One in five Britons holds antisemitic views, a YouGov poll commissioned by Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) revealed on Sunday.
The findings show that antisemitism has risen to the highest levels on record in the United Kingdom since the surveys began.
A total of 21% of the British public affirmed four or more antisemitic statements, compared to 16% in 2024. Examples of such statements are: “Compared to other groups, Jewish people have too much power in the media” and “Jewish people chase money more than other people do.”
In 2021, only 11% of Britons espoused such views, meaning that in less than five years, the number of people holding antisemitic views has doubled.
Additionally, almost half the British public believes that Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews – a 12% increase from last year. The numbers were higher among young people, with 60% agreement.
As CAA noted, this has become one of the most common antisemitic tropes. “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,” CAA added.
Taking a closer look at the views of young people, CAA found that around half of 18-24-year-olds are uncomfortable spending time with people who openly support Israel, and 20% (one fifth) of them say that Israel does not have a right to exist.
One in 10 British young people has a favorable view of Hamas, and 19% of young people believe that the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, was justified.
Given that the majority of British Jews identify as Zionists, these attitudes among young Britons have enormous implications for young Jews on campus, on social media, and starting out in the workplace, CAA continued.
In terms of political split, the lowest prevalence of antisemitic views was found among voters for the right-wing populist party, Reform UK. Only 7% of Reform voters said they would not be comfortable being around people who openly supported Israel – the lowest for all parties.
In contrast, a third of Labour voters said they would be uncomfortable spending time with people who supported Israel, along with 54% of Green voters.
Green Party voters
Among Green Party voters – who have just elected an anti-Zionist Jewish leader – 15% believe that the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, was justified, higher than any other major party’s voters.
Nevertheless, 54% of the British public said that they do not know what Zionism means.
“Our country is clearly at a tipping point,” a spokesperson for CAA said. “Our young people are being radicalized into adopting hateful ideologies before our eyes. Britain will lose its soul to extremists unless the silent majority wakes up.”
The spokesperson added, “Politicians, police, and prosecutors, regulators, media organizations, cultural institutions, universities, trade unions – they are all complicit in the creation of a climate of hatred in Britain.
“Jews may feel it most sharply now, but for all of us, this is not the country that we used to know,”