Poll: 67% of Jeremy Corbyn supporters hold at least one antisemitic view
Two in five British Jews have considered leaving the UK over antisemitism.
By ILANIT CHERNICKBritain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks at a launch event for the Labour party's general election campaign in London, Britain October 31, 2019. (photo credit: REUTERS/HENRY NICHOLLS)
A YouGov poll commissioned by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has found that 67% of British adults who strongly support UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn “hold at least one antisemitic view,” while 33% hold four or more antisemitic views.“Antisemitism on the far-left now exceeds antisemitism on the far-right,” Gideon Falter, founder of the CAA, said in a foreword to the study. “The leader of the once fiercely anti-racist Labour Party is now the candidate of choice for anti-Jewish racists, and 84% of British Jews feel that he is a threat specifically to Jews,” Falter said. “Two in five British Jews have considered leaving the UK over antisemitism in the past two years alone, 85% of them because of antisemitism in politics, with two-thirds expressly mentioning the Labour Party or its leader as their reason.”Falter said that this is not merely a political crisis.“Jews are fearful of antisemitic crime, with not even one in five saying that the authorities do enough,” he wrote. “Years of failure to prosecute hate crimes against Jews have demolished confidence in the criminal justice system.”According to Falter, “just over a third of Jews have any confidence that the authorities would prosecute the perpetrator of a hate crime against them, even if there was sufficient evidence to do so.”The CAA claimed that this is the first survey to show that antisemitic views are most widespread on the far left.“Among the very left-wing, 42% believe that Israel’s supporters are damaging British democracy, and 60% believe that Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews, which directly evokes one of the examples of antisemitism in the International Definition of Antisemitism adopted by the British Government,” the CAA said on the findings. “Antisemitic views were particularly popular among British adults who see social media as a better source of information than major newspapers and television channels, especially on the far left.”Falter told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that “we produce the annual antisemitism barometers in order to understand trends in anti-Jewish prejudice in the UK in a given year and over time, and the feelings and concerns of Britain’s Jews.”He made it clear that "equipped with this data, we are better able not only to inform the public about the phenomenon of antisemitism today but also to advise policy-makers on how to tackle it."“Ordinary people, regardless of politics, race or religion, [need] to tell the Jewish community that we all stand together against antisemitism, to tell their politicians that they will not stand by as Britain’s Jews become fearful and increasingly contemplate emigration.”
Yifa Segal of the International Legal Forum said that “the rise in antisemitism is real and is very alarming." This phenomenon has unfortunately moved from the far edges of the political spectrum, from words of hatred spoken quietly and in a hidden way, to being a legitimate part of the mainstream conversation.“In 2016 the IHRA working definition of antisemitism was adopted, however, although it received tremendous support, there is still a long way to go. We are working on educating decision makers, law enforcement officers, judges and lawyers about IHRA and teach them to recognize antisemitism at earlier stages and counter it using every legal tool available.”Asked about the results of the CAA’s survey during an interview on SkyNews on Sunday, Corbyn claimed that he poses “no threat to any community whatsoever” in the UK.He reiterated that he has “spent my life fighting racism, fighting against racist attack. I simply say this: there is no place anyway for antisemitism in our society ever.”Corbyn expressed regret that the party had not acted rapidly enough “at the very beginning and dealt with it at that point, and also I want to make it very clear to the Jewish community, to the Muslim community and to any other community, anyone under threat because of persecution, because of attacks on their temples, mosques, synagogues or places of worship, will be very secure under a Labour government.”He said that despite the terrible suffering they endured “through antisemitism in Germany, which led to the horrors of the Holocaust… [the] Jewish people have made an incredible contribution to my party, to our trade unions, to our life and intellectual life in this country. I value that, and I thank them for everything that they do, I want all communities to be safe.”Researchers surveyed a total of 2,040 people.
