Scientific survey

What is the link between anti-Semitism and immigration?


In Research

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A large study initiated by the EVZ Foundation (Erinnerung-Verantwortung-Zukunft) examined the correlation between antisemitic events and increased migrant arrivals in 5 European countries. Marco Martiniello (CEDEM-ULiège) and Muriel Sacco (ULB) have been appointed to coordinate the Belgian part of this study. The data they have gathered after more than one year of study allows them to cut short prejudices in the current state of knowledge.

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ith a number of migrants having almost doubled in 10 years and a constant growing Jewish population, there is a persistent perception that new migrants in Europe and, in particular, migrants from the Middle East and North Africa, are carriers of anti-Semitism. This statement is made to different degrees in different countries and can take different forms. Nevertheless, in Europe, the association of a rise in anti-Semitism with the increasing arrival of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa is widespread and needed to be assessed.

The German non-profit foundation EVZ (Erinnerung-Verantwotung-Zukfunt - literally Memory - Responsibility - Future) took up the question by launching, a little over a year ago, a vast survey in 5 European countries (Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain and the Netherlands). Marco Martiniello, FNRS research director at CEDEM (Faculty of Social Sciences) and his colleague Muriel Sacco (ULB) were chosen to coordinate the implementation of the study, data collection and analysis for Belgium.

"This research took place in two stages, explains Marco Martiniello. We first collected and analyzed the data by comparing them with the literature and surveys already conducted. In a second step, we supplemented these data with other data from a survey conducted with experts and people with field experience. » In the end, the results obtained by the Belgian researchers do not make it possible to confirm an increase in anti-Semitic acts over the last ten years, nor to link these to the increase in the number of new migrants in our country. Existing data on anti-Semitic incidents do not show an increase in anti-Semitism over time; rather they show that these incidents peaked during the escalation of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and terrorist episodes in Belgium. The results obtained by their French, German, English and Dutch colleagues are similar.

But we must go beyond the study." If the results obtained in Belgium and our neighbours are encouraging enough," says Marco Martiniello, "anti-Semitism remains a worrying reality in Belgium. » European researchers involved in this study have stressed the importance of providing information, education and awareness programmes on racism, immigration and colonisation. « The new migrants we interviewed left their countries because they were physically threatened or endangered by others or by state policies. They express the desire to live a peaceful and safe life in Belgium and they are grateful to be in the country » concludes Marco Martiniello.

Scientific reference

SACCO M. and MARTINIELLO M., Antisemitism and Immigration in Western Europe Today. Is there a connection?, The case of Belgium., EVZ Foundation, May 2018.

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Marco-Martiniello-About

Marco MARTINIELLO is Research Director at the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS. He is director of CEDEM, the Centre d'Etudes de l'Ethnicité et des Migrations of the University of Liège where he is also vice-dean of research in the Faculty of Social Sciences. He is the author, editor or co-editor of numerous articles, book chapters, reports and books on migration, ethnicity, racism, multiculturalism and citizenship.

Consult Marco Martiniello's scientific publications on ORBi

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