A Troubling Level of Despair

Shortly before the attack upon the Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Australia, the Campaign Against Antisemitism conducted a survey among the Jewish community in the UK. The results revealed a troubling level of despair and anger.

51 percent of British Jews feel that they do not have a long-term future in the UK, while only 23 percent feel they do. 45 percent do not feel welcome in the UK and 59 percent try not to show visible signs of their Jewishness because of concerns over antisemitism.

96 percent of British Jews consider Islamists to be a serious threat, and 92 percent also consider the far left to be a serious threat. While 91 percent do not think the authorities are doing enough to tackle religious extremism; and 89% think that the authorities are not doing enough to tackle political extremism.

The Media and the BBC

When it comes to the media, 93 percent of British Jews are dissatisfied with the coverage of the Hamas-Israel war over the past two years in the British media; with 95 percent believing that there should be an independent investigation into BBC bias in its coverage of matters of Jewish interest,

Apparently a result of that perceived bias, 57 percent of British Jews have considered stopping payment of the BBC licence fee; and 83 percent believe the ’BBC First’ complaints system is not working - so complaints regarding BBC coverage should go straight to Ofcom.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: "A majority of British Jews do not see a future in the UK and have considered leaving." That is troubling because history indicates that when Jews leave, a country is in serious trouble.

The UK Government’s announcement of tougher action over calls to ’globalise the intifada’ is widely seen as being ’far too little, far too late.’