Over a third of British Muslims believe Jews talk too much about the Holocaust says new poll

The new ICM poll revealed a level of anti-Semitism amongst British Muslims

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A new poll has revealed that over a third of British Muslims believe that Jews still talk too much about what happened in the Holocaust. The new poll conducted by ICM and analysed by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAA) has revealed some uncomfortable results about the feelings harboured by some Muslims towards Jews.

The poll quizzed 1,081 British Muslims, asking about the levels of anti-Jewish opinion, including questions about Jews and power, money, business and the media. ICM has also conducted a poll to be used for a Channel 4 documentary to be aired on Wednesday 13 April.

Results of the Channel 4 poll emerged earlier this week showing alarming results concerning beliefs towards homosexuals with 52% disagreeing that homosexuality should be legal in Britain, while 18% agreed. In contrast, a control sample of 1,008 people who represented the general population of the UK revealed that just 5% were opposed to homosexuality.

The ICM poll revealed:
Over a quarter of British Muslims believe that Jews are responsible for most of the world's wars (compared to 6% of general population)

34% of British Muslims believe that Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust (compared to 18% of general population)

38% of British Muslims believe Jews have too much control over global affairs (compared to 10% of general population)

81% of British Muslims either underestimate or "did not know" how many members of the Jewish population of Europe died as a result of the Holocaust (more than 6 million)

The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAA), which carried out the analysis, has noted in its report that "the polling data reveals that old-fashioned conspiracies about Jews having too much power in finance, business, politics and the media are not only alive in the Muslim population, but thriving."

Jonathan Sacerdoti, Director of Communications at the CAA, has warned that the overall trend towards anti-Semitism could result in a new exodus of European Jews from the continent.

"These findings exist against a backdrop of record Jewish immigration away from Europe, but also increased French Jewish immigration into the UK. This sets the UK apart from some parts of continental Europe, where the frequent murder of Jewish people by Muslim extremists has already become a recurring theme of this century," he said.

"Britain finds itself at an important crossroads: we can either act now to combat the sort of hatred that leads to those attacks on Jews and others, or we can continue to allow political correctness and the understandable fear of discussing this sensitive issue to mute the debate that is now more urgent than ever.

"If a new generation of British Muslims is growing up perpetuating these conspiracy theories about Jews, nobody can be surprised if Jewish Britons – a tiny minority in the country – think seriously about their future prospects in the UK."

Trevor Philips, former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, is set to present a documentary called "What British Muslims Really Think" on Channel 4 based on the findings of this poll. He said: "The integration of Britain's Muslims will probably be the hardest task we've ever faced. It will require the abandonment of the milk-and-water multiculturalism still so beloved of many, and the adoption of a far more muscular approach to integration."

Muslim Council of Britain representative Miqdaad Versi, was dismissive of the poll writing in the Guardian that it was "skewed" and "divisive".