Poll: Nearly Half of Brits Harbor Anti-Semitic Views

Nearly half of people in the U.K. hold some anti-Semitic views, according to a recent poll.

Researchers from YouGov, a well-respected global polling company, and King’s College London (KCL) found that 45% of British adults agreed with at least one of six anti-Semitic tropes. These included racial stereotypes that Jews control the media, “chase money,” or “talk about the Holocaust just to further their political agenda.”

The survey was conducted using the Generalised Antisemitism Scale, devised by Dr. Daniel Allington of King’s College, Louise Katz of the University of Derby, and Dr David Hirsh of Goldsmiths.

It showed that 55 percent of those surveyed did not agree with even one of the 12 statements discussed, which also included attitudes towards the State of Israel. More than half of those who agreed with any of the statements only agreed with one or two anti-Semitic statements, while 12 percent agreed with four or more.

A parallel survey, also designed and analysed by Dr Allington discovered that 44 percent of British Jews avoid publicly showing visible signs of their religion.

This included items such as a Magen David necklace or a kippah because of anti-Semitism, a poll, which was conducted by the Campaign Against Antisemitism and KCL, found.

Only 20% of British Jews say authorities are doing enough to address and punish anti-Semitism.

And 78% believe that politicians do not do enough to protect the U.K.’s Jewish community. Similarly, other data show that British Jews feel that almost every political party is more tolerant of anti-Semitism than it was last year.

Encouragingly though, the research showed that the proportion of British adults harboring anti-Semitic opinions has been steadily dropping for years.