UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is still the most popular political leader among those Britons who hold anti-Semitic views, a Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) report has revealed.
Commenting on the survey’s results, CAA chief executive Gideon Falter said that “Jeremy Corbyn is now the politician of choice for anti-Semites”.
According to the report, at least 67% of British adults who said they support Corbyn hold at least one anti-Semitic view and 33% of these respondents hold four or more such views.
42% of respondents who consider themselves to be “very left-wing said they believe that Israel’s supporters in the UK are damaging British democracy, while 60% percent agreed that Israel “treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews”.
Summarising the findings, the CAA report’s authors expressed alarm over the situation when Corbyn is supported by those with anti-Semitic stance.
“This is certainly not to suggest that everyone who likes or supports Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite, but we find it deeply concerning that those who like him the most seem so much more likely than other people to hold multiple anti-Semitic views,” the document read.
Polls Shows Just 14% of Britons Back Boycotts of Israel
The CAA reports comes as the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) think tank released a new polling on Thursday indicating that only 14% of Britons support boycotts of Israel, which is also rated the UK’s most important Middle Eastern ally in the fight against terrorism.
The BICOM poll revealed that about 50% of British adults claimed that it is anti-Semitic to hate Israel and question its right to exist. 36% of respondents said they didn’t know about the matter, and 18% more disagreed.
BICOM chief executive James Sorene, for his part, pointed out that “the importance of close defence and intelligence ties between Britain and Israel is acknowledged in the survey with 44% of people saying Israel is an important partner for Britain in the fight against terrorism”.
Corbyn Apologises for Anti-Semitism
Both reports were released after Corbyn appearing on the ITV channel’s “This Morning” show Tuesday to say that he “was sorry for everything that has happened” with regard to the current tensions between his country’s Jewish community and Labour.
The comment was preceded by the Labour leader refusing several times to apologise for anti-Semitism during a BBC interview last week.
He instead stated that anti-Semitism would not be tolerated under a Labour government, responding to accusations from UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who blamed Corbyn for allegedly allowing the “poison” of intolerance to “take root” in party ranks.
The Labour Party has repeatedly faced allegations of anti-Semitism within its ranks, with Corbyn pledging during leadership last month that every claim had been investigated and he was doing everything possible to eradicate it.
Earlier, he insisted that British Jews should not be concerned about his party possibly winning the 12 December general election amid reports that many members of the Jewish community would consider leaving the UK should this happen.
