Nearly 60% of European citizens believe that Israel is the greatest threat to world peace, more than Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan, according to the results of a European Commission poll due to be published tomorrow. "These shocking results defy logic and [are] a racist flight of fancy that only shows that anti-Semitism is deeply embedded within European society," said Wiesenthal Center founder and dean Rabbi Marvin Hier.
Results of the specially commissioned poll, which surveyed 7,500 European citizens in 15 European Union countries (500 in each country) in mid-October, were first made public on Friday by the International Herald Tribune. The poll asked citizens 15 questions on "the reconstruction of Iraq, the conflict in the Middle East and World peace."
Only partial results of the poll were made public, ahead of official publication on Monday. A European Commission spokesperson denied on Thursday that the decision to withhold some of the results until Monday was politically motivated, adding that some of the results not yet published are still "unstable."
The spokesman said, however, that a decision was made to publish a preview of the questions pertaining to the reconstruction of Iraq, to coincide with the Iraqi donors conference in Madrid, which took place at the end of last week, EUObserver.com reported.
This admission raised questions about whether the Commission sought to suppress other results which would have come at a "particularly sensitive moment," EUObserver.com added.
According to unofficial results of the survey, citizens were asked which of a list of 15 countries "constituted the greatest threat to world peace." Countries listed included Israel, Iran, North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan and the United States. According to the Spanish daily El Pais, 59% of those surveyed listed Israel as the greatest danger to world peace.
According to the paper, Israel received an even higher percentage in the Netherlands, Austria and Luxembourg. French citizens did not rank Israel as the greatest threat to world peace, the paper said. The United States was listed in sixth place in the final ranking.
"Poll proves anti-Semitism strong in Europe"
Minister of Diaspora and Jerusalem Affairs Natan Sharansky said that the poll results prove anti-Semitism lurks behind European political criticism on Israel. "Just like in the past when the Jew was blamed for all the problems of the world, the 'enlightened' world today uses that same claim about the Jewish state," he said.
Officials in Israel's Foreign Ministry called the poll "scandalous" and said the questions were posed in a blatant political manner. The officials charged that the European Commission leaked some of the results in order to 'blacken" Israel's image in the world.
"Why would the European Commission need to waste its money to conduct a public opinion poll on such a philosophical question?" the officials asked, quoted in Yediot Aharonot. "The listing of countries in the order they were presented influenced the results," the officials claimed. "In addition, the poll completely ignored Israel's circumstances and the threat of terror it is facing."
"This poll is an indication that Europeans have bought in, 'hook, line and sinker', to the vilification and demonization campaign directed against the State of Israel and her supporters by European leaders and media," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Wiesenthal Center's founder and dean. "These shocking results that Israel is the greatest threat to world peace, bigger than North Korea and Iran, defies logic and is a racist flight of fancy that only shows that anti-Semitism is deeply embedded within European society, more then any other period since the end of WWII," he added.
"If the results of this survey are as reported, then Israel should draw the only conclusion possible - that the European Union and its members should play no role in any future peace process," Hier concluded.
The Wiesenthal Center, one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States, has prepared an online petition protesting the poll that will be presented to European Commission President Romano Prodi. Citizens from around the world are invited to sign the petition by clicking here.
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