LONDON: Almost half of people in the UK would end a friendship over the Israel-Palestine conflict, new research has suggested.
The More in Common think tank surveyed 2,000 people in the UK in October, and found that 43 percent of pro-Palestine interviewees would consider ending a friendship over a pro-Israel social media post. Around 46 percent of Israel supporters said the same about Palestine-supporting friends.
Around 75 percent of people said they were uncomfortable discussing the issue online, with around 30 percent feeling somewhat or very uncomfortable talking about it with their friends.
In addition, 67 percent of those surveyed said they felt some public protests in support of either side should be banned due to their disruptive nature.
More in Common said: “Public patience for protest is wearing thin — two-thirds of Britons now believe some protests are too disruptive to be allowed, with sustained demonstrations over Gaza contributing to broader backlash against activist movements.”
Support for Israel has declined since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023. Only 14 percent were sympathetic to Israel, down from 16 percent in November 2023.
Sympathy for the Palestinians was at 26 percent, while 27 percent said they supported neither side and 18 percent said they had sympathies for both. The rest were undecided.
The researchers said they found that those with firm views in either direction had become “more negative about those with opposing views” since 2023.
In the aftermath of the attack on a synagogue in Manchester last month, 44 percent of respondents felt that the UK is unsafe for Jews, while 37 percent felt that the country is unsafe for Muslims.
Luke Tryl, director of More in Common, said: “Divisions over the (Israel-Palestine) conflict have seriously strained trust in Britain’s media organisations, institutions and politicians.”
He added: “As people with strong views on the conflict have switched off from mainstream media, there is a risk that they move to their own sources of information online, making it much harder for them to have conversations based on shared facts.
“People also assume that those on the other side of the debate are motivated by bad faith, such as that people support Israel because they are anti-Muslim or Palestine because they are antisemitic.
“Caught up in all this is the majority of Britons, who are shocked and appalled by the conflict but do not take a side either way, and particularly Britain’s Jewish communities and Muslim communities who are bearing the brunt of rising hate.
“The government, civil society and those most engaged in the conflict need to do more to find ways out of the growing cycle of polarisation that risks inflicting lasting scars on social cohesion in the UK.”
