Almost a year on from the release of After Choosing Sides, our in-depth exploration of how Britons view the Israel-Palestine conflict and its domestic fallout, this follow-up research explores where Britons stand today: what has changed, what has stayed the same, and what is the impact of the conflict on social cohesion at home.
Note: Most of this research was conducted before the UK government announced its sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. However, some of the data was updated in the week following the sanctions were annoucned (11 – 15 September 2026).
Most Britons still do not take a side in the Israel-Palestine conflict today.
Young people stand out from other Britons in that almost half (46 per cent) of 18-24 year-olds say they sympathise more with the Palestinian side. This is slightly lower than the 55 per cent who said the same in October 2025, but the pattern remains consistent that the youngest Britons are distinct from every other age group on this topic.
The slight drop in sympathy for individual sides and rise in sympathy for neither side should not be interpreted as an increased neutrality or indifference regarding the conflict. There has been a slight rise in the number of Britons who say they would feel worse about someone if they posted on social media in support of Israel, up to a third (33 per cent) from just over a quarter in October 2025 (27 per cent). Meanwhile, the number saying they would feel better about someone if they didn’t post about the conflict on social media has also risen from 24 to 30 per cent. Not only does much of the public not take a partisan stance on the issue, but they are increasingly judgemental of those who do.
Progressive Activists have become increasingly disapproving of anyone demonstrating support for Israel. The proportion saying they would feel worse about someone if they posted in support of Israel has risen from 45 per cent in October 2025 to 59 per cent in June 2026. Meanwhile, the proportion who wouldn’t pass judgement has almost halved, with the 50 per cent who said they would feel neither better nor worse in October 2025 falling to just 29 per cent in June 2026.
Only 43 per cent of Britons think the UK is safe for Jewish people.
After a spate of antisemitic attacks, Britons are evenly divided over whether the UK is a safe or unsafe place for Jewish people (43 per cent say ‘safe’, 43 per cent say ‘unsafe’).
Since May 2024, the proportion of Britons who say the UK is safe for Jewish people has dropped from 55 to 43 per cent, while the proportion saying it is unsafe has risen from 32 to 43 per cent. Six in ten Britons (60 per cent) say that being a Jewish person in the UK has become more dangerous over the last few years, and nearly four in ten (39 per cent) believe the number of anti-Jewish hate crimes will keep going up. Just 9 per cent think it will fall.
(Antisemitic incident reports in the UK rose by a fifth in the first half of 2026, and the Islamist stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green in April, together with the arson attack on Jewish ambulances in the same area just weeks earlier, sit alongside last year’s attack on the Heaton Park synagogue as the clearest examples of a real, rising threat.)
In focus groups, Britons describe witnessing the effects of anti-semitism. In a Greater Manchester focus group conducted for this research, one participant described a friend wearing a Star of David necklace who was harassed by pro-Palestine protesters on a march; another said they knew Jewish neighbours who now take their Star of David necklaces off before heading into town, for fear of being targeted.
“The community feels a need to spend, I would imagine, in the millions of pounds just to protect themselves so they can go about their daily life. Kids can go to school, they can go to shops, they can pray, they can worship. I think the government has got to take a massive responsibility for that.”
Kevin, 68, Retired Police Officer
Many Britons also think the UK is becoming more dangerous for Muslims.
A plurality of Britons (43 per cent) believe it has become more dangerous to be Muslim in the UK in recent years, against 20 per cent who think it’s got safer, and more than a third (36 per cent) expect anti-Muslim hate crime to rise further. Among Gen Z Britons, 50 per cent say the UK is unsafe for Muslims, against 38 per cent for Jews.
“It’s made my family and some of my friends really question whether we want to remain as Brits really. And we’ve become thinking about is it better to raise our children in a different country? And I have friends who’ve moved to Qatar to Dubai, which obviously they have their own issues, no nation’s perfect, but it don’t feel like it’s such a racist nation.”
Fatimah, Teacher
Perceptions of public safety are becoming increasingly shaped by views on the conflict
Britons who sympathise more with either Israel or Palestine have drastically different perceptions of how safe Jewish people and Muslims are in the UK – and the gap is widening.
Among those who sympathise more with Palestine, 54 per cent say the UK is safe for Jews, dropping to 29 per cent of those who sympathise more with Israel, a 25-point gap that stood at just 12 points in 2023.
On Muslim safety the pattern reverses: 50 per cent of Palestine-sympathisers call the UK safe for Muslims, against 78 per cent of Israel-sympathisers, a 28-point gap, up from 13 points in 2023. The consensus about public safety in Britain is falling apart.
“As with questions of safety, I don’t think antisemitism is on the increase at all. So there’s a distinct difference. It’s being conflated because I think there’s a distinct difference between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. And I think most people are, because of obviously what is being made aware, a lot of people are anti-Zionist and there is a lot of movement towards anti-Zionism, which is being spoken as being antisemitism, which is not the case.”
Maryam, Administrator, Barking
