Conflict in Israel and Gaza: Heightened feelings of insecurity among Jews living in the UK

In this report:

The report examines how the conflict in Israel and Gaza in May 2021 affected Jewish people living in the UK, by asking the JPR Research Panel members to mark their levels of agreement with two contentions: "Because I am Jewish, I felt I was being held responsible by non-Jews for the actions of Israel’s government during the conflict” and “Public and media criticism of Israel during the conflict made me feel Jews are not welcome in the UK". 

This is JPR's second report looking into the May 2021 conflict: the first report on the conflict, published in March 2023, focused on the attitudes of Jewish people in the UK towards the conflict; the new report now looks into how the conflict affected Jews' feeling of security living in the UK.

Some of the key findings in this report:

• Nearly three-quarters (73%) of all UK Jews felt that, as Jews, they were being held responsible in some way by non-Jews for the actions of Israel's government during the conflict
• Almost one in five (19%) of respondents marked the highest score of agreement (10) to the contention that they felt they were being held responsible by non-Jews
• 56% of respondents said they felt public and media criticism during the conflict made them feel Jews were unwelcome in the UK
• Jewish people's perceptions of these issues are significantly informed by their assessments of the state of antisemitism in the UK and by the degree to which they feel emotionally attached to Israel
• Jewish people's political stances or levels of religiosity have little bearing on their feelings of anxiety or vulnerability, particularly concerning non-Jews holding them responsible for Israel's actions at that time