YouGov poll: 47% of UK residents favor fewer or no Israeli immigrants

A YouGov poll published this week found that 47% of UK residents would prefer to see fewer or no immigrants from Israel admitted to the United Kingdom, up from 39% when the same question was asked in 2016.

The poll, titled “Britons have a more negative view of immigration in 2026 than in 2016,” asked respondents which countries they thought the UK should allow more or fewer migrants to come from. Twenty-three percent said they would like to see fewer immigrants from Israel, while 24% said they did not think any immigrants from Israel should be allowed to enter the UK.

YouGov found that immigration from several other countries was also viewed negatively. Fifty-eight percent of respondents opposed immigration from Russia, followed by 52% for Pakistan, 48% for Nigeria, 44% for both Egypt and India, and 43% for Turkey.

The YouGov findings come as the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitic incidents in the UK, reported an increase in antisemitic incidents across the country during the first half of 2026.

“CST recorded 1,926 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of 2026, the second-highest total ever reported to CST in the first six months of any year, exceeded only by the 2,019 incidents recorded from January to June 2024,” the report said. “This is an increase of 21% from the 1,598 incidents recorded in the first half of 2025. CST recorded 965 incidents in the first six months of 2023, and 823 incidents from January to June 2022.”

CST said the 21% increase from the first half of 2025, which was itself the second-highest first-half total on record, indicates that antisemitic incidents in the UK have remained at far higher levels since Oct. 7, 2023, than before the Hamas terror attack on southern Israel.

The CST report linked the sustained level of antisemitic incidents to geopolitical developments, including the war involving Israel, the United States and Iran.

“The sustained level of antisemitic incidents reported to CST in the first half of 2026 – and the rise in monthly totals from March onwards – occurred in the context of war between Israel, the United States and Iran, which began on 28 February,” the report continued. “The charging on 18 March of two men for allegedly conducting hostile reconnaissance on Jewish community locations in London for Iranian intelligence further demonstrated the potential global ramifications of war in the Middle East, increasing Jewish communal fear in the UK.”