Poll claims 25% of Israelis fear a second Holocaust

Israelis are worried for the future of world Jewry, a new poll has found, with a quarter of respondents believing another Holocaust could take place and almost a third agreeing that European Jews should move to Israel.

The complete findings of the survey by the World Zionist Organization will be presented on Sunday at a conference in Jerusalem devoted to new forms of anti-Semitism and the international boycott movement against Israel.

“This new data is sad and surprising,” the Hebrew-language website NRG quoted WZO Vice Chairman Yaakov Hagoel as saying. “It is inconceivable that Jews, having a country of their own, still believe the Holocaust could happen again.”

“I am not in the 25 percent that think another Holocaust may take place, but in the 75% who believe that so long as the State of Israel exists – and it will exist forever – there will not be another Holocaust. In my eyes, there was a Holocaust because we didn’t have a state. Today this would not happen,” Hagoel told Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon.

People stand in front of a giant eight-branched Hanukkah candelabrum in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on December 6, 2015 at the start of the eight-day Jewish holiday. (AFP Photo/DPA/Jorg Carstensen)

Almost half the people surveyed (46%) said that they understand that Jews continue to live in European countries despite a rise in anti-Semitic sentiment and attacks for “economic, social and other reasons.” But 39% said the Jews of Europe should move to Israel in the face of rising violence against Jews abroad.

European Jews have endured a series of attacks in recent years, most notably in France, where a Marseille Jewish leader’s suggestion that Jews should not wear a skullcaps in public sparked an outcry and politicians have rushed to decry anti-Semitism.

An overwhelming 83% of respondents said the Israeli government should intervene in the job market to help new immigrants acclimatize in the Israeli economy, and 30% supported the government’s forcing employers to allot a certain number of positions for new immigrants.

The number of people surveyed and margin of error were not cited. The survey was conducted by Israeli polling institute Midgam.