A new poll has revealed Israel’s huge unpopularity among the British public.
The poll, which was commissioned by a pro Israel organisation, found that 50% of British people feel “cold” towards Israel.
When asked if they felt warm, cold or neutral towards Israel, only 21% of respondents said they felt “warm” while 30% said they felt “neutral” or “don’t know.”
The survey was commissioned by the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) and was conducted by Populus which surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,021 British adults in October.
It comes days before the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration when the British government promised the Zionist movement a homeland for the Jews in Palestine, which led to the dispossession of the Palestinians.
However, elsewhere in the survey there was better news for Israel.
When asked if they considered Israel to be “an important ally of Britain in the fight against terror,” 49% agreed while only 18% disagreed.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
When asked who they considered “an important trading partner of Britain post-Brexit,” 37% said Israel which came behind Saudi Arabia on 54%, Qatar on 39%, and Turkey on 38%.
When asked if they agree with the statement “I don’t boycott good or produce from Israel and find it difficult to understand why others would single out Israel to boycott given everything else that’s going on in the world,” 48% agreed and only 11% disagreed.
And when asked if they agreed that the Balfour Declaration to support a Jewish homeland was the right position for the UK government to take in 1917, 38% agreed, 17% disagreed and 45% said they neither agreed or disagreed.
Israel was created in 1948 through the theft of Palestinian land and ethnic cleansing, and has sustained itself since by occupation, brutalisation and war.