Campaign Against Antisemitism Barometer 2019
Posted on 29 October 2020
October 29, 2020
Britain stands at a crossroads.
This tolerant nation which has long been among the best places in the world in which to live as a Jew is being poisoned by antisemitism, and British Jews are considering leaving the country on a scale unprecedented since mediaeval times.
Incitement against Jews is proliferating, antisemitic crime is going unpunished,
and in our politics Jew-hatred is becoming commonplace. This study has measured the results: a population in which antisemitic views have currency, and a Jewish community that has lost faith in the criminal justice system
and politicians to protect it from racists, and now fears for its very future in our country.
This comprehensive study, designed and analysed by one of the foremost academics in his field, reveals shocking truths about our country.
Antisemitism on the far-left now exceeds antisemitism on the far-right. The leader of
the once fiercely anti-racist Labour Party is now the candidate of choice for anti-Jewish racists, and 84% of British Jews feel that he
is a threat specifically to Jews. Two in five British Jews have considered leaving the
UK over antisemitism in the past two years alone, 85% of them because of antisemitism in politics, with two thirds expressly mentioning the Labour Party or its leader as their reason.
And it is not merely a political crisis. Jews are fearful of antisemitic crime, with not even one in five saying that the authorities do enough. Years of failure to prosecute
hate crime against Jews have demolished confidence in the criminal justice system.
Just over a third of Jews have any confidence that the authorities would prosecute the perpetrator of a hate crime against them, even if there was sufficient evidence to do so.
The Crown Prosecution Service has lost the faith of two thirds of Jews, and almost half of British Jews who would normally wear outward signs of their Judaism now try not to show that they are Jewish in public.
The solutions are simple. We have been making the same recommendations for years and they are included in this report. The question is whether our political parties will act on them. But we cannot wait any longer. Our study finds that the majority in this country are decent people who reject antisemitism. We need ordinary people, regardless of politics, race or religion, to tell the Jewish community that we all stand together against antisemitism, and to tell their politicians that they will not stand by as Britain’s Jews become fearful and increasingly contemplate emigration. We have set up TogetherAgainstAntisemitism.com so that people can easily show their support.
It is up to all of us to ensure that Britain stands on the right side of history. We must demand action from our politicians, and we must ensure that Britain’s Jews are
not abandoned to the forces of hatred.
It is not only Britain that stands at a crossroads. Now that you have read this, you do too.
Read in full: CAMPAIGN AGAINST ANTISEMITISM ANTISEMITISM BAROMETER 2019