World Jewish News

One in three British Jews has considered leaving Britain in the past two years due to growing anti-Semitism in the country

One in three British Jews has considered leaving Britain in the past two years due to growing anti-Semitism in the country with concern mounting over failures to tackle anti-Semitic crime and anti-Semitism in politics, according to results of an online questionnaire conducted as part of a report by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism which has worked with YouGov and partners in the Jewish community to survey both the British population as a whole and the British Jewish community.

‘’Whilst for the past three years anti-Semitic crime has broken records every year, and antisemitism scandals have repeatedly rocked our politics, British society has mounted an astounding insurgency against ant-Semitism. Even as anti-Jewish racism made the headlines, British people appear to have taken the opportunity to shun the ancient anti-Jewish prejudices that some had acquired,’’ the report notes.

‘’We now have data that show that in a very British way, fairly and quietly, Britons have been rejecting antisemitic prejudice. British society has shunned a growing worldwide addiction to antisemitism and proved that so-called British values are no mere buzzphrase, but are embedded in our national being,’’ says Gideon Falter, chairman of Campaign Against Anti-Semitism.

The report continues: ‘’Despite that inspiring progress, British Jews are growing more fearful because our authorities fail to enforce the law and our politics is punctuated by the repeated exposure of anti-Semites. Our research shows that one in three British Jews has become so fearful of mounting anti-Semitic crime and the failure to excise anti-Semites from politics that they have considered leaving Britain altogether.’’

‘’Just as British people increasingly reject anti-Semitism, British Jews are feeling unprotected and hounded out due to the failure of our institutions to protect the many from the few racists among us,’’ the report says.

2016 saw the most anti-Semitic crime ever recorded in Britain, with a 45% rise in anti-Semitic crime since 2014, but a reduction in the number of anti-Semites charged by police and only 15 cases prosecuted.

The Jewish community of the United Kingdom recorded 767 antisemitic attacks in the first half of 2017 — the highest figure recorded within six months since monitoring began in 1984, according to the Community Security Trust (CST) watchdog.

Only 39 percent of respondents of a poll said they trust justice authorities to prosecute perpetrators of anti-Semitic hate crimes.

The vast majority (83%) of British Jews believe the Labour Party is too tolerant of anti-Semitism among its MPs, members and supporters, a poll suggests.

Three-quarters of the people interviewed said they feel that recent political events have resulted in increased hostility towards Jews.

EJP