Impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on antisemitism in Germany: Evidence from a natural experiment

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

The poster addresses the impact of the armed escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict in the Gaza Strip in May 2021 on the development of anti-Semitic attitudes among different population groups in Germany. The analyses are based on data from a survey of a representative sample of the adult population living in Germany. A total of n=4,483 subjects were reached, including oversamplings of persons with an immigrant background as well as persons with a Muslim religious affiliation. Data collection started on March 18, 2021, and ended on June 10, 2021, providing the option of a natural experiment to analyze the effects of the armed conflict between Israel and Palestinians from Gaza on the development of anti-Semitic prejudice among individuals in Germany.
Anti-Semitic attitudes among persons who had participated in the survey before the beginning of the escalation of the conflict (on 4/29/2021), i.e., who could not have known about this conflict yet, were compared with the attitudes of those respondents who were interviewed after the peak ot the conflict escalation (after 5/10/2021). Results show significant effects of the armed escalation of a political conflict with Israeli involvement on the development of anti-Semitic attitudes among respondents in Germany.

Authors

• Katrin Brettfeld, University of Hamburg

• Peter Wetzels, University of Hamburg