jew are
contingent upon these centuries-old images and imaginaires, even during moments of peacemaking (not
only times of heightened violence). The main hypothesis of the research is that in the mediated, Manichean
packaging of the Arab-Israeli conflict in both newspapers the Palestinian and Israeli-Jew are reduced to
two sediment polarized identities where no Palestinian exists outside the articulation of being oppositional
to the Israeli-Jew through difference marked by violence, and vice versa. Critical Solidarity is proposed as
a mode of Peace Journalism (e.g., Galtung, 2000; Lynch and McGoldrick, 2005; Kempf, 2007) which hopes
to address concerns at the intersection of news reporting about the conflict and race.
Abstract: Teaching and education mirror what societies want to preserve, initiate, and pass along. Thus, the impact of teachers and school textbooks cannot be overestimated. It is absolutely necessary, therefore, to ensure high-quality textbooks, which convey balanced views as well as intellectual and unbiased approaches to the topics. The present study by historian and Holocaust education expert Dr. Melanie Carina Schmoll, PhD, offers a fresh approach to analyzing the subjects of Jews, Judaism, current Israel and the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts in curricula and relevant textbooks. The study indicates the status of information, problematic content, or words in curricula and history textbooks used in the German province of North Rhine-Westphalia. Besides analyzing and just denouncing mistakes, the study also provides options for an exchange of difficult and/ or incorrect content in the textbooks. The study assists authors and editors to write and develop unbiased textbooks in the future.
Abstract: From an intercultural perspective, this article explores majority/minority and between minorities interactions, and revisits Allport’s contact theory, in a socially and ethnically diverse urban area hosting a large proportion of Jews and Muslims. The data comes from a telephone survey of a sample of inhabitants of the 19th arrondissement of Paris. Open and closed questions explore the symbolic social and political boundaries respondents construct between ‘us’ and ‘them’, and their patterns of sociability. Survey experiments with vignettes deal with more sensitive issues (reactions to circulating cartoons at school and police reactions to verbal assault, according to the ethnicity of the victim). The immediate social and ethnic surrounding of each respondent is reconstructed on the basis of census and ethnographic data. The results go against several common beliefs. Religion is not the only dimension of respondents’ identity; it intersects with social class, gender and generation. The relations between Jews and Muslims are not so much conflictual as ambivalent. Being minorities and feeling discriminated against as such brings them together. They both are more religious than the majority population, more traditional on sexual issues and more family-oriented, and most of them consider that Jews and Muslims have a common cultural heritage and should be united against discrimination. Nevertheless, there are friction points (Israeli-Palestinian conflict/the colonial past of France). Politically and socially Muslims are closer to the non-European immigrants, while Jews are closer to the French and the European-born ‘white’ population. Antisemitism is a clear taboo; anti-Jewish cartoons are seen as far more reprehensible than any other. But a majority of the sample, and Muslims a little more than average, see Jews as a ‘group apart’, and believe in the old stereotype about Jews having more influence, being more likely, for instance, to be helped by the police if needed.
Topics: Attitudes to Israel, Attitudes to Jews, Holocaust, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Israeli-Arab Conflict, Israel Criticism, Main Topic: Culture and Heritage, Memory, Books and Literature, Film, Television
Abstract: Examines an important relational shift in British and German cultural depictions of Palestine and Israel since 1987
Develops relationality as a critical tool to challenge mainstream ideas about Israeli and Palestinian narratives as separate and not connected to European histories of the Holocaust and colonialism
Argues that Israel and Palestine are used as geopolitical and imaginary spaces to discuss social and political concerns in the United Kingdom and in Germany
Examines works by authors and directors from outside of Israel and Palestine, including those with no direct link to the conflict, thus extending our understanding of Palestine and Israel as signifiers in the contemporary period
Offers a comparative analysis of British and German literature, TV drama, and film which focuses on country-specific case studies to identify common trends in imagining and reimaging Israel and Palestine since the first Palestinian Intifada
Discusses works published since 1987 which depict encounters between (Israeli) Jews and Palestinians since 1947 which depict encounters between (Israeli) Jews and Palestinians and their narratives since 1947
Isabelle Hesse identifies an important relational turn in British and German literature, TV drama, and film published and produced since the First Palestinian Intifada (1987-1993). This turn manifests itself on two levels: one, in representing Israeli and Palestinian histories and narratives as connected rather than separate, and two, by emphasising the links between the current situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the roles that the United Kingdom and Germany have played historically, and continue to play, in the region. This relational turn constitutes a significant shift in representations of Israel and Palestine in British and German culture as these depictions move beyond an engagement with the Holocaust and Jewish suffering at the expense of Palestinian suffering and indicate a willingness to represent and acknowledge British and German involvement in Israeli and Palestinian politics.
Abstract: On October 7, 2023, a Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped about 250 others. The almost immediate spread of news and images of the attack produced heavy emotional reactions in public opinion in many countries. The article analyzes data from a representative survey on the attitudes toward Jews and Muslims of Italian undergraduates conducted between late September and late October 2023, encompassing both those dramatic events and the war that followed. Four main findings emerge. First, Italian students tend to organize attitudes towards Jews around three main dimensions, those toward Muslims around one. Second, attitudes towards the two groups vary according to cultural values of reference, commitment to study, and political orientation. Third, negative attitudes towards Muslims are more prevalent than those toward Jews, but this difference narrows between center-left and left-leaning students and, in some cases, reverses. Finally, the analysis shows that one of the dimensions organizing unfavourable attitudes towards Jews experienced very substantial growth on the days immediately following October 7, that is, the date of the Hamas terrorist attack inside Israeli territory.
Abstract: There is a rich body of research concerning Jews who lived in Germany before 1933. Publications on the Holocaust are equally numerous, a significant proportion of this output tackling historical (and contemporary) antisemitism in Germany from a non-Jewish perspective. Much less is known about the post-1945 Jewish population of the former East and West (now reunited) Germany: in terms of Jewish socio-demography, life-worlds, cultural heritage, praxes and about Jewish perspectives on antisemitism. The aim of this article is threefold. Content-wise, it sets out to summarise the existing social scientific research on the post-1945ers, and to identify gaps therein in terms of empirical research, both quantitative and qualitative. Structurally, it seeks to determine the scope and frame of research concerning the post-1945 Jewish population of Germany, demonstrating thus that the study of contemporary Jews is replete with lacunae. Practically, the article outlines the consequences of patchy knowledge, and the hampered knowledge transfer within academia and to the public – consequences which have become painfully clear in the wake of October 7, 2023.
