Anti-Semitism is increasing: – It hurts to see

– Our findings reflect an international trend, where escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is followed by increased anti-Semitism. We believe that this is also the most important factor behind the results, where many years of decline in the spread of anti-Semitism in Norway have now been reversed, says director Jan Heiret at the HL center in a press release.

The HL center has carried out attitude surveys that measure Norwegians’ attitudes towards Muslims and Jews since 2011. In January/February this year, the aim was to investigate whether attitudes have changed after the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas.

– For those of us who experience this on a daily basis, the numbers do not come as a big surprise, but it still hurts to see these numbers confirm what we have been feeling for 7 long months now, says leader of the Mosaic Faith Community, Ronen Bahar, to Nettavisen.

Bahar says he has noticed a change since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

He believes that the war in Gaza has a direct impact on how Norwegians relate to Jews – including those who live in Norway.

These are the main findings of the vessel laying:

• The survey shows that 11.5 per cent of the Norwegian population have pronounced prejudices against Jews, compared to 9.3 per cent in 2022. This means that they support several of the stereotypical notions included in the survey.
• One in five Norwegians (21 per cent) believes that the statement “Jews see themselves as better than others” is completely or fairly true.
• 17 percent support that “Jews have become rich at the expense of others”
• 12 per cent believe that “Jews are themselves much to blame for the fact that they have been persecuted”.

Relatively low level

Among those questioned, 11.5 per cent answered that they support several of the stereotypical notions included in the survey. For example, 21 percent respond that they believe that the statement “Jews see themselves as better than others” is completely or fairly true. 17 per cent support that “Jews have become rich at the expense of others”, and 12 per cent believe that “Jews themselves bear much of the blame for being persecuted”. This is still relatively low.

– Norway is still among the countries with a relatively small prevalence of traditional anti-Semitic attitudes, roughly on a par with other countries in North-West Europe, says Heiret.

However, Bahar reports an increase in both physical and verbal incidents. He does not think the politicians are doing enough to combat Jew-hatred.

– They encourage inter-religious dialogue, but close their eyes when clear signs of hatred and anti-Semitism appear. The report HL has come up with should be studied by our politicians and they should come up with a clear message to both the population and the media. The message should be anchored in the Criminal Code to create an effect.

Critical of Israel’s policies

In comparison, 31 per cent of those questioned in 2024 have pronounced prejudice against Muslims. That is roughly the same proportion as in 2022. Some of the claims with the most support are “Muslims are themselves much to blame for growing Muslim anger” (45 per cent) and “Muslims are more violent than others” (increase from 26 to 33 per cent).

– The results indicate that attitudes towards Muslims are to a lesser extent influenced by the situation in the Middle East, says Heiret.

Compared to the attitude surveys from 2017 and 2022, more people have taken a critical view of Israel’s politics. Support for the Palestinians as a party to the conflict is now three times as high as support for Israel.