New survey finds people holding very negative opinions of Israel are more likely to be antisemitic
A new survey finds 'an important minority of Canadians' channel strong negative sentiment towards Israel into negative views of Jews.
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Israel Independence Day begins the evening of April 30, marking the Jewish state's 77th birthday, amid a tide of antisemitism in Canada and elsewhere.
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'While people certainly have the right to criticize the government of Israel, it's a serious problem when it descends into antisemitism,' said Jack Jedwab, the president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute, in an email.
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Two surveys by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies examine Canadians' views on Israel, Judaism, and Jews, and explore the connections between opinions of Israel and attitudes toward Judaism and Jews. They also investigate the impact of Holocaust awareness on shaping these attitudes.
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Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacks triggered the Israel-Hamas conflict, there has been a significant increase in hate crimes targeting Jews across Canada. Of the 1,284 police-reported religion-based hate crimes in Canada in 2023, an alarming 900 targeted Jews, according to the most recent Statistics Canada report.
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The first Leger survey, conducted on March 1-2, 2025, asked questions of 1,548 Canadians. The second survey took place between April 17-19 and involved 1,603 Canadians.
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One of the findings is that most people who hold a very negative opinion of Israel had the most negative views of Judaism. One survey found that the majority of people holding a negative view of Judaism hold negative views of Jews.
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'The study confirms some links between anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment. The observation requires some nuance and is complex, as most Canadians holding negative sentiments toward Israel do not hold very negative sentiments toward Jews. Nonetheless, an important minority of Canadians do indeed channel strong negative sentiment towards Israel into negative views of Jews,' said Jedwab.
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