In a Populus survey of British attitudes to Israel and Middle East issues commissioned by Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), it was found that opposition to boycotts of Israel remains high and that 47% of respondents believe that “hating Israel and questioning its right to exist” is antisemitic.
Populus surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,035 British adults.
The annual survey asks questions about countries in the Middle East with specific questions about trade, counterterrorism and support for a boycott of Israel, and asks respondents to rate their warm towards countries, people and organisations in the Middle East.
The survey found that 47% of respondents believe that “hating Israel and questioning its right to exist” is antisemitic. 20% of people disagreed with this statement.
48% of respondents “do not support boycotts of Israel and find it difficult to understand how others do given everything else that is going on in the world”, a 1% increase since last year. 14% disagree with the statement, a 3% increase since last year.
Notably, young people have significantly reduced their level of support for a boycott of Israel since 2015. 45% of 18-24s said they opposed singling out Israel for boycotts in 2018, in 2015 just 28% opposed a boycott of Israel.
The survey found that this year, warmth towards Israelis and Palestinians were both 23%. Warmth towards Israel is 20% and warmth towards the Palestinian Authority is 11%. Warmth towards Israel and the Palestinians has been largely stable for five years.
Of all the Middle East countries in the survey, the UK public feels most warm towards Turkey at 24% and least warm towards Iran at 9%.
Saudi Arabia is considered by the respondents to be the most important UK trading partner in the Middle East after Brexit, Qatar is second and Israel is third.
49% of people believe Israel is an important British ally in the fight against terror, more than any other Middle Eastern country in the survey.
Click here to read the BICOM report in full.
