Almost half of British Jews (45%) do not feel welcome in the UK, and 51% do not see a long-term future in the country, according to a poll by Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA).
The organization also found out that 61% have considered leaving Britain in the past two years, most citing the surge in antisemitism since October 7, 2023, as the reason.
Some 59% of British Jews responded that they try not to show visible signs of their Jewishness due to concerns relating to antisemitism.
Furthermore, 98% say they believe that, since October 2023, the level of antisemitism has increased compared to before, and 96% of British Jews feel that Jewish people in the UK are less safe compared to before October 2023.
“A majority of British Jews do not see a future in the UK and have considered leaving,” said a spokesperson for the CAA. “The polling starkly tells how Jews blame two successive governments, as well as inert police chiefs and prosecutors, for the explosion of antisemitic extremism which has left two Jews dead and much of the rest of the community reluctantly eyeing the exits. History tells us that when Jews pack their bags, a society is on the brink.”
Law enforcement not doing enough to combat antisemitism
CAA’s research also unveiled a striking lack of confidence in law enforcement regarding the ability to protect Jews.
Fewer than one in 10 (8%) of British Jews believe that the authorities are doing enough to address and punish antisemitism, only 10% are confident that if a British Jew reported an antisemitic hate crime, it would be prosecuted, and 7% of British Jews think that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does enough to protect British Jews.
While many say anti-Zionism does not equal antisemitism, an overwhelming 89% of British Jews said they consider anti-Zionism to be a form of antisemitism. Only 8% do not.
“This puts the lie to persistent, baseless arguments that Zionism and Judaism are unconnected, and that Jewish people should not feel impacted by extremist rhetoric on Zionism,” said CAA.
Antisemitic crimes have also surged on British transport, Chief Superintendent Chris Casey of the British Transport Police told the Police & Crime Committee of the London Assembly last week.
“Towards the end of 2023, we saw that big increase in terms of antisemitic hate crime, and that is in the context of the fact that the Jewish community is actually a very small percentage of the population actually and then there’s an even smaller percentage of those who are Jewish that decide to travel anyway on the network. So you know that is a massive increase, and we did see exactly that increase, the [Metropolitan police] did as well.
The Met recently said they saw antisemitic hate crimes rise by 278.9% from July 2023 to 2024.
“In terms of hate crime, I would say international events play a really big part,” Casey added. “In terms of the awful attack in 2023, the Israel-Gaza conflict, things like that increase hate crimes.”
Mandy McGregor – head of Policing and Community Safety, Transport for London – said there’s been a reduction in hate crime on public transport of 8% this year. The peak was at the start of the Israel-Hamas War, but the number now is still higher than levels before October 7, she added.