Antisemitism on the far-left has 'overtaken' antisemitism on the far-right according to research

The YouGov polling was designed and analysed by Dr Daniel Allington of King’s College London. 

CAA, which has been commissioning research into antisemitic prejudice each year since 2015, showed a representative sample of British adults seven statements about Jews and asked respondents to state whether they agreed or disagreed with them.

Researchers asked 2,040 people about antisemitism using a range of examples incorporated in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism.

Questions not only included stereotypes regarding Jewish influence, money, loyalty, trustworthiness and power, but also about ideas regarding the supposedly outsized and malign influence of Israel and its supporters, and drawing comparisons of Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

Results showed that  20 per cent of British people hold the view that "Jews chase after money," and when the same question was asked of a sample that identified as ‘very right- wing’ this rose to 29 per cent.

Researchers found that out of those surveyed who described themselves as ‘very left-wing,’ 42 per cent believe that Israel’s supporters are damaging British democracy, and 60 per cent believe that Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews.

The research, which was conducted before the General Election was called, distinguishes between what it describes as "Judeophobic antisemitism" which it says refers to antisemitism rooted in hatred of Jews expressed in relation to the Jewish religion or ethnicity, and "anti-Zionist antisemitism" to refer to hatred of Jews expressed in relation to the Jewish state.

CAA chief executive Gideon Falter said: “Far from being the champion of anti-racism that it holds itself out to be, the far-left is now home to even more anti-Jewish bigotry than the far-right.

“Nowhere is that more obvious than in the Labour Party, whose Jeremy Corbyn is now the politician of choice for antisemites. If the battles of old against the far-right tell us anything, it is that if we fail to unite against this toxic hatred, it will spread to threaten other minorities too.”

CAA also surveyed British Jews’ responses to antisemitism seperate to the YouGov polling.

Of the 2,695 surveyed, 42 per cent of British Jews said they have considered leaving the UK, which CAA said was “a record high figure for our polling, almost a quarter of whom have made concrete plans to move”.

Of those who said that they were considering leaving the UK, 85 per cent cited antisemitism in politics and almost two thirds mentioned the Labour Party or Mr Corbyn.

Mr Falter added: “People will find it utterly chilling that in 2019, large swathes of the Jewish community are considering the drastic step of leaving the country they love because they fear racism in our politics”

The Labour Party is currently under formal investigation by The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) over whether the party has unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimised people because they are Jewish.

YouGov sample sizes for the survey of the British population were 1,606 in 2018 and 2,040 in 2019 (including boost samples from the ‘very left-wing’ and ‘very right-wing’ of 197 and 204 respectively).