National Jewish Student Survey, 2011

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Clive D. Field

‘Jewish students are comfortable being openly Jewish at British universities, despite having concerns about attitudes to Israel on campus. Their commitment to Israel and the Jewish people is robust, but their appreciation of their personal social responsibility lacks muscle.’

These are some of the headlines from the first National Jewish Student Survey (NJSS), overseen by JPR, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, and published on 4 October 2011. Written by David Graham and Jonathan Boyd, Home and Away: Jewish Journeys towards Independence – Key Findings from the 2011 National Jewish Student Survey can be downloaded from:

http://www.jpr.org.uk/downloads/NJSS_report%20final.pdf

The research was commissioned by the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) in partnership with the Pears Foundation. It was funded by the Pears Foundation, with additional support from UJIA, Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe and the Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation.

Quantitative fieldwork (there was also a qualitative phase, of focus groups) was carried out online by Ipsos MORI between 15 February and 15 March 2011. There were 925 valid responses from Jewish students, covering 95 different institutions, which IPR estimates to equate to from 11% to 14% of the total UK Jewish student population. In addition, there were 761 valid responses to a parallel general student survey, run for benchmarking purposes.

Since Jewish students comprise just 0.5% of all full-time higher education students in the UK, they are not easy to reach through normal random or quota sampling methods. Instead, IPR contacted them via the UJS database, a network of 17 Jewish student nodes, and a modest advertising campaign. Three-fifths of responses eventually derived through UJS as a contact source.

IPR is sensitive to the potential weaknesses of this methodology, which are explored in a section of the report (pp. 65-7) on ‘how representative is the NJSS sample?’ The main conclusions are that, while the sample was reasonably balanced in terms of Jewish denominational backgrounds, it was skewed towards students who were more Jewishly engaged.

With this caveat, we may note some of the key statistics from the study:

  • Half of Jewish students attended just eight out of 113 higher education institutions (Universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, Kings College London, and University College London), against 9% of the national student body 
  • When choosing a university, 45% did so primarily for the course, 23% for the institution’s reputation, 11% for its league table performance, and 10% for its Jewish population size 
  • The most popular courses followed by Jewish students were medicine, politics, and business and finance, and they were three times less likely to be studying education than students in general 
  • Israel and Jewish Studies formed a component of their courses in relatively few instances (18% and 12% respectively), and this was mostly only a small part of the course 
  • 52% of Jewish students described themselves as religious and 41% as secular, with 53% connected to their home synagogue and 34% to the university Jewish chaplaincy 
  • When students were on campus, their levels of Jewish practice diminished compared to when they were at home, but socializing in Jewish circles substantially increased
  • 59% of Jewish students were always open about being Jewish on campus and 35% sometimes open, the remainder concealing their Jewish identity 
  • 31% reported that all or nearly all their closest friends were Jewish, and 29% that more than half were – this was particularly true of students assessing themselves as religious
  • 21% were concerned about anti-Semitism at their university and 42% reported having experienced or witnessed an anti-Semitic incident since the beginning of the academic year
  • 92% had visited Israel and 89% entertained positive feelings towards Israel (with 11% negative or ambivalent), in contrast to the general student population where 63% had no feelings either way about Israel 
  • 38% were concerned about anti-Israel sentiment on campus, the same number as felt that Israel was treated unfairly in their students’ union 
  • 85% agreed that being Jewish is about ‘strong moral and ethical behaviour’, but fewer (two-thirds) that it is about donating funds to charity, volunteering for a charity, or supporting social justice causes 
  • 72% agreed that it is important for a Jew to marry another Jew, although 50% of those who had been in a relationship had dated a non-Jewish partner 
  • 76% were worried about passing their exams, 68% about finding a job, 41% about living up to the expectations of their parents, and 39% about paying off financial debts 
  • Jewish students were more likely than students in general to have relationship issues, feelings of loneliness, and personal health concerns

For BRIN’s coverage of the launch of the NJSS last February, see:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=900

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Antisemitism Worldwide, 2010

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Clive D. Field

23% of all serious acts of violence and vandalism perpetrated against Jews and Jewish property globally in 2010 took place in the UK, according to Antisemitism Worldwide, 2010: General Analysis.

This is a newly published report from Tel Aviv University’s Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism and the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry. Edited by Roni Stauber, it is available to download at:

http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2010/general-analysis-10.pdf

Of the worldwide total of 614 serious incidents in 2010, 144 were recorded in the UK, the highest number for any single country. France came next, with 134, and then Canada, on 99, followed a long way behind by Germany (38), the United States (28) and Australia (27).

The UK total was 61% down on that for 2009 (374 incidents), when anti-Semitism peaked in response to Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. This was larger than the 46% global decrease. UK anti-Semitism in 2010 was at a similar level to 2006 and 2007, according to the Tel Aviv data, but well above the double figures of previous years. 

Stauber attributes the UK’s preeminence in this global league table of anti-Semitism to the ‘very unique’ fact that Britain exhibits a strong presence of both far-right political groups and Muslim pro-Palestinian communities, each of which is viewed as being anti-Jewish.

It should be noted that the Tel Aviv researchers employ a far tighter definition of anti-Semitic incidents than does the Community Security Trust (CST), which has been monitoring anti-Semitism in the UK since 1984.

The CST recorded 639 incidents in the UK in 2010 in its most recent report, which BRIN has covered at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=855

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Group-Focused Enmity in Europe

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Fresh light on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Britain is shed in a report published by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Berlin on 11 March 2011. Entitled Intolerance, Prejudice and Discrimination: A European Report, it is written by Andreas Zick, Beate Kupper and Andreas Hovermann. It is available to download from:

http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/do/07908-20110311.pdf

The publication is based upon the Group-Focused Enmity in Europe project which is located at the Bielefeld Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, and which has been supported by funding from a consortium of six foundations.

Fieldwork for the underlying survey was conducted in eight European countries during autumn 2008: France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Portugal. A sample of 1,000 adults aged 16 and over was interviewed by telephone by TNS in each nation.

Attitudes to various groups were measured, but this particular report concentrates on a sub-set of six types of prejudice: anti-immigrant views, anti-Semitism, homophobia, Islamophobia (or anti-Muslim attitudes, as they are termed here), racism and sexism.

There continues to be evidence of anti-Semitism in Britain, with 14% of adults agreeing that Jews had too much influence, 22% that they tried to take advantage of being victims during the Nazi era, and 23% that they did not care about anything or anybody except their own kind.

However, these figures were actually the lowest for all the eight countries, with the exception of The Netherlands. Britain and The Netherlands came joint first on a fourth measure, agreeing that Jews enriched the national culture (72%). Hungary and Poland were generally most negative about the Jews.

Levels of hostility rose somewhat when the question of Israel-Palestine was put to a half-sample. 36% of Britons said that, given Israeli policy, they could understand why people did not like Jews. Still more, 42%, concurred that Israel was conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians, which was a bigger proportion than in Hungary, Italy and The Netherlands.

Negativity towards Muslims was greater still. 45% of Britons considered that there were too many Muslims in the country, 50% claimed that they were too demanding, and 47% regarded Islam as a religion of intolerance.

These three items were combined into a scale of anti-Muslim attitudes. While Hungary and Poland were about as Islamophobic as they were anti-Semitic, the mean scores for the remaining nations were much higher than for anti-Semitism, Britain included. Portugal was least Islamophobic.

Other questions did not form part of this scale but, administered to a half-sample, reinforced the evidence of enmity. Only 39% in Britain felt that the Muslim culture fitted well into the country and Europe, and 82% viewed Muslim attitudes towards women as contradicting British values. 38% believed that many Muslims perceived terrorists as heroes, and 26% that the majority of Muslims found terrorism justifiable.

Anti-Muslim sentiments were shown to have an especially strong relationship with anti-immigrant views, and this was particularly true of Britain. The correlation between anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic opinions was less marked but still observable. Anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic attitudes had a relationship of medium strength.

Correlations with self-assessed religiosity were explored in a separate report on the same survey: Beate Kupper and Andreas Zick, Religion and Prejudice in Europe: New Empirical Findings (Alliance Publishing Trust, 2010), which can be found at:

http://www.alliancemagazine.org/books/religionandprejudice.pdf

Whereas, for Europe as a whole, the researchers discovered that ‘the more religious individuals are, the more prejudiced they are’, the pattern in Britain was more complex.

For Britons greater religiosity was most associated with sexism and homophobia, and – to a lesser extent – with racism and anti-immigrant views. In the cases of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, the very religious were the least prejudiced of the four religiosity groups but the quite religious were the most prejudiced.

Overall, 5% of Britons described themselves as very religious, 29% as quite religious, 27% as not very religious, and 38% as not at all religious. A YouGov poll of 5,000 plus respondents for The Sun last month revealed that 27% saw themselves as religious and 71% not.

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Israel-Palestine Conflict

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Clive D. Field

Public perceptions of the religious dimensions of the Israel-Palestine conflict are illuminated in a six-nation ICM poll released on 13 March and undertaken on behalf of the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies (established in 2006), the Middle East Monitor (MEMO, founded in 2009) and the European Muslim Research Centre (EMRC), launched in 2010 at the University of Exeter.

Fieldwork was conducted online on 19-25 January 2011 among a representative sample of 7,045 adults aged 18 and over in Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain. There were 2,031 British respondents.

The survey posed ten questions relating to the Israel-Palestine situation, several of them sub-divided, and only those touching overtly on religion are highlighted here. Broader findings can be found in the three major published research outputs from the poll:

the 41 pages of national data tables at:

http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/pdfs/2011_march_memo_israelpalestine_poll.pdf

the 44-page ICM report and analysis at:

http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/downloads/other_reports/public-perceptions-of-the-palestine-israel-conflict-FINAL-REPORT-icm.pdf

the 50-page MEMO report and analysis at:

http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/downloads/reports/european-public-perceptions-of-the-israel-palestine-conflict-memo.pdf

Additionally, through the kindness of ICM, BRIN has been given access to the unpublished data tables for Great Britain, giving breaks by gender, age, working status, housing tenure, education level, ethnicity and region.

Asked which three or four things came into mind on hearing the words ‘Israeli-Palestinian conflict’, 47% of the weighted sample of Europeans cited religious conflict, ranging from 34% in The Netherlands to 51% in France. The British figure was 46%.

Answering the same question, 24% of Europeans mentioned Islamic organizations, with a low of 20% in Britain (but 27% among the over-55s) and a high of 30% in The Netherlands. 17% of Europeans referred to Muslims/Arabs, including 15% of Britons (rising to 21% in the North-West, Yorkshire and the Humber and the East Midlands).

65% of Europeans agreed that Israel is a country where there is oppression and domination by one religious group over another. The proportion was highest in Spain (72%) and stood at 57% in Britain, but reached 63% among men and ethnic minorities and 66% for those with a university degree or equivalent. Only 9% of Britons and 13% of Europeans said that all religious groups were treated the same in Israel, the remainder giving other replies.

17% of Europeans and 23% of Britons (the largest proportion of all six countries, and increasing to 30% for the over-55s) agreed that European citizens who are Jewish should be allowed to serve in the Israeli army. 34% and 20% respectively disagreed, with 22% and 29% uncertain.

12% of Europeans and 6% of Britons agreed that being critical of Israel makes a person anti-Semitic. 50% and 52% respectively disagreed, with 17% and 25% undecided. Agreement was highest in Germany (19%). In Britain disagreement reached 59% with men, the over-55s and Londoners and 61% among the university-educated.

36% of Europeans and 28% of Britons agreed that the Israel-Palestine conflict fuels anti-Semitism in Europe. 21% and 20% respectively disagreed, with 18% and 28% don’t knows. Agreement was highest in France (46%). In Britain peak agreement was registered by those owning their homes outright and graduates (32% each), the over-55s (33%), residents of the North-West (34%) and the Welsh (35%).

39% of Europeans and 32% of Britons agreed that the Israel-Palestine conflict fuels Islamophobia in Europe. 20% and 19% respectively disagreed, with 16% and 26% uncertain. Agreement was highest in Italy (45%). In Britain agreement peaked among the 18-24s, graduates and Londoners (36% each), ethnic minorities (38%), residents of the South-West (39%) and students (41%).

48% of Europeans and 40% of Britons agreed that Israel exploits the history of the sufferings of the Jewish people to generate public support. Just 13% and 11% respectively disagreed, with 17% and 27% don’t knows. Agreement was especially high in Germany (53%) and Spain (54%). In Britain 51% of the over-55s and 48% of men were critical of Israel for being exploitative in this regard.

Three brief comments on the overall British data (including questions not considered here) may be ventured.

First, a relatively high proportion of Britons (one-quarter or more) express no clear views on the Israel-Palestine conflict. To a limited extent, this may indicate a position of benign neutrality, but more typically it is likely to reflect a lack of familiarity with the issues. The politics of the Middle East are not necessarily followed closely by everybody.

Second, there is significant criticism of Israel, both for the way it functions as a state and for the actions it has taken on the Palestinian question. This contrasts markedly with the 1950s and 1960s when Israel was widely accorded ‘underdog’ status in Britain. Now it is often seen as oppressor. The trend data can be studied in Clive Field, ‘John Bull’s Judeophobia: Images of the Jews in British Public Opinion Polls since the late 1930s’, Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung, Vol. 15, 2006, pp. 259-300.

Third, much of this antipathy to Israel is probably rooted, not simply in increasing sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians, but in concerns that Israel’s role in the Middle East is exacerbating religious tensions in Britain and Europe. This is true both of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, given that preoccupation with Israel-Palestine has been a major factor in giving British Muslims a public profile and voice. International relations are, therefore, frequently being viewed through a British domestic lens.

The overall tenor of the findings, and of the textual reports which analyse and interpret them, seems likely to create some controversy. Doubtless, there will be negative reactions from Israeli and some Jewish quarters in due course. Whether this survey sparks quite so much outrage as the 2003 European Commission poll, which identified Israel as the greatest threat to world peace, is more doubtful.

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Anti-Semitic Incidents in 2010

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Clive D. Field

There were 31% fewer anti-Semitic incidents in the UK in 2010 than in 2009, according to the latest annual report from the Community Security Trust (CST). It runs to 36 pages and is available at:

http://www.thecst.org.uk/docs/Incidents%20Report%202010.pdf

The CST is a registered charity which provides physical security, training and advice for the protection of British Jews; represents Jewry to Government and police in respect of matters affecting security and anti-Semitism; and assists victims of anti-Semitism.

The decline in anti-Semitic incidents might have been anticipated. 2009 had been an exceptional year, largely on account of hostility to Israel’s substantial military operations in Gaza at the start of 2009, described by CST as a significant ‘trigger event’. 

Nevertheless, the 639 incidents recorded in 2010 was still the second-highest number since CST began collecting data in 1984 and a rise of 17% on the 2008 total.

This reflects a generally upward trend, which CST attributes in part to better reporting of incidents, although it considers that many instances of verbal abuse are not yet notified.

The 639 incidents were categorized as: abusive behaviour (60%), assaults (18%), damage and desecration of property (13%), threats (5%), and anti-Semitic literature (4%). No examples of extreme violence were recorded in 2010, of which there are a handful in most years.

Incidents were not evenly distributed throughout 2010. The largest monthly figure (82) was in September, believed to be linked to the presence of visibly Jewish people in public during the High Holy Day period.

81 incidents were logged in June, many of them related to negative reactions to the Israeli boarding on 31 May of a flotilla of ships trying to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, as a result of which nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed.  

Not unexpectedly, the largest number of incidents was reported from areas of Jewish concentration, with 34% each in Greater London and Greater Manchester, although the Jewish population of the latter is just one-seventh of the former (21,700 against 149,800).

6% of incidents occurred in Hertfordshire (where 16,900 Jews live) and 26% elsewhere in the UK (with 78,300 Jewish residents).   

The victims of these incidents came from the whole spectrum of the Jewish community. The most frequent were: random Jewish individuals in public (48%), synagogues and their congregants (17%), Jewish organizations (12%), and private homes and schools/schoolchildren/teachers (9% each).

In cases where the demographics of victims could be identified, 65% were male, 27% female and 8% mixed groups. 66% of victims were adults, 25% minors and 9% a combination of both.

Physical descriptions of the incident perpetrator were received in some cases, of whom 47% were white, 6% East European, 7% black, 29% Asian, and 10% of Arab appearance. 83% of perpetrators were men, 12% women, and 5% of both sexes. 68% were adults and 31% minors.

In one-quarter of incidents the perpetrators employed discourse based upon the Nazi period, including swastikas and references to the Holocaust. Discourse related to Israel or the Middle East was used in 12% of incidents and Islamist discourse in 4%. Evidence of political motivation was found in 37% of instances and of premeditation in 65%.

In addition to the 639 anti-Semitic incidents, CST investigated 372 other cases which it eventually concluded were not anti-Semitic in terms of motivation, targeting or content. Two-fifths of these concerned potential information collection and suspicious behaviour at Jewish locations.

CST includes in its tally of incidents some which are not crimes. The CST statistics will therefore exceed the number of anti-Semitic hate crimes tabulated by the police, on which we have previously reported at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/?p=746

A further measure of anti-Semitism is found in sample survey data. The BRIN source database contains descriptions of 72 such surveys undertaken between 1938 and 2010. Go to:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/sources/

and key ‘anti-Semitism’ in the search box.

One of the most recent and extensive (as regards the number of questions) surveys was conducted in December 2008-January 2009 on behalf of the US-based Anti-Defamation League, with fieldwork in Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Spain, as well as Great Britain. The report on this study is at:

http://www.adl.org/Public%20ADL%20Anti-Semitism%20Presentation%20February%202009%20_3_.pdf

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Jewish Attitudes toward Israel

Posted on July 17, 2010 by Clive D. Field

‘Jews in Britain strongly identify with and support Israel. They are ready to see Israel swap territory for peace and to talk with Hamas if it will advance the cause of peace. At the same time, they are concerned about Israel’s security, support the separation barrier/security fence and view the 2008/09 operation in Gaza as “a legitimate act of self-defence.”’

These are the central findings of what is described as the most definitive (albeit not the first) study ever conducted of the attitudes of Jews in Britain towards Israel. Entitled Committed, Concerned and Conciliatory: The Attitudes of Jews in Britain towards Israel, and written by David Graham and Jonathan Boyd, it was published on 15 July by the community’s leading research body, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR).

The report is available to download from:

http://www.jpr.org.uk/downloads/JPR%20Israel%20survey%20report%2015.pdf

The investigation, which was funded by the Pears Foundation, derives from the responses given by a self-selecting sample of 4,081 self-identifying Jews aged 18 and over living in Great Britain.

They completed an online questionnaire administered by Ipsos MORI between 7 January and 14 February 2010. Data analysis and report-writing was the responsibility of JPR.

Relative to the 2001 census and other (Jewish) sources, the sample is broadly representative of the Jewish community in many respects. However, it is somewhat skewed in terms of educational achievement, synagogue membership and secular/religious outlook, and the data have been weighted in these regards.

‘The survey shows that the vast majority of respondents exhibit strong personal support for, and affinity with, Israel: 95% have visited the country, 90% see it as the “ancestral homeland” of the Jewish people, and 86% feel that Jews have a special responsibility for its survival.’

Additionally, 82% state that Israel plays a central or important role in their Jewish identities, 72% categorize themselves as Zionists, 76% consider Israel to be relevant to their day-to-day lives in Britain, and 87% view British Jews as part of a global Jewish diaspora.

‘On the other hand, these strong levels of personal attachment to Israel do not prevent respondents from expressing criticism about Israel’s civil society: 74% think that Orthodox Judaism has too much influence in Israel; 67% say there is too much corruption in Israel’s political system; and 56% feel that non-Jewish minority groups suffer from discrimination in the country.’  

‘It further paints a portrait of a community that is highly-engaged with Israel, and that expresses predominantly dovish views on the key political issues: 78% favour a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians; 74% oppose the expansion of existing settlements in the West Bank; and 67% favour exchanging land for peace. A majority (52% against 39%) favours negotiating with Hamas to achieve peace.’

Notwithstanding, ‘respondents are clearly sympathetic to Israel’s need to defend itself. Nearly three-quarters agree that “The security fence is vital for Israel’s security” and a similar number agree that Operation Cast Lead (the Israeli military action in Gaza in winter 2008/09) was “a legitimate act of self-defence.” Nearly nine out of ten respondents believe that Iran represents a threat to Israel’s very existence.’

‘Perhaps most significantly for a community that has long debated the acceptability of Jewish criticism of Israel in public, a slight majority (53% to 45%) believes that Jews living in Britain have the right to judge Israel, and nearly three-quarters believe that Jews should be free to speak their mind about Israel in the British media in at least some, if not all circumstances.’

In general, the more religious respondents claim to be, the more hawkish their stance on political and security issues. Those with higher levels of educational attainment tend to exhibit more dovish viewpoints compared with Jews with lesser education.

Commenting on the findings, JPR Executive Director, Jonathan Boyd, said: ‘Fundamentally, we found that most Jews feel a strong sense of connection to Israel … Jews in Britain are pro-Israel and pro-peace. Their hawkishness on some issues is typically motivated by a clear concern for Israel’s security, while their dovishness on others reflects a deep-set desire to see the country at peace, both with itself and with its neighbours.’

The report does not discuss in any detail how the attitudes of British Jews towards Israel may have changed over time. Readers interested in possible trends should consult JPR’s previous report from 1997 (based on data gathered in 1995): Barry Kosmin, Antony Lerman and Jacqueline Goldberg, The Attachment of British Jews to Israel.

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The New Anti-Semitism

Posted on May 29, 2010 by Clive D. Field

In his massive new book, Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England (Oxford University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-19-929705-4, £25.00), Anthony Julius devotes two long and controversial chapters to the ‘new anti-Semitism’, which emerged (according to him) in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in consequence of the Six Day War, and has become hegemonic in the 1990s and 2000s.

He sees this as the fourth in a line of English anti-Semitisms which he traces back to the early Middle Ages. The new anti-Semitism is characterized by an anti-Zionism which has secular and confessional (Muslim, Jewish and Christian) manifestations and is directed against the very existence, as well as the actions, of the state of Israel. For Julius, it would appear, to be anti-Israel is to be anti-Jew.

Julius himself makes little use of quantitative data in his book. However, against this background, it is interesting to note the latest in a series of international polls conducted, across 28 countries between November 2009 and February 2010, for the BBC World Service by the polling firm GlobeScan, together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. In the UK a nationally representative sample of 1,020 adults aged 18 and over was interviewed by telephone between 8 December 2009 and 15 January 2010. The GlobeScan/PIPA report will be found at:

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pipa/pdf/apr10/BBCViews_Apr10_rpt.pdf

Respondents were asked whether they thought a selection of countries had a mainly positive or mainly negative influence in the world. Attitudes to Israel were found to be widely negative, with 24 countries giving an unfavourable evaluation and just two a positive one (the remaining two being divided). The range in those indicating they had a mainly negative view of Israel was from 29% in India to 92% in Egypt.

The UK occupied a middle position, with 50% of its citizens having a mainly negative perception of Israel. This was identical to the average for all 28 nations, but significantly more than in the United States and Commonwealth countries, and rather less than among some of our nearest European neighbours (with 57% in France, 60% in Spain and 68% in Germany) and the five majority-Muslim populations surveyed.

Just 17% of adults in the UK had mainly positive views of Israel, the third lowest figure in UK citizens’ assessment of 17 different countries. Only Iran (10% mainly positive, 59% mainly negative, -49% net) and North Korea (13% mainly positive, 53% mainly negative, -40% net) fared worse, although Pakistan (-25%) was also poorly regarded.

The net -33% rating for Israel in the UK compared, at the other end of the scale, with +55% in the case of Germany and +47% for Japan, both former Second World War enemies. Other high figures were +54% for Canada, +43% for the UK itself (well, at least we have some self-esteem left), +37% for India and +32% for the European Union.

For a longer-term perspective on this issue, reference may be made to the essay by Clive Field on ‘John Bull’s Judeophobia: Images of the Jews in British Public Opinion Polls since the late 1930s’, Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung, Vol. 15, 2006, pp. 259-300, and especially to the table on page 281 which shows British sympathies in the Middle East conflict between 1955 and 2006.   

Field’s summation of the opinion poll findings on attitudes to Israel was as follows:

  • Post-independence Israel has attracted its highest levels of sympathy from the British public when it has appeared in danger and in an ‘underdog’ position, especially in 1956 (Suez Crisis), 1967 (Six Day War), 1973 (Yom Kippur War) and 1990-91 (Gulf War)
  • Public support for Israel’s position in the Middle East conflict has steadily collapsed after 1967, from an average 52 per cent at that time to 18 per cent in 2002-06
  • Increasingly it has been felt that Israel should withdraw to its original frontiers, abandon the lands taken by military action since 1967, and dismantle the Jewish settlements on the West Bank
  • While strong opposition to PLO terrorism against Israel has been manifest, the British public has increasingly protested against Israel’s perceived disproportionate use of military might against its opponents, especially in Lebanon after 1982 and in the occupied territories; the Palestinians have also been steadily winning the moral and political arguments
  • Of very recent years Israel has started to be seen in Britain as a significant threat to world peace, and its actions against the Palestinians as adversely affecting Muslim attitudes towards the West
  • Even discounting the impact of the Middle East conflict, Israel’s standing on social, political and general measures has become exceedingly low in relation to many other countries
  • Anti-Israeli sentiment has probably marginally raised the general level of anti-Semitism, although most Britons are at pains to decouple the two phenomena and to stress that enmity towards Israel does not equate with hostility towards Jews

This last point, encapsulating a clear distinction between anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiments, is one which Julius appears to struggle to comprehend, still less to accept.

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Jewish Emigration from the United Kingdom to Israel

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Clive D. Field

The Jewish Agency for Israel has announced that the number of United Kingdom Jews emigrating to Israel, or making Aliyah, in 2009 was, at 853, the highest recorded figure in 26 years and 37 per cent above the 2008 level. About one-quarter of these olim arrived in Israel on three special Aliyah flights, in August, October and December 2009. The head of the Agency’s delegation in the United Kingdom has attributed the increase to the relatively good economic situation in Israel and to a new tax package reform.

The 2009 figure brings to 37,293 the number of United Kingdom Jews who have emigrated to Israel since the latter’s establishment as a state in 1948. Only in 1969-72, 1978-79 and 1982-83 did the annual total exceed 1,000. The United Kingdom accounts for just 1.2 per cent of all Jewish emigrants to Israel since 1948, the former Soviet Union countries (at 38.4 per cent) being the largest single component. The number of British Jews at the 2001 census was 267,373 or 0.5 per cent of the population.

Full details of Aliyah statistics since 1948 will be found at:

http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/About/Press+Room/Aliyah+Statistics

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Institute for Jewish Policy Research

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Clive D. Field

The Institute for Jewish Policy Research, originally founded in New York in 1941 but located in London since 1965, has appointed Jonathan Boyd as its executive director. Mr Boyd joined the Institute a year ago as a research fellow and has recently been its acting director.

Mr Boyd will oversee the launch this week of the first national online survey of the attitudes of British Jews towards Israel, which is being conducted for the Institute by Ipsos-MORI. The survey can be found at http://www.ipsos-mori.com/israelsurvey

Future projects from the Institute will include a community-wide survey of Jewish identity in the UK and an analysis of the Jewish results of the 2011 national census, which will include a question on religious profession, as in 2001.

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