Spanish anti-Semitism seems to be on the wane, according to a new survey to be presented Wednesday to the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain.
The survey was conducted by Casa Sefarad-Israel and the Opinion Institute DYM.
A spokeswoman for Casa Sefarad- Israel told
The Jerusalem Post that
those holding unfavorable opinions of Jews, an issue addressed in the
Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project in 2008, had dropped from
46% that year to 34.6% today.
Generally, the survey showed that people’s opinions regarding Jews and
Israel were directly related to their own stance on the Middle East
conflict, she said. According to the survey, many Spaniards don’t know
what “Semite” means.
The survey also shows that Spaniards who are prejudiced are generally not only anti-Jewish.
Those who regarded Jews unfavorably tended to also regard Protestants
and Muslims unfavorably; in fact, there was more prejudice expressed
toward Muslims than toward Jews.
Spaniards are also anti-church, the survey showed. Since the Spanish
Democratic Constitution was passed in 1978, the country has no state
religion, but Catholicism still holds sway in a manner that many
Spaniards resent.