Anti-Defamation League: Anti-Semitism On The Rise In America
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) - Abe Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, says the amount of anti-Semitism is rising in America.
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A new survey by the ADL shows 40 million Americans are infected with serious anti-Semitism.
"You believe that Jews are too powerful in the economic sphere, they're too influential on Wall Street, you believe that they're not loyal to this country, you believe they killed Christ. So, it's a picture of a bigot," Foxman said on Friday. "We had a number of years where it was coming down and now it's up to 15 percent of the America people."
The ADL believes the Internet and hard economic times are driving the rise in anti-Semitism.
"When there's economic uncertainty, people look to blame somebody. People look to stereotype somebody," said Foxman, noting that throughout the years, Jews have been blamed for economic distress.
According to the survey:
• 14 percent agreed with the statement that "Jews have too much power in the U.S. today," an increase from 13 percent in 2009.
• 15 percent agreed that Jews are "more willing to use shady practices," up slightly from 2009.
• 16 percent agreed that Jewish "business people are so shrewd, others don't have a chance," up from 13 percent in 2009.
• 30 percent believe that Jews are "more loyal to Israel than to America," a percentage that has remained virtually unchanged since ADL's benchmark survey in 1964, despite the changing makeup of the U.S population.
• Nearly half of all respondents agreed with the statement that Jews "stick together more than other Americans, and 33 percent said they believe Jews "always like to be at the head of things."
• A surprisingly large number of Americans continue to believe that "Jews were responsible for the death of Christ." 31 percent of Americans agreed with that statement. One-quarter of Americans believe that Jews "still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust."
There is some positive news from the survey.
Jews were found to be held in high regard on many key measurements. Even Americans who hold the most anti-Semitic views agreed with many positive statements about Jews, including:
• Jews have a strong faith in God (79 percent)
• Jews have contributed much to cultural life of America (64 percent)
• Jews emphasize the importance of family life (83 percent)
LINK: More Survey Details
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