British voters think Israel is committing genocide
The polling shows overwhelming opposition to the UK-Israel alliance
The British people believe that Israel is committing genocide.
That’s according to a new YouGov poll which has been studiously ignored by the media.
50% believe that Israel’s actions in Gaza “constitute a genocide” - with just 17% saying the opposite.
Around a third opt for “don’t know”. That means those believing Israel is committing genocide outnumber those who do not by three to one.
The other polling results show overwhelming support for Britain to take action against Israel.
58% oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza, compared to 18% in support.
57% support suspending arms exports, compared to 18% opposed. 52% support financial sanctions on assets of individuals (19% are opposed), 51% support tariffs and import restrictions (20% are opposed) and 48% support a trade embargo (20% are opposed).
Just 15% think the UK should be an ally of Israel, with 55% believing it should not be an ally.
Among those who voted Labour in 2024, 67% believe Israel has committed genocide, with just 10% disagreeing. About 64% of 18 to 24 year olds believe that it is genocide.
Strikingly, even a third of Tory voters believe Israel has committed genocide, with only a quarter saying otherwise - and 40% opting for ‘Don’t know’.
Even a quarter of Reform voters believe that it is genocide - although in their case, more than four in ten believe otherwise.
These figures should be placed in their broader context. The Western media has supported, legitimised and whitewashed Israel’s genocide. The scale of the atrocities committed by Israel has been kept from news bulletins and newspapers.
Those who oppose the genocide have been demonised variously as hateful, dangerous and extreme.
The consensus at elite-level - that is, among politicians and the media - remains pro-Israel.
So the fact that British public opinion is so decisively hostile to their country’s alliance with Israel is striking. It means there is a chasm separating the views of the British people and the Establishment.
It’s in this context that the new British prime minister Andy Burnham has apologised for Labour’s position on Gaza.
To be clear - that apology isn’t enough. It wrongly characterises Labour’s failure as being too slow to support a ceasefire - when in fact the party actively supported Israel’s genocidal onslaught.
He used emotive language about 7th October - but not about Israel’s own actions. He said “There’s increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed”: he knows full well they have been committed on an industrial scale. He’s just not willing to say so because that would then impose legal requirements on his government to take action.
But the point he’s felt compelled to say any of this shows an understanding that Labour’s position has repelled voters - and helped drive the surge of the Green Party.
More broadly, the polling reflects the trend across the Western world.
In the US, negative attitudes towards Israel are higher than ever. 60% of American voters have an unfavourable view of Israel, with 37% opting for favourable. For the first time, more Americans sympathise with Palestinians than Israelis.
The challenge, of course, is to translate popular attitudes into government action. But Israel’s cheerleaders should be in a state of panic - because they are losing.
Yes but, …..
of course it’s right to condemn the genocidal behaviour of Jews in Palestine (the IDF turkey shoot) and the pathetic response of the British establishment (slow down your genocide, it’s embarrassing us) the important response is to push on through and condemn Zionism as indelibly imperialistic, racist and, ultimately, genocidal. The state of Israel is illegitimate and should be replaced by a predominantly Palestinian state, albeit one in which a significant proportion of Jews are entitled to live, though not on the land they now occupy if it’s been filched. That’s the fundamental point to get across.
In carrying out that task there is one tactic which seems rather to have been overlooked. Noting that Zionism could never have succeeded without the support of Christian Zionists we should pay attention to the Balfour Declaration. The petition mechanism allows the public to ask the British (and I believe the Scottish) Parliament to repudiate the Declaration. Several such petitions already exist, with unimpressive numbers of signatures, and groups of parliamentarians have called for the British Government to apologise for the Declaration. If the petitions secured enough signatures that would mandate a Parliamentary debate. Consider how this would skewer the British establishment. Accepting the petition would be a massive climbdown, would transform Britain’s relationship with Israel and undermine the Jewish State’s legitimacy in the eyes of the world. Rejecting it would validate British imperialism and make us look ridiculous in the eyes of the world. Even if, as is quite likely, the Government and Parliament found a way of fudging the issue and/or somehow kicking it into the long grass, that act would look cowardly and however fudgy the outcome, the debate be focussed where it should be; on the legitimacy of Zionism.
It needs 100,000 signatures to get it debated in Parliament. It would be good to get a million.