If you read the European press, it’s impossible to miss the hostility toward Israel oozing from almost every story. A disturbing survey commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League shows that 30% of Europeans harbor “traditional” anti-Semitic feelings.

Of the Europeans surveyed:

* 30% harbor traditional anti-Semitic stereotypes.

* 45% believe Jews are more loyal to Israel than their own country.

* 30% believe that Jews have too much power in the business world.

* 19% say Jews don’t care about anyone but their own kind.

* 16% say Jews are more willing than others to use shady practices to get what they want.

* 39% of Europeans believe Jews still talk too much about the Holocaust.

The last one is a real mindbender. Almost 40% of Europeans wish Jews would just quit whining about that annoying Holocaust thing. It’s so inconvenient to keep being reminded of Europe’s complicity in one of mankind’s darkest atrocities—a real attempt at genocide, not the fake genocides peddled by cynical Arab spokesmen.

But the next result shows a possible reason for this unbelievably callous hypocrisy—a majority of Europeans may have only the dimmest understanding of history.

The survey found that a majority of Europeans know nothing or very little about the history the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and say they get their information about it from the media.

One third say they hold neither a favorable nor unfavorable view of Israel, while by a margin of 2-1 they sympathize more with the Palestinians than Israelis. In all five countries surveyed the more closely the respondents say they follow the media coverage of the conflict, the more likely they are to sympathize with the Palestinians.

* 63% said they know “nothing” or a “very little” about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

* 57% of those questioned said they follow media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “a great deal” or “a good amount.”

* 38% say the hold “neither favorable nor unfavorable” views of Israel.

* 28% view Israel favorably.

* 26% view Israel unfavorably.

* 29% sympathize more with the Palestinians versus 14% with the Israelis.

* 86% feel there is no justification for suicide bombers targeting Israelis and

* 75% believe the attacks carried out by Palestinians are terrorism against Israeli civilians, yet

* 60% believe Israel’s use of military force is excessive and will not stop the attacks.

“While a majority of Europeans say they closely follow media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, many are at a loss when asked about their knowledge of the situation in the Mideast,” said Mr. Foxman. “That is most troubling, and it raises fundamental questions about the level of education on the history of the Palestinian/Arab-Israeli conflict. It also speaks to the quality of European media coverage of the Mideast conflict, which we know has often been skewed against Israel. Clearly, Europeans follow the media closely, but this survey shows that many feel as if they are not getting the whole story.”

“The early reports of the so-called “massacre” at Jenin is one example of how the European media made biased assumptions in its coverage of the crisis,” added Glen A. Tobias, ADL National Chairman. “The poll suggests that ordinary Europeans are not getting the information they need from their media when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Hmm. An admittedly ignorant population, fed slanted information by biased media.

Sounds an awful lot like the typical condescending European view of Americans.