British politics has worst record for antisemitism in Europe, poll says

Four out of five Jews in the UK believe antisemitism is a major problem in British politics, the worst record within the EU, and nearly a third are considering leaving Britain out of fears for their safety, according to the world’s largest survey of Jewish people.

The report from the EU’s agency on fundamental rights has found antisemitic hatred and discrimination on the rise across Europe, with attitudes in France, Germany, Belgium and Poland said to be the most disturbing.

The survey of 16,300 Jewish people in Europe found that almost a third avoid attending events or visiting Jewish sites because they do not feel safe.

In France, 95% of Jews believe antisemitism is a very or fairly big problem, up from 85% when the poll was last run six years ago. Nine out of 10 Jews in France say they had faced expressions of hostility on the street.

The survey of communities in the 12 member states, accounting for 96% of the Jewish population in the EU, further found that on average 41% had considered emigrating to escape because they no longer feel safe.

The results for the UK were peculiar, however, in the high level of concern expressed about the political sphere.

The survey found that 75% of Jewish people in the UK perceived antisemitism to be generally a very big or fairly big problem, up from 48% in 2012, with 29% having considered emigrating.

The poll, though, reported that 84% of Jews surveyed found antisemitism specifically in political life to be a very or fairly big problem, compared with the 12-country average of 70%.

It also found that 89% of British Jews say antisemitism has increased in the six years since the last survey.

The European commissioner for justice, Věra Jourová, told the Guardian the results were a dismal setback for the EU that should be taken up as a challenge by the heads of states and government.

She urged Jeremy Corbyn, whose Labour party has battled accusations that it has allowed antisemitism to take hold within its ranks, to take heed of the results.

The Labour leader himself has come under repeated criticism over the issue, not least when a recording emerged this summer of Corbyn addressing an event in 2013, where he angrily accused a group of British Zionists of having no understanding of “English irony”.

Corbyn later issued a clarification, saying he was using the term Zionist in “the accurate political sense and not as a euphemism for Jewish people”.

Asked about Corbyn’s track record, Jourová said: “I always use the phrase ‘Let’s not play with fire’, let’s be aware of what happened in the past. And let’s not make the same mistake of tolerating it. It is not enough just to be silent …

“Every politician must realise that it is also our rhetoric that is influencing and pardoning the bad behaviour of the people who have these tendencies to attack others. We must be more and more careful not to give a blessing.”

Jourová added of the Labour leader: “I read quite a lot of his quotes and a lot of articles and he is trying to get out of this label but, OK, I hope he will pay attention to this survey.

“This is a serious message we have received from the Jewish community,” she said. “We must do everything to let the Jewish communities now that they are not alone in Europe.”

Among the other results, the survey found that nearly half (44%) of Jews in Germany and France have considered emigrating because they do not feel safe.

Nine out of 10 Jews in Poland had been targeted with anti-semitism on the internet and 84% in Belgium reported having experienced antisemitism in their national media.

Across the 12 countries as a whole, 89% said antisemitism is at its worst and most problematic on the internet and social media platforms. Nearly three in four (73%) think hostile behaviour toward Jews in public is a big or very big problem, and 71% believe there is evidence of antisemitism in the media.

In Hungary, where the re-election campaign of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, was heavily criticised for encouraging anti-semitism through the demonisation of the philanthropist George Soros, the proportion of Jews who felt that anti-semitic attitudes is a major problem has fallen from 89% in 2012 to 77%.

The European commission’s vice president, Frans Timmermans, nevertheless warned Orbán about the dangers of his rhetoric which he claimed “has led to an anti semitic response in Hungarian society”. Orbán has accused Soros of masterminding an international plot to open Europe’s borders.

“Since prime minister Orbán is so vocal saying he wants to combat anti semitism”, Timmermans said, “I would call upon him to avoid dog whistle words”.