The impact of the conflict in Gaza on antisemitism in Belgium

Abstract

Taking Belgium as a case study, this article aims to assess the impact of a foreign conflict (the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip) on intergroup relations in Europe. It asks whether intensification of the conflict in Gaza increases the number of antisemitic incidents in Belgium, and makes use of a database of complaints to the Centrum voor gelijkheid van kansen en voor racismebestrijding (Center of Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism), a federal anti-racism agency, and of an analysis of political claims-making in the written press. It is often stated that the conflict between Palestine and Israel leads to increased levels of antisemitism in Europe but rarely is this based on statistical analysis. The authors of this article undertook such an analysis and concluded that complaints about antisemitism in Belgium indeed showed a statistically significant increase during the Israeli military operation Cast Lead (December 2008Á January 2009). Time series and intervention analysis on data spanning a period of one-and-a-half years, however, showed that this effect was not lasting and wore off after a couple of weeks. Apart from the temporary effect of the Gaza war on domestic intergroup relations, there seemed to be no systematic and continuous link between events in the Middle East and acts of antisemitism in Belgium.

Terrorist Events and Attitudes toward Immigrants: A Natural Experiment

“…As such, the events itself were devastating and traumatic, appearing on front pages of newspapers around the world. Second, previous research such as Jacobs et al's study about the impact of Israeli military operations in Gaza on anti-Semitism in Belgium (Jacobs et al 2011) has shown that even distant events can influence group relations. Third, the Bali attack was at least partly targeted at European citizens-directly confronting Europe with the threat of Islamic terrorism.…”

“…Other studies have focus on different events such as military interventions or ad campaigns. Using data on complaints filed in Belgium and a simple time-series design, Jacobs et al (2011) study whether the conflict in Gaza influenced anti-Semitism. Their results show that complaints about anti-Semitism increased during the Israeli military operation Cast Lead but abated several weeks after the operation.…”

Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the Netherlands: concepts, developments, and backdrops

“…The factors described should be understood against the background of the theoretical approach and context which have already been sketched. Following the Belgian sociologists Dirk Jacobs and colleagues, a distinction should be made between seeking an explanation for, on the one hand, the higher level of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic expressions in general since 2000 and, on the other hand, fluctuations in the registered expressions since then (Jacobs et al 2011). These fluctuations are strongly related to, as will be illustrated, outbursts of violence in the Middle East and acts of violence committed in the name of Islam in the West.…”

Do terrorist attacks affect ethnic discrimination in the labour market? Evidence from two randomized field experiments

“…Hopkins (: 51) uses panel data to show ‘marked but shortlived effects of September 11’ on attitudes regarding migrants. In a similar vein, Jacobs et al (: 341) show that ‘complaints about antisemitism in Belgium indeed showed a statistically significant increase during the Israeli military operation Cast Lead … [but] this effect was not lasting and wore off after a couple of weeks’. Clearly, transient changes are of less social significance than long‐lasting ones.…”