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The legal framework to combat antisemitism in the EU
Author(s): Kádár, András; European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers
Date: 2024
Topics: Antisemitism, Discrimination, Hate crime, Law, European Union, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: The experience and perceptions of the Jewish community and wider European population, recorded antisemitic incidents, the increasing level of antisemitic content online and sociological research show the persisting presence of antisemitism in the European Union. A 2021 survey on the prevalence and intensity of anti-Jewish prejudices in 16 European countries found that on average, 20 % of the population in the countries under scrutiny can be regarded as (strongly or moderately) antisemitic, whereas the proportion of latent antisemites was 14 %, with six countries where the aggregate proportion of strongly, moderately and latently antisemitic people was above 50 %. Research has also shown – and it has also been reported from a number of Member States in the context of the current report – that the consecutive crises of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian aggression on Ukraine have intensified antisemitic sentiments across Europe. The cut-off date of the research on which the report is based was 7 July 2023, therefore, the study does not reflect the unprecedented spike in antisemitism and antisemitic incidents in Europe and across the world following the horrific terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians on 7 October 2023. Thus, the impact of the attacks and their aftermath could not be taken into account in this study. With a view to combating racial and/or religious hatred, including antisemitism, the European Union has not only adopted policies and commitments, but it has also put in place numerous legal instruments that can be used to counter different forms of antisemitism, including but not limited to the Framework Decision on combating certain forms of expressions of racism and xenophobia, the Racial Equality Directive, the Employment Equality Directive, and the Victims’ Rights Directive. The importance of effectively applying this legislation to fight antisemitism is emphasised in the EU Strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life (2021-2030), in which the European Union pledged to ‘step up action to actively prevent and combat’ the phenomenon in all its forms. This thematic report provides a comparative overview of how these legal instruments have been complied with in the 27 EU Member States, and aims to establish how and to what extent the legal framework and its practical application in the different Member States provide protection against antisemitism in three main areas: (i) non-discrimination; (i) hate crimes; and (iii) hate speech. It identifies gaps in the existing legal protections and/or their enforcement across the EU Member States and makes recommendations on mechanisms for the provision of effective protection against acts motivated by antisemitism.
To speak out or not to speak out? Exploring the reporting of discrimination among Muslims and Jews in Switzerland
Author(s): Lindemann, Anaïd; Stolz, Jörg
Date: 2022
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Monitoring, Islamophobia, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Discrimination, Surveys, Interviews
Abstract: Muslims and Jews are among the minorities in Switzerland who are most disliked and discriminated against, but the frequency with which the two groups report racist incidents to official bodies and initiate court proceedings differs greatly. The goal of this paper is to establish the extent of these differences and to explore the reasons for them. We use data from a representative survey, official datasets of reported cases of discrimination and legal proceedings, as well as 27 semi-structured interviews with representatives from Muslim and Jewish organisations, and from government centres that record incidents. We show that Muslims and Jews perceive discrimination at similar levels, but that the latter report discrimination and initiate court proceedings much more frequently than Muslims. We find that these differences can be explained by a divergence between the two groups in terms of perceived costs, in-group norms, structural factors, and organisational opportunities. In comparison to Jews, Muslims typically (1) are less confident that reporting discrimination will have a positive outcome; (2) are more concerned about being seen as ‘victims’; (3) are less well-informed about the possibilities available to them to report discrimination; and (4) come from communities that have lower organisational capacities in this regard.
Examining Discrimination against Jews in Italy with Three Natural Field Experiments
Author(s): Nesseler, Cornel; Gomez-Gonzalez, Carlos; Parshakov, Petr; Dietl, Helmut
Date: 2023
Topics: Antisemitism, Discrimination, Football, Gender, Work, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: We use three natural field experiments to examine anti-Semitism in Italy by sending email inquiries to amateur football clubs, landlords, and employers and comparing the response rates to emails sent with Jewish- and non-Jewish-sounding names. Italy is an interesting country as discrimination was heterogeneous and geographically unevenly distributed during World War II. We analyze if today's anti-Semitism in Italy is geographically correlated to the deportations and killings of Jews during the Holocaust. The results show significant discrimination when looking for football club and an apartment, but not when seeking a job. We find markedly different results for women. Comparing areas with different societal and economic implications provides us with a more informed perspective about the extent of discrimination.
Why Do People Discriminate against Jews?
Author(s): Fox, Jonathan; Topor, Lev
Date: 2021
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Discourse, Anti-Zionism, Discrimination, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: Why Do People Discriminate against Jews? provides a data-rich analysis of the causes of discrimination against Jews across the globe. Using the tools of comparative political science, Jonathan Fox and Lev Topor examine the causes of both government-based and societal discrimination against Jews in 76 countries. As they stress, anti-Semitism is an attitude, but discrimination is an action. In examining anti-Jewish discrimination, they combine ideas and theories from classic studies of anti-Semitism with social science theories on the causes of discrimination. On the one hand, conspiracy theories, a major topic in the anti-Semitism literature, are relatively unexplored in the social science literature as a potential instigator of discrimination. On the other, social science theories developed to explain how governments justify discrimination against Muslims are rarely formally applied to the processes that lead to discrimination against Jews. Fox and Topor conclude by identifying three potential causes of discrimination: religious causes, anti-Zionism, and belief in conspiracy theories about Jewish power and world domination. They conclude that while all three influence discrimination against Jews, belief in conspiracy theories is the strongest determinant. The most rigorous and geographically wide-ranging analysis of discrimination against Jews to date, this book reshapes our understanding of the persecution of religious minorities in general and the Jewish people in particular.

Contents:
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Patterns of Discrimination
Chapter 3: Religious Anti-Semitism
Chapter 4: Anti-Zionism and Anti-Israel Behavior and Sentiment
Chapter 5: Conspiracy Theories
Chapter 6: The British Example
Chapter 7: Conclusions
Appendix
Bibliography
Antisemitism at Work in the UK: Ignorance and Denial
Author(s): Ashe, Stephen; Renton, James
Date: 2019
Topics: Antisemitism, Discrimination, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Work, Employment
Walka z antysemityzmem i antycyganizmem w Polsce: monitoring, interwencja, edukacja
Translated Title: The Fight Against Antisemitism and Antigypsyism in Poland: Monitoring, Intervention, Education
Date: 2018
Topics: Main Topic: Antisemitism, Roma, Racism, Antisemitism, Discrimination, Policy
Abstract: Przedmiotem naszych badań były dyskryminacyjne struktury i praktyki, które dehumanizują Żydów oraz Romów i Sinti, redukując ich 1do negatywnego stereotypu , który następnie staje się źródłem i/lub uzasadnieniem skierowanych przeciwko nim działań. Poddaliśmy analizie prowadzone w Polsce badania nad antysemityzmem i antycyganizmem w celu zebrania informacji, identyfikacji trendów i mechanizmów, bezpośrednich i pośrednich
przyczyn oraz związków konkretnych działań o charakterze antysemickim lub antycygańskim z szerszymi zjawiskami ksenofobii, rasizmu, uprzedzenia i wykluczenia. Monitorowaliśmy również przejawy antysemityzmu i antycyganizmu w różnych obszarach życia i na tej podstawie przedstawiliśmy nasze rekomendacje. Zidentyfikowaliśmy też poszczególne instytucje i aktorów społeczeństwa obywatelskiego zaangażowanych w walkę z antysemityzmem i antycyganizmem, by odnotować stosowane przez nie strategie i zakończone sukcesem kampanie.
Generation 1.5 of Russian-speaking immigrants in Israel and in Germany: An overview of recent research and a German pilot study
Author(s): Remennick, Larissa
Editor(s): Isurin, Ludmilla; Riehl, Claudia Maria
Date: 2017
Topics: Main Topic: Demography and Migration, Aliyah, Russian-Speaking Jews, Integration, Immigration, Age and Generational Issues, Discrimination, Interviews
Abstract: This chapter offers a comparative overview of immigrant trajectories and inte-gration outcomes of Russian-Jewish youths (the so-called 1.5 generation) who immigrated to Israel and Germany with their families over the last 25 years. At the outset, I compare Israeli and German reception contexts and policies and present the generic features of the 1.5 immigrant generation. Next I overview the Israeli research findings on Russian Israeli 1.5ers – their schooling, social mobility, cultural and linguistic practices, parents’ role in their integration, and juxtapose them with (still limited) German data. 󰀀e final section presents two recent German studies of young Russian-Jewish adults and the initial findings from my own study among these immigrants living in four German cities. My interviews with 20 men and women, mostly successful professionals or entrepreneurs, indicate that their upward social mobility was facilitated by the continuous welfare support of their families, school integration programs, and low financial barriers to higher education. Despite common occupation-al and social downgrading of the parental generation in both countries, the 1.5-ers in Israel had to struggle harder to overcome their inherent immigrant disadvantage vs. native peers to access good schools and professional careers. Most young immigrants deem full assimilation in the host country’s main-stream unattainable and opt instead for a bilingual and/or bicultural strategy of integration
Religious affiliation, ethnicity, and power in admission policies to Jewish religious schools
Author(s): Perry-Hazan, Lotem
Date: 2016
Topics: Main Topic: Education, Jewish Schools, Law, Discrimination
Abstract: This paper analyzes the challenges embedded in the conflict between the right to accessible education, which implies a prohibition on discriminatory practices in school admission, and the right to adaptable education, which accommodates children’s cultural affiliations. It shows that a normative lens, which examines the ways by which legal rules correspond to conflicting rights and interests, cannot fully capture the tension between legal prohibitions on discrimination in education and the sociocultural norms in religious communities. Thus, the paper offers a socio-legal lens, which focuses on the context of admission policies to Jewish religious schools. Based on three test cases of admission policies to Jewish religious schools in Israel, England, and Flanders, Belgium, the paper demonstrates how the legal rules regulating the admission policies are influenced by social forces. In Israel and England, these forces have facilitated a descent down slippery slope, originating with religious criteria, but concluding with discriminatory criteria. They also shaped admission practices reflecting the asymmetric power relations between the institutional school systems and individual families. The paper highlights the benefits of the Belgian policy, which proscribes religious classification of school candidates. This policy circumvents the ambiguous distinction between religion, ethnicity, and social class, and expands educational choices.
The Anti-Israeli Boycott as Discrimination against Jewish Groups and Israeli Persons: International, European and National Legal Trends
Author(s): Naamat, Talia
Topics: Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), Law, Antisemitism, Discrimination, European Union, Main Topic: Antisemitism
The Paradox of the Italian Jewish Experience in 1990-2010
Author(s): Nissan, Ephraim
Date: 2011
Topics: Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, Discrimination, Jewish - Christian Relations, Jewish - Muslim Relations, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: There is a paradox to the Italian Jewish experience in the 2000s. Jews are more integrated than ever since 1945, While the Jews are indeed more accepted than ever, sporadic expressions of direct, incontrovertible anti-Semitism have occurred even in the circles of power, and even at the highest levels. For all the persistence, and sometimes transmogrification, of hostile attitudes toward Jews and Israel from some quarters, there is often sympathy from persons from different walks of life. And since the end of the First Republic in the early 1990s, also some of Italy's politicians allow themselves to express sympathy for Israel.
Being a Jewish Woman in French Society
Author(s): Azria, Régine
Editor(s): Epstein, Helen
Date: 1999
Topics: Jewish Women, Gender, Discrimination, Age and Generational Issues, Main Topic: Other
Abstract: French Jewish women today, of both Sephardic and Ashkenazi origin, tend to be middle class and highly educated, with higher divorce rates and fewer children than preceding generations. The younger generation in particular seems to distance itself from the organized Jewish community, likely in keeping with French culture's individualistic values and distaste for sectarian community building. The unaffiliated French Jewish majority poses a concern for Jewish continuity in France and the European Diaspora. Still, with the exception of teaching, women continue to be overwhelmingly excluded from public religious life, despite some progress in the attainment of community leadership positions. Finally, the author notes the lack of data about the role of Judaism in the every day home lives of French Jewish women.
[Jewish Women in] Hungary
Author(s): Taliygas, Katalin
Editor(s): Epstein, Helen
Date: 1999
Topics: Jewish Women, Antisemitism, Discrimination, Jewish Leadership, Main Topic: Other
Abstract:

This article presents a brief overview of the demographics of the Hungarian Jewish community. It includes reflections on the struggles of individuals and the community, especially women, to deal with the Holocaust legacy, anti-Semitism, and sexism, in modern Hungarian society.
Report of the All-Party Parliamentary Enquiry into Antisemitism
Date: 2015
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Discourse, Antisemitism: Monitoring, Discrimination, Hate crime, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: This All-Party Parliamentary Report was commissioned by John Mann MP, Chair of the All-Party
Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism.
The terms of reference for the report were:
1. To  consider the events of July/August 2014 and the causes and consequences of the
highest-ever recorded number of antisemitic incidents during that period
2. To consider this in the light of the 2006 All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into
Antisemitism report
3. To review the situation in the UK in the light of similar events in Europe and draw any
lessons that can be learnt 
4. To identify and review the effectiveness of existing legal and other frameworks for
addressing antisemitism in the UK, with a view to avoiding the extreme anti-Jewish
violence in Europe that resulted from the conflict
5. To identify models of best practice for guaranteeing intercommunal cohesion and
Jewish communal welfare at times of increased tension
Annual Review: Jewish Communal Security in Britain in 2013
Date: 2014
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Discourse, Antisemitism: Monitoring, Hate crime, Discrimination, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Discrimination and hate crime against Jews in EU Member States: experiences and perceptions of antisemitism
Date: 2013
Topics: Surveys, Antisemitism, Discrimination, Hate crime, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: In 2012, JPR conducted a major study of Jewish perceptions and experiences of antisemitism in Europe, after winning a competitive tender from the European Union. The survey, run in partnership with research agency Ipsos MORI and involving several members of JPR’s international team of Associate Fellows, took place in nine EU Member States: Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Sweden and the UK.

Conducted in eleven languages, it investigated Jewish populations’ experience of harassment, discrimination, vandalism and violence; whether or not they report these incidents to the police or another authority; how safe and secure they feel; and how aware they are of their rights under the law. In addition, the survey gathered a considerable amount about Jewish identity, communal affiliation, engagement and participation, and Jewish practice.

The findings demonstrate that three-quarters of respondents believe that antisemitism has become worse over the past five years in all countries investigated. Antisemitic verbal threats and harassment are remarkably common – close to a quarter of all respondents said they had personally experienced an incident of this type in the previous twelve months, rising to close to one-third in Hungary and Belgium. Approximately one in fifteen of all respondents said they had experienced at least one antisemitic physical attack – in the form of being hit, pushed or threatened – within the past five years, most commonly in Belgium, France, Germany and Hungary. As is the case with many criminal incidents, respondents recorded widespread under-reporting of these types of incidents to the police or other appropriate organisations. Close to half of all respondents are worried about becoming a victim of a verbal attack or harassment, and approximately a third is worried about becoming a victim of a physical attack.

Significant geographical variations can be discerned, rendering any singular or uniform description of the Jewish population in Europe, or antisemitism in Europe, imprecise at least. Most notably, there are significant distinctions to be drawn between the character of Jewish populations who experienced life under communism, and those who did not. Furthermore, antisemitism manifests itself rather differently: in Eastern Europe it tends to be associated with right-wing ultra-nationalist forces; in Western Europe it is more commonly linked to leftist politics and Islamic extremism.

On the other hand, it is critical to put these findings into context. The vast majority of Jews in the sample feel a strong sense of belonging to the country in which they reside, and are highly integrated into mainstream society. And, when asked to locate the problem of antisemitism in the larger perspective of other problems in society – unemployment, crime, the economy, etc. – it rarely features at the top of the list. Only in Germany does it hold this position; in Latvia and Italy it comes seventh out of nine issues, and in the UK, eighth.
Report of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism: Government Response
Author(s): Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
Date: 2007
Topics: Antisemitism, Government, Law, Discrimination, Policy, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Report of the All-Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism
Date: 2006
Topics: Antisemitism, Law, Policy, Government, Discrimination, Main Topic: Antisemitism
Abstract: The All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism was commissioned by John Mann MP,
Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism. 
The terms of reference for the inquiry were:
1. To consider evidence on the nature of contemporary antisemitism
2. To evaluate current efforts to confront it
3. To consider further measures that might usefully be introduced
The inquiry was chaired by the former Minister for Europe, Rt Hon Dr Denis MacShane MP
(Labour, Rotherham)
Technical Report: Discrimination and hate crime against Jews in EU Member States: experiences and perceptions of antisemitism
Date: 2013
Topics: Surveys, Antisemitism, Discrimination, Hate crime, Methodology, Main Topic: Antisemitism