ADL survey: 26 percent of adults worldwide are anti-Semitic

(JTA) — More than one in four adults are anti-Semitic, a worldwide survey found.

Some 26 percent of those surveyed for the ADL Global 100: An Index of Anti-Semitism were found to be “deeply infected” with anti-Semitic attitudes, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which released the survey results on Tuesday. Some 53,100 adults in 102 countries and territories around the world were surveyed.

FULL STORY: ADL survey: More than a quarter of the world is anti-Semitic

Laos was found to be the least anti-Semitic country at 0.2 percent of the adult population. The territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip had the highest anti-Semitic attitudes at 93 percent.

Respondents were asked a series of 11 questions based on age-old stereotypes about Jews, including about Jewish power, loyalty, money and behavior. Those who responded affirmatively to six or more negative statements about Jews were considered to hold anti-Semitic attitudes.

The margin of error for most countries, where 500 respondents were selected, was plus or minus 4.4 percent. In some larger countries, where 1,000 interviews were conducted, the margin of error was 3.2 percent.

The survey found that only 54 percent of those polled had heard of the Holocaust. It also found that 41 percent of respondents accepted as “probably true” the statement that “Jews are more loyal to Israel than to this country/the countries they live in.” In addition, some 35 percent believed as probably true the statement that “Jews have too much power in the business world.”

Seventy-four percent of respondents indicated that they never met a Jewish person and, of those, 25 percent harbored anti-Semitic attitudes. In addition, of the 26 percent overall of people who harbored anti-Semitic attitudes, some 70 percent had never met a Jewish person.

The highest concentration of respondents holding anti-Semitic attitudes was found in the Middle East and North Africa, at 74 percent. The percentage in Eastern Europe was 34 percent and Western Europe was 24 percent. The Americas was found to be 19 percent.

“For the first time we have a real sense of how pervasive and persistent anti-Semitism is today around the world,” Abraham Foxman, ADL’s national director, said in a statement. “The data from the Global 100 Index enables us to look beyond anti-Semitic incidents and rhetoric and quantify the prevalence of anti-Semitic attitudes across the globe. We can now identify hotspots, as well as countries and regions of the world where hatred of Jews is essentially non-existent.”