New Zealand survey reveals majority of public believe at least one antisemitic statement and widespread ignorance about the Holocaust

A new survey has revealed a “concerning” level of antisemitism among New Zealanders.

The Antisemitism Survey of New Zealand, conducted online by Curia Research and published by the New Zealand Jewish Council, asked more than 1,000 citizens whether or not they agreed with eighteen statements deemed to be antisemitic. 63 percent of those asked agreed with at least one statement while six percent agreed with nine or more statements.

The survey charted four broad trends: the New Zealand public’s knowledge about the Holocaust; reception of “classical” antisemitic statements relating to Jewish power, money, and loyalty; “anti-Israel” antisemitism, such as comparisons between the policies of the Israeli Government and those of the Nazis; and what the report characterised as miscellaneous antisemitism, comprising statements about how societies should treat “Zionists”, the relationship between Jews and “white privilege” and Jewish indigeneity to Israel.

The survey found that 21 percent of people believed two or more “classical” antisemitic statements, such as “Jews have too much power in international financial markets”, while six percent held a staggering nine or more antisemitic views.

Seven percent agreed with the assertion that Israel does not have the right to exist as a majority Jewish state. Questions regarding the Holocaust revealed that only 42 percent correctly identified that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, but that seventeen percent confessed to knowing “virtually nothing” about it, while six percent thought that the Jews brought the Holocaust on themselves. 

Deborah Hart, Board Chair of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand, said: “Misinformation about the Holocaust – or Holocaust distortion – is a form of antisemitism. It minimises the suffering of a great number of Jewish families and the murder of their loved ones.”

Anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination networks have become known as hotbeds of antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes.

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Image credit: Sussex Friends of Israel