Anti-Israeli sentiment on rise in Europe

Anti-Israeli sentiment has hightened in Europe in the past few years with campaigns increasingly widespread on the Internet, a survey by the European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) showed Friday.

The study found that 66 percent of European Jews considered anti-Israeli "a fairly big or very big" problem in their country, according to a report by AFP.

A total of 76 percent said anti-Israeli sentiment had worsened in the past five years, with campauign especially prevalent on the Internet, where social media and file-sharing websites allowed anti-Israeli sentiment to travel around even faster than before.

FRA's report was based on an online survey in eight EU countries - Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia and Sweden - which are home to 90 percent of the bloc's Jewish population.

Of these, France, Belgium and Hungary reported the highest rates of anti-Israeli sentiment in the media and political life, as well open hostility in the street, according to AFP.

Hungary, especially, has come under fire in the past year over repeated anti-Israeli incidents, which critics say Prime Minister Viktor Orban has done little to fight.

According to FRA's study, 21 percent of respondents said they had experienced verbal or physical abuse in the last year for being Jewish.

Close to half meanwhile feared public insults or harassment in the next 12 months, with as many as 23 percent saying they purposely avoided Jewish sites or celebrations as they might not be safe there.

"We are asked to disperse quickly at the exit of the synagogues, community centers. . . a special security service is required, which is, to my knowledge, not necessary at the exit of the churches or chaplaincies," one French woman was quoted in the survey.