Manufacturing antisemitism, part 94

Here's a report in Counterpunch about the exaggeration of antisemitism in Sweden. It compares and contrasts the approach of the Swedish government to antisemitism with its approach to anti-Muslim feeling.

The Living History Forum (LHF) is a Swedish government body and research centre founded in 2003 with the expressed aim of fighting racism and the prevention of genocide by examining and teaching history. Göran Persson, the current Swedish Prime Minister and fervent pro-Israeli supporter, was the driving force behind its establishment. LHF's main activities include teaching high school students about the Nazi extermination of the Jews and the study of anti-Semitism. The Bachner and Ring report is a reflection of current LHF research priorities, where the study of anti-Semitism is a priority. Note that although there are many more Muslims (250,000-300,000) than Jews (18,000-20,000) in Sweden and although anti-Muslim hatred is more prevalent than anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hatred doesn't feature as a research priority.

It also highlights the dubious, indeed spurious methodology of a report that had Ha'aretz reporting that 41% of the Swedish population is antisemitic.

The sensationalist Ha'aretz headline, "41 percent of Swedes are prejudiced against Jews," derives from the report's conclusion: "A total of 59 per cent systematically rejects anti-Semitic prejudices." Ha'aretz interpreted the latter to mean that 41 per cent of Swedes are anti-Semitic, yet this is simply spurious. Suddenly, a respondent saying he "didn't know" if he had anti-Semitic prejudices, becomes translated into someone with anti-Semitic tendencies. In other words, if for whatever reason a respondent never has come into contact with Jews and states that he doesn't have an opinion on anti-Semitism, then the Ha'aretz interpretation of the report actually portrays the person as an anti-Semite.

The survey inquired about the possible dual loyalty of the Swedish Jews. The questionnaire asked for an opinion on the claim: "Swedish Jews are more loyal to Israel than to Sweden."

Apparently 3.9 per cent strongly agreed, while another 13.6 per cent thought the statement is close to the truth. Six out of ten didn't know, with close to 15 per cent saying that this probably isn't true and just above 7 per cent totally rejected it.

Bachner and Ring suggest that this "concurs to a historical stereotype" which insinuates that Jews aren't "real" Swedes and they exhibit a dual loyalty. Note that the survey question didn't allow the investigators to draw their stated interpretation -- a case of shoddy survey methodology. Dual loyalty is not an exclusively Jewish phenomenon. One can find it among many minorities, and it is generally not thought to be a problem or a case of treachery. Even if there were a perception that the Jewish community is a devoted defender of Israel, this does not imply that Swedish Jews aren't "real" Swedes. The report refers to polls carried out by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in other countries with similar findings. Both the current report and the ADL surveys suggest a strong connection between Jewish loyalty towards Israel and old views of the Jews as traitors, and the authors are simply jumping to unsubstantiated conclusions.

Here's the Ha'aretz article cached by Google.