Nov. 10 — More than three-quarters of the British public now regard Israel as a grave threat to world peace, according to a landmark survey published by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).
The survey findings, published on Tuesday by Middle East Eye, underscore a dramatic long-term shift in public sentiment across the United Kingdom. In 2005, 48 percent of Britons viewed Israel as a serious risk to global security. That figure surged to 78 percent this spring, following two and a half years of military operations and alleged genocide in the Gaza Strip, compounded by subsequent joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against targets inside Iran.
The shift mirrors wider polling trends across the British electorate. A separate YouGov poll conducted in July on behalf of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) revealed that only 17 percent of the UK population believed Israel was not committing genocide in Gaza.
The geopolitical escalation across the Middle East has increasingly spilled into the domestic economic sphere, heightening public discontent. Supply-chain disruptions and market volatility linked to the conflict have driven up British household costs across energy, staple groceries, and housing credit.
Adding to household pressures, the Bank of England raised its benchmark interest rate last week from 3.75 percent to 4.00 percent—marking its first rate hike in three years. The monetary tightening has immediately pushed up monthly mortgage repayments for homeowners while escalating the cost of securing new loans or refinancing existing debt, reinforcing voter perceptions that regional instability in the Middle East is directly eroding living standards in the UK.
Source: Middle East Eye, National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) & YouGov Survey