Israelis are second least wanted migrants in UK after Russians, poll finds

Almost half of Britons want the UK to allow fewer Israelis or none at all to move to the country, a new study has revealed.

Israelis have become the second most unwanted group in Britain after Russians. The YouGov poll released last week showed that Pakistanis, Indians, Turks, Egyptians and Nigerians rank above Israelis in popularity among the British public, although all these groups are relatively unpopular.

Only one in 20 Britons want the UK to allow more Israelis into the country, with 23 percent saying the country should allow fewer and 24 saying none at all should be let in.

Only 24 percent of Britons think the current number of Israelis in the country is fine, while 23 percent said they don't know.

In comparison, 34 percent of Britons said no Russian migrants should be allowed into Britain, and 15 percent said no Indians should be admitted.

Migrants from Ireland are the most popular among the British public, with 23 percent saying more should be allowed in.

Canadians, Australians, Swedes and Germans are also relatively popular, although the study identified a general increase in anti-immigration sentiment compared with an equivalent poll conducted in 2016.

UK-Israel relations plummet

The poll comes as the British government gears up to announce a raft of new policies on Israel in September, including a ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements, as Middle East Eye reported last week.

Relations between the two historic allies are at an all-time low. Last week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branded Britain an "Islamic republic" in an interview.

Netanyahu complained that the favourable British coverage Israel received during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war had disappeared.

“Try to find that now in Britain, which you could call the Islamic republic of Britain,” Netanyahu said.

When the host responded, “Isn’t all of Europe like that?”, Netanyahu replied: “Yes, but you know, someone said the first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons will be the Islamic republic of Britain.”

Britain is a monarchy, not a republic, and the first "Islamic republic" with nuclear weapons was in fact the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Downing Street hit back at Netanyahu's comments this week, with a spokesperson for Prime Minister Andy Burnham denouncing them as "completely unacceptable".

British public opinion has been steadily hardening towards Israel. A YouGov study in June last year found that 55 percent of the public opposed Israel’s actions in Gaza, with only 15 percent in support.

Of those 55 percent, an overwhelming 82 percent believed Israel was committing genocide.

The poll also found that nearly two thirds of Britons (65 percent) wanted the UK to implement the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu if he were to visit the UK.

The British Foreign Office is currently looking at imposing new sanctions on individuals and organisations involved in the settler movement in the occupied West Bank, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

There have also been discussions within the government on potential sanctions on more Israeli ministers, after far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich were sanctioned last year.