Different Antisemitisms: On Three Distinct Forms of Antisemitism in C

Kantor Center Position Papers

Editor: Mikael Shainkman

June 2016

DIFFERENT ANTISEMITISMS:
ON THREE DISTINCT FORMS OF ANTISEMITISM IN
CONTEMPORARY EUROPE
– WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON SWEDEN

Lars Dencik* & Karl Marosi*

Executive Summary
This article studies eight European countries, investigating how the level of antisemitism as
registered in national populations relates to the perception of antisemitism by the Jewish
population in the same country. Furthermore, the article empirically identifies distinct aspects
of antisemitism, deconstructing the concept of antisemitism and breaking it up into three
kinds of empirically differently based and composed antisemitisms (Note the plural!): classic
antisemitism, Israel-derived antisemitism and Enlightenment-based antisemitism. The article
also elaborates on some more general implications for the understanding of the character of
antisemitism in contemporary Europe, and based on that, presents some perspectives on the
development of the three distinct antisemitisms in contemporary Europe.1

1

In other words, the purpose is not merely to outline the level of antisemitism, either registered in the general
population or as perceived by the Jewish population. If that were the case, its results could be called into
question for being obsolete, since several serious antisemitic attacks have occurred after the empirical data for
the article were collected. Among these attacks are the so-called Charlie Hebdo and Super Casher terrorist
attacks in Paris January 2015, the murder of a Jewish guard outside the synagogue of Copenhagen a month later
as well as before the major terrorist attacks in central Paris the evening of November 13 2015 and in Brussels on
March 23 2016. It goes without saying that these events have most likely heavily influenced both attitudes and
perceptions of antisemitism on the European scene.

1