Dutch anti-Semitism revisited - by Manfried Gerstenfeld
A poll taken earlier this month in the Netherlands found that only 53 percent of the Dutch would consider voting for a Jewish prime minister. In the rankings, Jews figured far behind women (93%), homosexuals (78%) and blacks (75%), but well before Muslims (27%) and people over 70.
The xenophobic findings of the Dutch poll are worse than those of an earlier British one. In the Netherlands, 31 percent considered a Jewish prime minister unacceptable and 16 percent had no opinion. A poll conducted at the beginning of 2004 in the UK concluded that almost 20% of Britons thought that a Jewish prime minister would be "less acceptable" than a non-Jewish one. This was particularly relevant at the time when the then Conservative leader Michael Howard was Jewish, albeit highly acculturated.
Note EU-Digest:
"polls in a democratic society usually reflect perceptions of people on whatever issue they are being questioned. The poor rankings for Muslims and Jews in this Dutch survey certainly can not be blamed on the Dutch population or its government. People all over the world, including the Netherlands, are continuously fed "blood dripping" news in their living room on atrocities in the Middle East, with Jews and Muslims as its main actors. It therefore does not take an Einstein to figure out that Dutch citizens, when questioned, are presently not super enthusiastic about having a Muslim or a Jew to be their Prime Minister. It has nothing to do with religion but all about perception".
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