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: Nach 2023 und 2024 hat der Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland am 1. Mai 2026 zum dritten Mal ein Lagebild der Jüdischen Gemeinden in Deutschland herausgegeben. Das Lagebild basiert auf der Befragung der Führungspersönlichkeiten von 102 Jüdischen Gemeinden und Landesverbänden und hat damit einen repräsentativen Charakter.
Gut zweieinhalb Jahre nach dem Hamas-Massaker vom 7. Oktober in Israel ist der Ausnahmezustand für Jüdinnen und Juden in Deutschland zu einem bedrückenden Dauer-Krisenzustand geworden. „Nach dem explosionsartigen Anstieg des Antisemitismus in Folge des 7. Oktober hat sich eine ‚neue Normalität‘ herausgebildet”, konstatiert Dr. Josef Schuster, Präsident des Zentralrats der Juden in Deutschland. „Eine Lage, in der Jüdische Gemeinden permanent geschützt werden müssen und der Antisemitismus als Teil des öffentlichen Raums eine Normalisierung erfahren hat. Diese Zustände sind unhaltbar.“
Zwei Entwicklungen stechen im Lagebild besonders alarmierend hervor: der drastische Rückgang der gesellschaftlichen Solidarität und die Verdrängung jüdischen Lebens aus der Öffentlichkeit.
Nahmen im Jahr 2023 noch 62 Prozent der Gemeinden eine Solidarität aus der Zivilgesellschaft wahr, ist dieser Wert auf erschütternde 35 Prozent abgefallen. Fühlten sich die Gemeinden anfangs noch von der Mitte der Gesellschaft getragen, sehen sie sich nun zunehmend im Stich gelassen, während Judenhass, oft getarnt als vermeintlich legitime „Israelkritik“, tief in der bürgerlichen Mitte Anschluss findet. Gerade dort, wo jetzt Zivilcourage nötig wäre, verzeichnet das Lagebild der Jüdischen Gemeinden in Deutschland einen massiven Rückgang der gesellschaftlichen Unterstützung.
Die alltägliche Bedrohung führt dazu, dass 68 Prozent der jüdischen Gemeinschaft das Leben in Deutschland verglichen mit der Zeit vor dem 7. Oktober 2023 als unsicherer wahrnehmen. Um sich zu schützen, ziehen sich Jüdinnen und Juden zunehmend aus dem öffentlichen Raum zurück, verheimlichen ihre Identität und verzichten auf das offene Tragen von Symbolen wie dem Davidstern oder der Kippa. Dies betrifft insbesondere Kinder und Jugendliche. In den vergangenen zwölf Monaten mussten zudem 21 Prozent der Gemeinden Veranstaltungen aus Sicherheitsgründen absagen.
Der Waffenstillstand in Gaza brachte für zwei Drittel der Befragten (66 Prozent) keine spürbare Erleichterung der Sicherheitslage. Währenddessen nutzen Extremisten neue Eskalationen wie den Krieg gegen das iranische Mullah-Regime sofort als Vorwand für ausufernden Hass. Dr. Josef Schuster macht deutlich: „Der Krieg im Nahen Osten war immer nur ein Vorwand, niemals ein Grund für antisemitische Übergriffe und Hetze in Deutschland.“
Die andauernde Belastung führt zu einer tiefen Resignation: Nur noch 13 Prozent der Gemeinden schätzen die Zukunft für jüdisches Leben in Deutschland positiv ein. „Die Ergebnisse dieser repräsentativen Erhebung unter den Jüdischen Gemeinden in Deutschland müssen für Entscheidungsträger und die Gesellschaft gleichermaßen Alarmsignal und Ansporn sein. Der Judenhass hat sich in Deutschland normalisiert und nur enorme Kraftanstrengungen können diesen Trend umkehren. In der jüdischen Gemeinschaft schwindet das Vertrauen in diese Trendumkehr zusehends“, stellt Dr. Josef Schuster abschließend fest.
Abstract: The authors of this text, two Israeli historians, probe the background to the keynote speech delivered by Thomas Rose, the US ambassador to Poland, at the conference of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Judges in Warsaw in November 2025. The newly appointed envoy—a Republican political appointee and former publisher of The Jerusalem Post—insisted that claims of any Polish complicity in the German annihilation of Polish Jewry amount to a “blood libel.” In Contrast, Dreifuss and Weinbaum contend that these remarks serve to reinforce ongoing efforts by individuals and Polish officialdom to delegitimize the rigorous scholarship of a determined band of Polish researchers who have been studying wartime Polish–Jewish relations for nearly three decades. While condemning the occasional conflation of Poles with the actual masterminds and prime perpetrators of the Final Solution, the authors emphasize that local participation in the degradation, dispossession, and destruction of Polish Jews was far more extensive than had been previously recognized. They further argue that both Communist and post-Communist governments, as well as Polish individuals and institutions at home and in exile, have resisted confronting these findings and that scholars and others who challenge more reassuring narratives have faced sustained and often vitriolic attacks. The authors conclude that this excruciating chapter of history must be confronted dispassionately—on the basis of meticulous scholarly inquiry—and should not be subordinated to diplomatic or political agendas.
Abstract: In his article, the author responds to Jörg Hermann Yiftach Fehige's criticism, expressed in the article “Jewish Theology as a Science in the Context of Post-Shoah Germany” in the fall 2026 issue of “Theology and Science”. He explains why theologies, as a subject, are an integral part of the arts and humanities within the Central European university system, and why Jewish theology was added as a university subject as late as 2013, 190 years after this had been demanded by Rabbis Abraham Geiger (1836) and Ludwig Philippson (1837) as a prerequisite for the successful emancipation of Jews in a “Christian State” (Friedrich Schlegel). He also speaks out against allegations reported in Fehige's contribution that he is an abuser, cheater, and plagiarist. Keywords: Paul Feyerabend, Abraham Geiger, German Science and Humanities Council, Jewish emancipation, Jewish identity, Jewish theology, liberal democracy, relationship between state and religions, Reform Judaism, Wissenschaft des Judentums, World Union for Progressive Judaism.
Abstract: This study explores how students negotiate complex and sensitive issues in schools, focussing on the October 7, 2023, attacks and their consequences. Drawing on discourse analysis informed by Foucault and discursive psychology, we analyse students’ talk in focus group discussions as situated social action, examining how they make sense of events, construct accounts and position themselves and others. The analysis provides empirical insights into how students navigate a contested topic and contributes to pedagogical approaches that support democratic dialogue and critical engagement. The results show that students negotiate meaning through a knowledge positioning discourse, which shapes students’ willingness to engage amid epistemic ambiguity; a moral positioning discourse, which introduces pressures to take a stance and challenges deliberative ideals; and an anti-antisemitism discourse, which exposes tensions between critique of Zionism and antisemitism. Findings reveal that reliance on media-informed narratives, moral framings and contested identity categories can both enable and constrain dialogue, sometimes reinforcing polarisation and feelings of alienation. The study argues for pedagogical strategies that foster epistemic security, promote perspective-taking and critically engage with the politics of language to dismantle stereotypes and prevent dichotomous narratives.
Abstract: La Coordination intercommunautaire contre l’antisémitisme et la diffamation (CICAD) publie son rapport annuel sur l’antisémitisme en Suisse romande. Avec 2 438 incidents recensés en 2025, le phénomène atteint un niveau jamais observé depuis la mise en place du dispositif de monitoring de la CICAD.
Par rapport à 2024, où 1 789 incidents avaient été recensés, cela représente une augmentation de 36 % en un an.
Cette évolution s’inscrit dans un contexte international marqué par les conséquences de l’attaque terroriste menée par le Hamas contre Israël le 7 octobre 2023 et par la guerre à Gaza, qui ont contribué à une forte polarisation du débat public et à une diffusion accrue de discours antisémites.
La CICAD constate également une progression des actes les plus graves et sérieux. Les incidents qualifiés de graves ou sérieux sont passés de 109 cas en 2024 à 127 en 2025, soit une augmentation d’environ 16 %.
Ces actes comprennent notamment des menaces, des agressions verbales ou physiques, des dégradations visant des lieux ou des symboles juifs, ainsi que des contenus particulièrement violents ou appelant à la haine.
En 2025, la CICAD a reçu plus de 3 000 signalements. Après vérification et analyse, 2 438 incidents ont été confirmés, notamment sur la base de la définition opérationnelle de l’antisémitisme adoptée par l’Alliance internationale pour la mémoire de l’Holocauste (IHRA), organisation intergouvernementale qui réunit aujourd’hui 35 États membres.
Face à cette situation, la CICAD appelle les autorités et la société civile à une mobilisation déterminée contre l’antisémitisme, rappelant que ce phénomène constitue une menace pour la cohésion sociale et les valeurs démocratiques.
Abstract: – Beyond campus incidents, broader longitudinal survey data suggest attitudinal shifts across society, especially among younger populations. This longitudinal attitude survey suggests that there has been a significant rise in antisemitic sentiments in both Germany and the United States since the beginning of 2024 (unfortunately this is when the data set begins).
– Age is the strongest predictor of antisemitic attitudes, with younger respondents, particularly young men, consistently more likely to endorse exclusionary views about Jews in both the U.S. and Germany.
– High social media use and conspiratorial thinking strongly correlate with antisemitic sentiment, especially in the United States, indicating digital environments as key drivers of contemporary prejudice formation.
– In the United States young people are more likely to evince antisemitic views, while in Germany older people are more likely to be islamophobic.
– The data do not support a broad resurgence of left-wing antisemitism; instead, political polarization and xenophobia, especially on the right, remain central predictors of exclusionary attitudes.
Topics: Main Topic: Antisemitism, October 7 2023 attacks + aftermath, Gender, Feminism, Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Israel-Related, Antisemitism: Left-Wing, Antisemitism: Theory, Theory: Critical Theory, Sexism and Misogyny, Intersectionality
Abstract: Antisemitism and Sexism: Ideological Constellations Before and After 7 October analyses the manifold ways in which antisemitism and sexism appear not as isolated ideologies but as intersecting ones, exploring their historical, social, political, economic, and psychological constellations. Drawing on Critical Theory, the book offers a comparative historical analysis of these entanglements from nineteenth-century Europe—particularly Germany and Austria—through National Socialism and its preconditions, to the historical and contemporary formations of Islamism. The sexist antisemitism of 7 October and its aftermath are examined as a contemporary eruption of these enduring ideological patterns, while Critical Theory itself is sharpened in light of these events.
Structured around distinct analytical dimensions, the book opens with a theoretically dense examination of the damaged relationship between human beings and nature under modern labour society, identified by Critical Theory as a key source of both antisemitism and sexism. Subsequent chapters analyse the contradictory constructions of Judaism and femininity, the relation between body and mind, and socially regulated forms of sexuality. Conspiracy myths linking weakness and omnipotence, the psychosocial roots of authoritarian dispositions, and the embedding of these ideologies in specific formations of capitalist modernity and repressive communities are examined in turn. The book also offers a critical examination of intersectional feminist antisemitism in the aftermath of 7 October and advances a proposal to reformulate intersectionality as an ideology-critical framework for a feminist critique of antisemitism.
Abstract: Η διδασκαλία του Ολοκαυτώματος σε μικρές ηλικίες αποτελεί πρόκληση αλλά και σημαντική ευκαιρία για την ανάπτυξη αξιών, όπως η ενσυναίσθηση, η αλληλεγγύη και η διαπολιτισμική «κατανόηση». Ειδικά στο ελληνικό Δημοτικό σχολείο, η προσέγγιση τέτοιων θεμάτων απαιτεί προσαρμογή, μια και δεν υπάρχει αντίστοιχο κεφάλαιο ή οδηγίες στο ισχύον αναλυτικό πρόγραμμα ως προς τη διδασκαλία του ζητήματος αυτού, καθώς και προσεκτική προσέγγιση λόγω της ηλικιακής ομάδας των μαθητών. Στο πλαίσιο της Εκπαίδευσης για την Αειφορία και της Εκπαίδευσης για την Ιδιότητα του Παγκόσμιου Ενεργού Πολίτη, η διδασκαλία του Ολοκαυτώματος και των Ανθρωπίνων Δικαιωμάτων αποβλέπουν στην καλλιέργεια κοινωνικών δεξιοτήτων στους μαθητές μέσα από τη δημιουργία ενός μαθησιακού περιβάλλοντος που προάγει τη δημοκρατία, την ισότητα, την κοινωνική συνοχή, την επίλυση προβλήματος, τον σεβασμό στη διαφορετικότητα, την αποδοχή και την ένταξη με απώτερο στόχο την καλλιέργεια της κριτικής σκέψης. Η παρούσα εργασία εστιάζει στην παρουσίαση των παιδαγωγικών κατευθύνσεων και των διδακτικών πρακτικών που ακολουθήθηκαν για την υλοποίηση ενός καινοτόμου προγράμματος στην Ε΄ Τάξη Πειραματικού Δημοτικού Σχολείου, με στόχο μέσα από τη διερεύνηση των ιστορικών γεγονότων οι μαθητές να καλλιεργήσουν δεξιότητες μελλοντικών ενεργών πολιτών για την οικοδόμηση ενός πιο δίκαιου βιώσιμου κόσμου.
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: Der Beitrag untersucht, inwiefern die Betrachtung von institutionellem Antisemitismus und von Antisemitismus in Institutionen hilfreich ist, um aktuelle antisemitische Dynamiken angemessen zu beschreiben. Er liefert konkrete
empirische Befunde dazu, wie Betroffene Antisemitismus in (ausgewählten) Institutionen erleben: Ausgehend von Interviews und zivilgesellschaftlich dokumentierten Vorfällen wird gezeigt, wie wirkmächtig entsprechende
antisemitische Erfahrungen für die Betroffenen sind. Auf der Grundlage des Forschungsstands und einer Begriffsbestimmung, die zwischen institutionellem Antisemitismus und Antisemitismus in Institutionen unterscheidet, wird die Bedeutung von Institutionen für antisemitische Dynamiken herausgestellt; dafür wird das Konzept der Gelegenheitsstrukturen erläutert und genutzt. Schilderungen aus qualitativen Interviews mit Jüdinnen_Juden verdeutlichen und konkretisieren, wie Betroffene Antisemitismus in Institutionen erleben und welche Rolle institutionelle Routinen, Regeln und Normen spielen. Der Beitrag argumentiert, dass der Blick darauf einen wichtigen Beitrag leistet, um gegenwärtigen Antisemitismus zu verstehen.
Abstract: This rapid review has sought to examine how the regulatory system for healthcare professionals, from employment through to national oversight and professional regulatory bodies, supports recognition and reporting of antisemitism and other forms of racism, and tackles racism at every stage and level. In particular, the review has sought to answer 2 principal questions:
How do we make sure in the NHS in England that perpetrators of antisemitism and other forms of racism are held to account with effective action taken to tackle their behaviour?
How do we make sure that patients and staff are protected from racism within the NHS in England and across the UK health and care professional regulation system?
This review proposes that the NHS establishes a clear organisation-wide priority to increase trust and confidence in NHS services among Jewish, and other minority ethnic patients and staff through actively promoting an anti-racist workplace culture and putting in place systems to tackle incidents of all forms of racism thoroughly, fairly and transparently. The NHS must work to embed anti-racism principles at its very core, eliminate racist prejudice and disadvantage, and demonstrate fairness in all aspects of NHS employment and care. That must include efforts to tackle anti-Jewish racism.
The scope of this review considers actions that can be taken to address racism from all quarters, including:
NHS staff
patients and their relatives
members of the public
Building on the existing large body of evidence on the impact of racism in healthcare, and on the extensive experience of Lord Mann, the review undertook:
a period of targeted engagement with relevant stakeholders, including the UK health and care system and professional regulatory bodies
thorough examination of existing mechanisms, guidance, and processes for addressing incidents of racism in the NHS
