Poll: Europeans see Jewish influence

Poll: Europeans see Jewish influence

"A large number of Europeans continue to be infected with anti-Jewish attitudes, holding on to classical anti-Jewish canards and conspiracy theories," Foxman said at a news conference.

The survey of 2,714 people in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland found that 51 percent of respondents believe Jews are more loyal to        Israel than to the countries in which they live.

Foxman said the widely held belief in dual allegiances was particularly troubling.

The statement that "Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust" was seen as "probably true" by 58 percent of poll respondents in Poland, where many of the World War II Nazi death camps were located. The average for the five countries polled was 47 percent in agreement.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents in Poland also said they somewhat agree or strongly agree that the Jews "are responsible for the death of Christ." Overall agreement with that statement was 20 percent.

An average of 44 percent of those surveyed said Jews "probably" have too much influence in international financial markets, while close to half believed that "American Jews control U.S. policy in the Middle East," the report said.

The survey was conducted by London-based Taylor Nelson Sofres from March 21 through April 16. The margin of error was 4 percentage points.

On the Israeli-Arab conflict, a majority of respondents believed Israel had no right to use military force against Lebanon last summer after Hezbollah fighters captured two Israeli soldiers, the report said. More than a third likened Israel's treatment of Palestinians to that of blacks in South Africa during the apartheid era.

Foxman said he considered neither view intrinsically anti-Semitic.

Italy was the only country whose residents expressed more sympathy to Israelis than Palestinians, the report said, though most respondents in all five countries said they supported neither side in the conflict.