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Study reveals antisemitic attitudes of student Islamic religious teachers

Report finds that 37.3 per cent view Jews as enemies

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The "Blue Mosque", housing the Islamic Centre of Hamburg, which was raided in November 2023 over suspected links to Hezbollah (Photo by AXEL HEIMKEN/AFP via Getty Images)

A new German study reveals that a large number of student Islamic religious teachers oppose Israel's right to exist and openly regard Jews as enemies.

The study, conducted by the Centre for Islamic Theology at the University of Münster in North-Rhine Westphalia, surveyed 252 students from eleven universities, uncovering high levels of Islamist views among respondents.

Dr. Franziska Kraufmann, one of the lead researchers involved in the study, said: "These findings raise concerns about the potential impact of such attitudes on religious education in schools."

The study finds that 37.3 per cent view Jews as enemies and 47.2 per cent deny Israel's right to exist. 22.2 per cent say they favour the Islamisation of politics, with 25 per cent supporting the Islamisation of legal systems and 22.6 percent endorsing an Islamist gender hierarchy.

The study shows that 55.9 per cent say poor living conditions in many Islamic countries are due to Western interference.

"These students are poised to become educators tasked with imparting Islamic teachings to future generations” said Dr. Franziska Kraufmann. "We're witnessing the emergence of a cohort of teachers espousing reactionary, antisemitic, and Islamist ideologies. We cannot underestimate the impact of educators who harbour extremist views on impressionable young minds.”

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