BICOM

A new opinion poll published by BICOM and Populus has found that 38 per cent of people in the UK believe Jeremy Corbyn is an antisemite, while 25 per cent believe he is a committed campaigner against racism and antisemitism.

Populus surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2035 British adults from 5-7 October 2018 on behalf of Israel and Middle East think tank BICOM. The annual survey asks questions about countries in the Middle East with specific questions about trade, counterterrorism and support for a boycott of Israel.

This year the poll included a new question that measured support for the Labour leader’s own explanations in light of accusations of antisemitism. It found that 25 per cent of the public agreed with the statement, “Jeremy Corbyn is a committed campaigner against racism of all kinds including antisemitism,” whilst 38 per cent agreed with the statement, “Whatever Jeremy Corbyn claims, his actions and past history point to him being antisemitic”. Thirty-seven per cent said they were neutral/don’t know.

The poll also revealed that 19 per cent agreed with the statement, ‘Jeremy Corbyn has worked hard to deliver peace between Israel and the Palestinians,’ whilst 35 per cent agreed with the statement, ‘Jeremy Corbyn only seems interested in talking to those organisations deemed to be terrorists by the British Government, the EU and the US State Department”.

BICOM CEO James Sorene said: “We were interested to measure support for Jeremy Corbyn’s own explanations for his conduct after accusations of antisemitism. The results are clear – 38 per cent of people believe that Jeremy Corbyn is an antisemite. It is also worth noting that the poll was carried out when this issue was no longer being reported in the news.”

Speaking on other findings from the poll, Sorene said: “The poll results about Israel and the Palestinians are largely unchanged since last year. Israelis and Palestinians have exactly the same level of support at 23 per cent and opposition to boycotts of Israel remains high at 48 per cent. Saudi Arabia is viewed as the UK’s most important trading partner after Brexit but Israel has moved up to third place at 38 per cent.”