Anti-Israel protest in Paris (archive)
Anti-Israel protest in Paris (archive)Reuters

Two new surveys from France suggest that French Muslims or Frenchman of Muslim origin are are much more likely to hold anti-Semitic views than the general French population, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. 

The surveys, recently conducted by the IFOP polling company and the Foundation for Political Innovations, were released in Paris on Sunday at the fifth annual national convention of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communities and organizations. 

A combined total of 1,580 people older than 16 were polled in both surveys.

In the first survey, 1,005 respondents from the general population were asked a set of questions about their attitudes toward Jews. Their responses were compared with the answers of 575 people, either Muslim or born to a Muslim family, who were asked the same questions. 

The anti-Semitic trope that Jews control the media received an approval rating of 23% in the general French population and 70% among practicing Muslims. 

32% of respondents among the general population agreed with the statement that "Jews use to their own benefit their status as victims of the Nazi genocide." This is compared to 56% percent of respondents from the Muslim contingency as well as among citizens who voted for the far-right National Front party in 2012. Among voters of the far-left Front de-Gauche party, the claim had a 51% approval rating. 

The idea that there existed "an international Zionist conspiracy" was espoused by 16% of the general population and 44% of Muslim respondents. 

The same figure held true among Front de Gauche voters who called Zionism “a racist ideology” compared to 23% of respondents of the general population.

In contrast, 46 percent of general population respondents subscribed to the description of Zionism as “an ideology that proclaims the right of the Jews to have their own country on their ancestors’ land.”