Positive views outweigh anti-Jewish sentiment among Muslims, UK report finds
Nearly half of all Muslim adults surveyed (45 percent) perceived Jewish people positively, according to a survey released by HOPE Not Hate
A wide-ranging survey of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) adults across Great Britain has found pockets of anti-Jewish sentiment were outweighed by positive views among Muslim respondents.
Nearly half of all Muslims surveyed (45 percent) were found to perceive Jewish people positively, according to an online survey of 1,001 BAME adults, released by the anti-racism charity HOPE Not Hate on Thursday.
But the survey also found the highest proportion of anti-Jewish views among Muslim respondents (18 percent), followed by atheists (11 percent), Christians (5 percent) and Hindus (4 percent).
Muslims, who were the most negatively viewed group overall, were also more likely to perceive Jewish or Hindu extremism as a threat (both 31 percent).
The weighted sample survey, conducted in July by polling company Focaldata, does not include any data about Jewish public opinion owing to a small sample size in the community, HOPE Not Hate said.
Stronger action on hate crime was seen as the best way to improve community relations (35 percent), together with increasing anti-racism education in schools (34 percent).
Other popular solutions included a crackdown on extremism across communities (25 percent), initiatives to bring together people from different backgrounds (22 percent) and holding outlets to account for publishing racist material (22 percent).
HOPE not Hate deputy director Jemma Levene said the figures shouldn’t be allowed “to be used to startle people in our community.”
“They were substantially outweighed by positive feelings,” she said. “Of course, we shouldn’t shy away from honest and difficult conversations about antisemitism, but we see time and time again that when different groups have the opportunity to interact in meaningful ways, their mutual views of each other improve exponentially.”
“Our organisation’s experience shows us clearly that the majorities of both Muslim and Jewish communities wish to live together in friendship and peace, so good interfaith and intercommunity interactions are more important than ever so we can all learn not just how to build together but also disagree without falling prey to prejudice,” she added.
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