Saturday, November 1 2003

Poll of European Opinion on Israel

What's the result of years of European media coverage villifying Israel?

Almost 60 percent of Europeans say that Israel is a larger threat to world peace than North Korea, Iran or Afghanistan, according to a poll scheduled to be made public Monday by the European Commission...The result is from a survey of about 7,500 people across the European Union...

Israel was rated first when pollsters presented a list of 15 countries and asked: "Tell me if in your opinion it presents or not a threat to peace in the world." Fifty-nine percent of Europeans chose Israel...El Pais, the Spanish daily newspaper, said in an article Thursday that the Dutch, Austrians and Luxembourgers were most likely to see Israel as a "threat in the world".

Israel more dangerous than Iran! This article ran prominently in Friday's International Herald Tribune. AFP reported the response of the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center:

This poll is an indication that Europeans have bought in, 'hook, line and sinker,' to the vilification and demonization campaign directed against the State of Israel and her supporters by European leaders and media.

Absolutely. But why wouldn't they? If your local paper has waiting for you every morning another front page account of inexplicable Israeli "atrocities" (and you don't know any better), of course Israel would seem horribly threatening to world peace.

English-language activists must redouble our efforts against UK anti-Israel bias, and encourage local efforts on the Continent. It's an uphill battle in Europe, but the truth demands to be heard.

UPDATE: The president of the European Commission, Roman Prodi, said the poll results "point to the continued existence of a bias that must be condemned out of hand," and "to the extent that this may indicate a deeper, more general prejudice against the Jewish world, our repugnance is even more radical."

Posted at 10:37 PM

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