In the UK the presence of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel attitudes is two to four times higher among Muslims than in the general population. This is one major conclusions of a recent report titled, “Antisemitism in Contemporary Great Britain, a Study of Attitudes Toward Jews and Israel.” The study was published by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) and the Community Security Trust (CST). Its author is L. Daniel Staetsky. The publishers claim that this is the largest and most detailed survey of attitudes toward Jews and Israel ever conducted in Great Britain. Even though there are many more findings about anti-Israel and anti-Semitic attitudes we can only address part of them here. If one focuses on the UK’s Muslim population’s attitudes toward Israel and the Jews, the answers to the individual questions show that Muslims are always more negative about Israel and/or the Jews than the general population. For instance, in the general population 13% answered in the affirmative that ‘Jews think they are better than other people.’ Among Muslims, that figure is 28%. The study also separates out the answers from religious Muslims which isn’t often done in similar surveys elsewhere. Here the figure is 32%. On the question do ‘Jews get rich at the expense of others,’? 12% of the general population and 27% of the Muslims answer in the affirmative. Among religious Muslims the figure is 33%. As far as ‘Jews have too much power in Britain,’ among the general population 8% think so, among all Muslims 27%, and among religious Muslims, 32%. Concerning whether the ‘Jews exploit Holocaust victimhood for their own purpose’, 10% of the general population thinks this and 25% of the Muslims. Among religious Muslims, this figure is again higher at 29%. On the statement ‘the interests of Jews in Britain are very different from the rest’, 12% of the general population and 22% of the Muslims agree. Among religious Muslims the figure is 28%. As to whether the Holocaust is exaggerated. 3% of the general population, 14% of the Muslims and 18% of religious Muslims affirm this. When the interviewers asked whether the ‘Holocaust was a myth’, 2% of the general population, 8% of Muslims and 10% of religious Muslims thought so. A question was put to Muslims only: ‘Jews have been cursed or rejected because they do not believe in Allah’, 11% of Muslims and 15% of religious Muslims answered in the affirmative,. As far as positive opinions about Jews were concerned, Muslims fell short of the general population. 78% of the general population thought that a ‘British Jew is just as British as any British person.’ 61% of Muslims thought so and 59% of religious Muslims agreed with that. As far as the question of ‘British Jews making a positive contribution to British society,’ 61% of the general population thought so as opposed to only 37% of Muslims. Among British religious Muslims, the figure is even lower, 34%. The conclusion is clear. One can do very little about the opinions of one’s existing citizens, yet one could have screened in various ways those who have come in to the country. One should however not stereotype all Muslims. In actual fact one does not find a single majority answer on the anti-Semitic questions among Muslims or even religious Muslims. The pollsters also asked similar questionsto British Christians as to the general population. They found that the Christians’ negative opinions about Jews rarely exceeded those of the general population in a significant way. Concerning the remark that ‘Jews exploit Holocaust victimhood for their own purpose’ this opinion is less widespread among Christians. As far as the two positive questions are concerned, Christians have a more positive view on ‘A British Jew is just as British as any other British person’ and ‘British Jews make a positive contribution to British society. The study claims that 4.5% of the current population in the UK is Muslim. A great many of these are imported anti-Semites. It was found that generally speaking there is a strong correlation between anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli attitudes. Among Muslims who replied in the affirmative to seven out of nine questions which indicate anti-Semitic attitudes, 87% also held anti-Israel attitudes. The project also concluded that non-religious Muslims are the least likely group among all Muslims to hold anti-Semitic or anti-Israel attitudes. The percentages among them come closer to the levels of the general population although they still remain above average. There is another qualitative source which shows that anti-Semitism among Muslims is higher than among the general population. If one looks at the many anti-Semitic slurs which have come to the light in the British Labour Party, one sees that the percentage of Muslim perpetrators is disproportionately high. The former mayor of Blackburn, Salim Mulla, claimed that Israel was behind ISIS and added that “Zionist Jews are a disgrace to humanity.” A second observation is that some slurs made by Labour Party Muslims are among the most extreme. The former mayor of Blackburn, Salim Mulla, claimed that Israel was behind ISIS and added that “Zionist Jews are a disgrace to humanity.” Labour MP, Naz Shah, suggested that Israel should be relocated to the United States. She later apologized. Before she did so another Muslim Labour MP, Rupa Huq, defended Shah on the BBC. Shah had employed as a parliamentary aid the Bradford Labour Council member Mohammed Shabbir, who was alleged to have claimed that Russian Orthodox Jews were involved in the sex trafficking trade. He also posted on Twitter about the ‘Palestinian Holocaust’ in Gaza. Other Muslim representatives of the Labour Party stated that they hoped Iran would use nuclear weapons to ‘wipe Israel off the map,’ or ‘Israel behaves like the Nazis’ and ‘if it wasn’t for my man Hitler, these Jews would have wiped Palestine years ago, sorry but it is a fact.’ More anti-Semitic Muslim representatives of the Labour Party continue to become known. One of the most recent is Nasreen Khan. She was thereafter dropped by the party as a prospective candidate for a council seat in Bradford. Among her past tweets was: “What have the Jews done good in this world”. Later she apologized. When more than a year and a half ago I drew attention to the disproportionately large and extreme role of Muslims in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement in the Labour Party, the subject had not raised significant attention in the British press. This has since remained the same. It is in line with the media’s looking away from anti-Israel and anti-Semitic attitudes of Muslims. Experience elsewhere shows that one can delay the publication of this evidence but not suppress it totally. The more so as Muslim hate-mongering, though not concerning the majority of Muslims, is definitely major.
