Different Antisemitisms: On Three Distinct Forms of Antisemitism in C | Page 31

Figure 30:

In all of the participating countries, except for Hungary and Italy, the perpetrators of
threatening antisemitic physical attacks are mostly identified as persons or groups with
Muslim extremist views. In Hungary the group most frequently associated with antisemitic
violence is the right-wing activists, and in Italy both right-wing and left-wing activists are
seen more often as perpetrators of antisemitic violence than are Muslim extremists. However
it should also be noted that in all the other countries, such as Belgium, France, Germany, UK
and not least Sweden, persons with Muslim extremist views 11 are seen as perpetrators of
antisemitic violence much more than any other of the groups we focused on.
In this connection, it is also interesting to note the discrepancy between those who are
identified as uttering antisemitic comments and those who are identified as perpetrators of
physical antisemitic violence and threats. Yet, while when it comes to antisemitic comments,
two of the four groups we study here, viz. the group of people with left-wing views and the
group of people with Muslim extremist views are “blamed” for being the source of such

11

Whether the person identified as such is in fact a Muslim extremist we cannot know.

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