HU-EF Barometer, 2022: The main findings

Israelis vis-à-vis Germany and Germans vis-à-vis Israel

• The survey conducted among Israeli and German respondents found that 70% of Israelis perceive the current relationship between the two countries as normal and believe that Germany today is different from Germany before 1945. However, only 54% of German respondents share this view, with women being less likely to perceive the relationship as normal, with only 43% of them believing so. (The survey builds here on data collected from 1992 to 2011 by the Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem).
• A majority in both countries expect the new government in Germany to continue Chancellor Angela Merkel's approach towards Israel, including her definition from 2008 of Israel’s existence being in Germany’s national interest.
• Most Jewish Israelis believe that the memory of the Holocaust has a positive effect on German policy towards Israel. However, they also expect the importance of this memory to decrease or disappear over time. Similarly, most Germans acknowledge that the memory of the Holocaust affects their country's relationship with Israel, resulting in a more positive attitude towards Israel compared to other countries.
• A majority of Jewish Israelis believe that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to accept refugees in 2015 was a mistake. The reasons cited by them are either a strengthening of radical Islamists or a demographic change within Germany. On the other hand, Arab Israelis showed strong support (61%) for Merkel's decision.
• When asked about the potential role of Germany as a mediator between Israel and other countries in the Middle East, approximately 50% of Israeli respondents expressed their desire to see Germany involved. Similarly, about the same percentage of respondents in Germany would like to see their country in that role while 40.5% of them are against it. Younger German respondents are more inclined towards a diplomatic involvement of their country in this matter than the older ones.
• Slightly over half of the German participants agreed with their government's declaration of support for Israel's right to self-defence during the Gaza conflict in May 2021. The survey found that more men than women agreed with the statement, as well as more Germans without a migration history and respondents from the Western part of Germany than from the Eastern part.
• It's worth noting that a small percentage of respondents from both Israel and Germany have visited the other country. Only 30% of Israeli respondents and 13.6% of German respondents have visited their counterpart country, and many of those who did are repeat visitors. On the German side, most of the respondents who have visited Israel come from the western part of Germany, without any history of migration, and are on average 63 years old.
• Exposure to and knowledge about the culture of the other country is rather limited. Moreover, German respondents have difficulty distinguishing between Israeli and Jewish culture.
• About two-thirds of Israeli respondents are indifferent to German-originated products, and another 9% actually prefer them. Only 7% totally avoid products made in Germany. About 60% are not bothered at all by hearing the German language in public, and less than 20% are always bothered. About 20% have friends or family members living in Germany, and about 60% feel that it is OK for an Israeli to live there.
• A majority of Germans (58 percent) agree that anti-Semitism is a problem in their country today. Most respondents (72 percent) see it emanating from the far-right, followed by (70.1 percent) from the whole population and 58 percent from the Muslim minority. Many more respondents from the western part of Germany see anti-Semitism as a problem than from the eastern part, where men particularly stay behind with only 38.5 percent agreeing.
• 66 percent of German respondents think that Israel can be criticized without any connection to anti-Semitic attitudes. In Israel, a majority does not see criticism of Israel necessarily as a form of anti-Semitism, but feel that there can be, at least sometimes, a link between the two. Almost half of the Arab respondents do not make this link at all.

Israelis vis-à-vis Europe

• The survey asked Israelis about their perception of their own country and its relationship with the world. The results showed that 21% of Israeli respondents liken Israel more to the United States, 23% more to Europe, and 31% more to the Middle East. Interestingly, the perception of Israel as a Middle Eastern entity among Jews is more than twice that of Arabs.
• Most Israelis view the European Union as a success, with only a small percentage seeing it as a failure. This perception is consistent among Jewish and Arab respondents, with the 35-54 age group having the highest perception of success. However, the perception of success decreases with Jewish religiosity.
• Half of the respondents feel that ties should be maintained with far-right-wing EU parties, while only a quarter think they should be severed.
• The survey also showed that while support for a nuclear agreement with Iran is very low among Israelis, there is a high rate of understanding that this is in the best interest of European countries.
• There is high variability regarding the perceived link between EU policies and Antisemitism. In the Jewish segment, about one-third each view certain European responses as antisemitic, while the secular group sees them as not antisemitic. On the other hand, the Arab segment perceives very few European policies as antisemitic.
• Jewish life in Europe is expected to face more hostility in the future. 53% of Jewish respondents believe the situation of Jews in Europe will worsen, with only 25% believing things will stay the same. The older the respondent, and the more religiously Jewish they were, the more pessimistic their view on the situation. Among Arab respondents, the dominant perception was that the situation for Jews in Europe will stay the same or even improve.
• Almost 80% of all Jewish respondents could mention at least one European country that has a positive attitude towards Israel, and at least one that has a negative attitude. Among Arabs, almost 90% mentioned at least one pro-country, with Germany being one of the top two countries mentioned.
• In an aided ranking exercise, France and Poland were perceived as the most antisemitic countries among Jews, followed by a large gap by Germany. Among Arabs, Germany was more similar to Poland.
• According to the survey, Jewish life in Europe is likely to face increased hostility in the future. The survey revealed that 53% of Jewish respondents believe that the situation for Jews in Europe will worsen. Only 25% believe that things will remain the same. The survey also found that the older the respondent, and the more religiously Jewish they were, the more pessimistic their view on the situation. Interestingly, among Arab respondents, the majority perceived that the situation for Jews in Europe will either stay the same (52%) or even improve (20%).

The full findings and graphs can be accessed below.