Poll shows British Jews feel more welcome after Corbyn exit

(JTA) In an annual survey of British Jewish adults, two-thirds said Jews have a future in the United Kingdom – the highest level of confidence since 2015.

And the portion of British Jews who said they felt “unwelcome” in the UK fell from 53% last year to 18% in 2020.

The “Antisemitism Barometer” survey, conducted in November and December by King’s College London for the Campaign Against Antisemitism watchdog group, shows that British Jews are “back from the brink” following far-left politician Jeremy Corbyn’s replacement as head of Labour, a man who many British Jews believe is antisemitic, the campaign said on Sunday, 17 January.

The survey of 1 846 British Jews found that 66% agreed with the statement that Jews have a future in the United Kingdom, with 24% saying they strongly agreed. Just 12% said they disagreed, and only 2% strongly disagreed. About 22% neither agreed nor disagreed.

This is a 13-point increase over last year’s poll, in which 17% disagreed with the statement. In 2018, the year when respondents were most pessimistic, a full quarter of British Jews said they thought the UK held no future for Jews. Just 50% of British Jews said they agreed that Jews had a future in the country.

The survey didn’t detect change across the board. Antisemitism has caused 41% of respondents to consider leaving the country over the past two years, virtually the same result as last year.

The campaign said that the result showed British Jewry was still “scarred” from the Corbyn years, although it could also reflect the fact that changes within Labour have taken place within the timeframe in the question.

Compared to only 22% and 20% of respondents who felt welcome in the UK in the 2018 and 2019 survey, 57% agreed with the statement in 2020. About a third of them strongly agreed about feeling welcome. The share of those feeling unwelcome shrank from 52% and 53% in 2018 and 2019 to only 18% in 2020.

Corbyn, who has called Hamas and Hezbollah his friends, and who in 2013 defended a mural depicting Jewish bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of black men, was replaced in an internal election last year. His successor, Keir Starmer, has apologised for Corbyn’s handling of the proliferation of antisemitic sentiment in Labour’s ranks, and promised to address it.

The Antisemitism Barometer Report included surveys with British non-Jewish adults in an attempt to ascertain antisemitic sentiment. Of 1 853 non-Jews, “Twelve percent have entrenched antisemitic views, affirming four or more antisemitic statements,” the report said. That figure conforms with the findings of the Anti-Defamation League’s antisemitism indexes for 2014, 2015, and 2019.