Antisemitism in Britain, one year on

We are one year on from 7th October.

In that time, we have witnessed regular anti-Israel protests featuring antisemitic rhetoric and chanting and glorification of terror on our streets, encampments on our campuses, intimidation in and around schools, online, in workplaces and even in hospitals, media bias on our televisions and radios and in newspapers, growing sectarianism in our politics, and indifference by our public bodies and criminal justice system.

But what do the British people think, one year on? What do they think of Hamas? What do they think of the Jews?

These are questions we put, through YouGov, to the British public. The results are concerning, but with regard to young people (aged 18-24) the results are positively alarming.

This is what we found.

Views on Hamas

• Almost one in ten – 9% – of young Britons (18-24 year olds) have a favourable view of Hamas, compared to 3% of the general British public. More than two thirds (68%) of the British public has an unfavourable view of Hamas, as do 50% of young Britons.
• More than one eighth of young Britons (13%) do not believe that reports that Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis in the attacks on 7th October 2023 are broadly true, compared to 7% of the wider British public. Just over half (55%) of the British public think that those reports are broadly true, compared to 39% of 18-24 year olds.
• An astounding 16% of young British adults believe that the attacks carried out by Hamas on 7th October 2023 were justified, compared to 7% of the wider British public. This figure rises to 28% among people identifying as “very left-wing”.
• More than one eighth of British 18-24 year olds (13%) believe that the British Government is wrong to classify Hamas as a terrorist group, compared to 7% of the British public and an astonishing 31% among the “very left-wing”.
• Reassuringly, over half (59%) of the British public would be less likely to visit a city centre if they knew a large pro-Palestinian march was due to happen. This is firmly where the centre-ground of British politics lies: with 66% among respondents identifying as being in the political centre saying so, 78% among slightly right-of-centre, and 48% among slightly left-of-centre.

Antisemitic attitudes

• One third (33%) of the British public believes that Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews, which is antisemitic according to the International Definition of Antisemitism. This is the highest figure that we have recorded in our polling. Even more worryingly, the figure for this question rises to a shocking 48% – nearly half – of 18-24 year olds. More than two-thirds (68%) of those who identify as “very left-wing” hold the same view. Among 2024 Labour voters, the figure is 45%, compared to 36% for Lib Dems voters, 22% of Conservative voters, and 18% of Reform voters.
• Almost one in five (18%) British people believe that Israel can get away with anything because its supporters control the media, a figure that rises to a shocking 33% – one third – among 18-24s.
• Almost one quarter (23%) of 18-24s do not believe that Israel is right to defend itself against those who want to destroy it, compared to 7% across the whole population. This number rises to one third (33%) among the far-left.
• Nearly one fifth (18%) of young people do not believe that Israel has a right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people. Overall among the British public, the figure is 8%. Interestingly, among 2024 Lib Dem voters, it is one in ten, which is higher than other mainstream political parties.
• Almost one-fifth (19%) of the British public is not comfortable spending time with people who openly support Israel. Among young people, it is 41%, nearly double the 21% figure recorded in December 2023.
• Almost a quarter (22%) of the general population think that Israel and its supporters are a bad influence on our democracy. Among young people, the figure is a staggering 43%. A quarter (25%) of 2024 Labour voters believe this as well, as do 22% of Lib Dem voters, 17% of Reform voters and 10% of Conservative voters.
• One in ten people in Britain believe that compared to other groups, Jewish people have too much power in the media. Among 18-24 year olds, this rises to 16%.
• One in ten young people believe that Jewish people talk about the Holocaust just to further their political agenda. Among the general public, the figure is 7%.
• Nearly one-tenth (9%) of British young adults do not believe that Jewish people can be trusted just as much as other British people in business, which is almost double the 4% of the general British public.

The YouGov survey was designed in collaboration with Campaign Against Antisemitism and used the peer-reviewed Generalised Antisemitism Scale. The full results and methodology can be read here.

We provided an exclusive briefing on the polling results to MPs and the findings have been covered widely in the media.

Extremism is becoming normalised in our country, and as ever Jews are the canaries in the coal mine. We have been marking one year since the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, but here in Britain we need to turn our attention to the home front, where British society is changing before our eyes.

Most alarming of all, our young people are becoming radicalised at a far greater rate than the rest of the population, sympathising with terrorists and espousing extreme anti-Jewish racism.

If the authorities continue to let radicalism run rampant on campuses and on social media, it will not be long before we are looking over our shoulders at generation hate.

This is National Hate Crime Awareness Week, but are the police aware?

The intensifying antisemitic attitudes among segments of the British public are manifesting in hate crimes.

New Home Office statistics show that attacks against Jews between spring 2023 and the following year more than doubled, and our analysis of the numbers shows that Jewish people are considerably more likely to be the victims of hate crime than any other faith group per capita.

This was after the Met Police disclosed that hate crimes against Jews in the capital over the past eleven months have increased fourfold.

This is National Hate Crime Awareness Week. But all the statistics and record-keeping notwithstanding, are the police really aware?

Are they really aware that perpetrators need to be identified, arrested and prosecuted? Are they really aware of the effect of failing to do that? Are they really aware of the impact that all of this antisemitism, one year on, is having on ordinary British Jews?

To give voice to that anguish, we invited three Jews living in Britain who had never met before to talk to one another, in front of a camera, about how they are really feeling, one year on. The full video can be watched here.

Police don’t know Hizballah are proscribed terrorists

One thing that some police officers do not appear to be aware of is that Hizballah is a proscribed terrorist organisation under UK law.

We have released new, jaw-dropping footage showing a concerned member of the public approaching two Metropolitan Police officers at a vigil for Hizballah’s leader. The vigil took place in broad daylight in Trafalgar Square.

In this footage, taken on 28th September, the officers appear not to know that Hizballah is a proscribed terrorist organisation and demonstrate no concern about the event. When the member of the public tells the officers that Hizballah is proscribed under British law, one of the officers responds: “Your opinion is your opinion.”

The Head of MI5 has warned about the risk that Iran and its proxies pose to the UK, yet here was a vigil for an Iranian-backed proscribed terrorist group leader on our streets. When someone tried to point out to police officers that Hizballah is a terrorist organisation, he was gaslit, told that this was merely his ‘opinion’.

It is hard to watch the lack of training of Met officers on display here without despairing. For Britain’s Jews, acutely aware of Hizballah’s antisemitic genocidal intentions and record, it is terrifying. How are our officers supposed to protect us when they don’t even understand the law? We will be writing to the Metropolitan Police Service.

The Met are not the only ones.

Last week, we also called out the BBC for failing to describe Hamas and Hizballah as terrorists on BBC Newsround, a news programme for younger viewers. When the BBC fails to call these groups what they are, they are not being ‘impartial’: they are being inaccurate.

If you believe that our broadcasters should call terrorists what they are, please sign the petition.

The fight goes on

With antisemitism still at record-levels amid growing radicalisation and sectarianism in British society, we are continuing to ensure that these issues remain in the news and on the public agenda.

This week, we published the 100th episode of our podcast, Podcast Against Antisemitism, the world’s only podcast dedicated to discussion of antisemitism. For this anniversary episode, we interviewed our Chief Executive, for his take on the last year and our plans going forward.

We also continue to lead the debate on this issue within the Jewish community. Last week, for example, our Chief Executive, Gideon Falter, joined the President of the Board of Deputies, Phil Rosenberg, for a conversation moderated by journalist Nicole Lampert on the state of antisemitism today.

We wish our Jewish supporters a joyous Sukkot and a meaningful Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

This Shemini Atzeret, our thoughts are also with those who were murdered on 7th October 2023, which fell on this festival last year. May their memory be a blessing.