<snip> <<Three: 59 per cent of Europeans think Israel is the biggest threat to world peace. Only 59 per cent? What’s wrong with the rest of you?>>
I've been thinking about this and the reaction to it since I first heard of it. I think this is another example of people getting all bent out of shape without sufficient basis. Yes, it could be perceived as yet another indicator of European antisemitism. But it isn't necessarily.
If I were questioned on that survey, I would have said Israel was a threat to world peace. Like, duh. So is the US and India and Pakistan and France and North Korea and China and a bunch of others. And Norway and Japan clearly aren't. So what?
If Israel weren't there doing its thing, the world would be a much more peaceful place. Anyone who can't see that is an idiot. What IS the matter with the other forty one percent? That's not to say that Israel is wrong to be there or wrong in what it's doing or at fault for causing conflict or any such thing. I submit that, with a simple yes and no question, the answer has to be "yes." Just as Botswana is a clear "no." I repeat, "duh." Pardon me for being so un-PC as to say so.
Those who commissioned or reported on the survey may have had an agenda, but I don't think you can fault anyone for their "yes" answers to the questionaire.
<<“The result of the survey, based on an ambiguous question, does not reflect the position of the European Union which has been voiced on numerous occasions,” Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in a statement.
“The EU is all the more annoyed since it is fully aware that the Israeli population is hit hard by terrorism,” it said, criticising the “false signal” that the survey sent out.
According to the Eurobarometer poll, based on interviews with 500 people in each of the 15 EU states, some 59 per cent of Europeans replied “yes” when asked whether or not Israel presents a threat to peace in the world.
A total of 53 per cent said Iran, North Korea and the United States pose a threat, followed by 52 per cent for Iraq, 50 per cent for Afghanistan and 48 per cent for Pakistan. Countries lower down the list included Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, China, India, Russia and Somalia. The EU itself was described as a threat by eight per cent of respondents.
The EU survey was presented in the form of a list of 15 countries, from which some 7,515 respondents were asked to say which ones they thought pose a threat to world peace.
Commission spokesman Gerassimos Thomas was repeatedly asked why the Palestinian territories were not included, while for example the survey asked Europeans about the threat from Somalia. “It is not a country,” he replied when pressed over the Palestinians.>> <snip>
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