VIDEO – A study by the European Agency for Fundamental Rights has found that nearly a quarter of Jews surveyed said they avoid looking conspicuously Jewish out of fear of anti-Semitism.
Some of the results of the survey were especially surprising: Forty-nine percent of Swedish Jews said they avoided engaging in such obvious Jewish activities as wearing skullcaps or other identifiably Jewish items,
and 91% of Hungarian Jews surveyed said they believe anti-Semitism had risen in the past five years.
The results come as far-right groups in European countries have increased in popularity and prominence. Groups such as the Jobbik Party in Hungary have made headlines for anti-Semitic attitudes. Just last year, a Jobbik member urged the parliament to draft up a list of Jews who "pose a national security risk."
Attacks against Jews such, as the March 2012 shooting of a rabbi and three schoolchildren in Toulouse, France, have also raised fears over a surge in anti-Jewish sentiment.
But according to the survey, only 19% of respondents who said they were victims of anti-Semitic incidents reported that the perpetrators held right-wing views, while 27% blamed Muslims, and 22% blamed people with left-wing views.