But now, more than 500 years later, Spanish anti-Semitism is on the rise once again. According to a recent study published by the Pew Research Center, nearly half of all Spaniards have negative views of Jews, a statistic that marks Spain as one of the most anti-Semitic countries in Europe. According to Pew, 46 percent of Spaniards hold negative opinions of Jews, up more than double from the 21 percent of Spaniards with such views in 2005.
Spain is also the only country in Europe where negative views of Jews outweigh positive views; only 37 percent of Spaniards think favorably about Jews. By comparison, 36 percent of Poles have negative views of Jews while 50 percent have positive views; in Germany, 25 percent negative versus 64 percent positive; in France, 20 percent negative versus 79 percent positive; and in Britain, 9 percent positive versus 73 percent favorable. (According to Pew, 77 percent of Americans have favorable views toward Jews, compared with 7 percent unfavorable.)
Pew’s latest research about Spanish anti-Semitism corroborates the findings of other, similar surveys. For example, a report about European anti-Semitism published by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League says that 54 percent of Spaniards believe that “Jews have too much power in international markets.” And 51 percent of Spaniards believe that “Jews are more loyal to Israel than to this country.”
This article has a big flaw. It wants to blame antisemitism in Europe entirely on the left. This has no relation to reality in Europe. Go to any culturally conservative web site that is based out of Europe and I can just about guarantee you will find some seriously antisemitic comments. The Brussels Journal is no exception. Look at the comments at the bottom of the post that was quoted from above.
To be sure, the left in Europe is plenty antisemitic themselves. Indeed, antisemitism is far more common across the political spectrum in Europe than it is in the US.
In the US, we are prone to call anyone who is to harsh on Israel antisemitic. But over in Europe, a lot of people are out and out hostile to all Jews and they do not bother to hide it.