21% of Brits are antisemitic, study finds, as support for October 7 invasion rises

The percentage of people in the UK holding antisemitic views has doubled in just four years, study finds, with just 31% of young Brits accepting Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.

By World Israel News Staff

More than a fifth of Brits hold antisemitic beliefs, according to a new survey, while nearly 50% back comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany.

On Sunday, The Telegraph published the findings of a study conducted by the YouGov polling agency on behalf of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA).

The poll was conducted online among 2,245 British adults from September 1 through 2.

The survey found that when presented with a list of anti-Jewish claims, 21% of respondents agreed with four or more of the assertions, nearly double the figure reported in a similar poll in 2021, which found just 11% of respondents agreed with four or more antisemitic canards.

The questions included queries as to whether the respondents believe Jews “chase money more than other people do,” whether Jews “can be trusted” in business, and whether Jews in Britain are “just as loyal” to the country as other citizens, among others.

Broken down by party, respondents who voted for right-wing parties were less likely to hold anti-Jewish views, while parties on the left end of the spectrum were more likely to.

Voters for the Reform UK and Conservative parties were least likely to agree with or hold at least four anti-Jewish views presented in the poll, with voters for the Liberal Democrats slightly more likely to do so, while still polling below the national average.

Labour voters were moderately more likely than the national average to hold anti-Jewish views while supporters of the far-left Green Party were most likely to back antisemitic canards, with nearly half sharing anti-Jewish beliefs.

Just under half of Brits (45%) said they believe that Israel treats the Palestinians similarly to how Nazi Germany treated Jews in World War II.

The CAA called this “one of the most common antisemitic tropes that we see.”

“It both trivializes the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were industrially slaughtered, and insultingly accuses victims of the crime committed against them of perpetrating it.”

Roughly half of respondents (49%) said they were uncomfortable spending time with people who support Israel, compared with just 18% who said they were comfortable doing so.

Fewer than one-third (31%) said they believe Israel has a right to exist as the Jewish homeland.

Among younger respondents, higher levels of antisemitism were displayed, including increasing levels of support for anti-Israel terrorism.

One in 10 respondents ages 18 to 24 said that they had a favorable view of the Hamas terror organization, with 14% saying they do not believe Hamas should be categorized as a terrorist group. Nearly one-fifth (19%) said Hamas’ invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, was justified.