Ailin Vilches Arguello
As anti-Israel hostility and antisemitism intensify across the United Kingdom, nearly half of the British public now favors reducing or halting immigration from Israel altogether, according to a new survey that places Israelis among the least-welcome nationalities in the country.
Conducted by YouGov, a leading British polling organization, the newly released survey asked respondents whether people from 23 countries should be allowed to come and live in Britain in greater numbers, at current levels, in smaller numbers, or not at all, with Israel ranking near the bottom of the list, far below most European and Western countries.
Over the last decade, opposition to Israeli immigration has risen by eight points, with 47 percent of respondents now saying Britain should admit fewer immigrants from Israel or halt their arrival altogether.
Only 5 percent of those surveyed wanted Britain to accept more immigrants from Israel, while 24 percent preferred to keep immigration at its current level, placing the Jewish state among the countries drawing the lowest levels of support for increased immigration.
With these results, Israel ranked fourth from the bottom among the 23 nationalities surveyed, ahead of only Russia at 58 percent, Pakistan at 52 percent, and Nigeria at 48 percent, marking one of the sharpest levels of opposition to immigration recorded in the survey.
The survey also found substantial opposition to immigration from several other countries, with large shares of respondents favoring reduced or halted arrivals from Romania, Egypt, India, and Turkey.
Compared with a decade ago, the British public has become increasingly critical of immigration, with 69 percent saying levels over the past 10 years have been too high and 43 percent saying immigration has been mainly bad for the country, a 10-point rise from 2016.
However, the newly released poll revealed a clear divide in attitudes toward immigration, with respondents generally more receptive to newcomers from predominantly white, Western nations than to those from countries across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
For example, immigrants from English-speaking and northern European countries drew substantially stronger support, with 69 percent favoring maintaining or increasing immigration from Ireland, followed by 68 percent for both Canada and Australia.
British support remained relatively strong for immigration from other Western countries, with Sweden at 64 percent, Germany at 62 percent, Japan and France at 58 percent each, the United States at 55 percent, and Poland at 53 percent.
Overall, the poll suggested that Israelis face a distinct level of opposition that cannot be explained solely by Britain’s broader debate over immigration. Even among groups that tend to favor higher immigration, attitudes toward Israelis were notably less welcoming, reflecting the influence of wider views of Israel.
Taken together, the findings highlight a broader shift in British attitudes, as growing concerns over immigration coincide with increasingly negative views of Israel, creating a particularly challenging environment for Israelis seeking to move to the country.
