A recent poll showed a near-majority of British Muslims support the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and a variety of other controversial opinions. The latest poll comes amid increased attention to the war in the Middle East and concern in the Biden administration that American Muslims may turn against the president.
Only about one-quarter of British Muslims believe that Hamas members committed murder and rape during the Oct. 7 terrorist organization that killed about 1,200 people.
According to the Pew Research Center survey, 46% of British Muslims reported that they were sympathetic to Hamas.
The Muslim population in the UK has increased from 2.7M and 4.9% of the pop. in 2011 to 3.9M and 6.5% in of the pop. in 2021
Take a look at these numbers in the new survey about what role British Muslims think Islam should play in the governing of the UK.
Huge challenges ahead. https://t.co/w7DW1NOi6k
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 9, 2024
The British poll followed an American survey released last month that found that 49% of American Muslims said that Hamas’ violent struggle was valid, as compared to 22% who disagreed.
Former U.K. Independence Party head Nigel Farage said that he passed by a pro-Palestinian protest recently. He said that he read the same poll and was concerned by the result.
Farage said that Hamas could be an “enemy to us” as well as to Israel.
A majority of British Muslims wanted it to be illegal to draw cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed. Farage cited the
“The Muslim population in Britain is four million today,” he said. Farage added that by 2050 the number will increase to ten million.
Farage added that he was concerned about whether or not British Muslims “share our values.”
Farage said that he “wanted to believe” that a minority of the British Muslim population hold such positions. However, he said that the poll showed that about half of the British Muslim population has a “different set of priorities.”
London has seen among the largest protests against Israel since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. Following the attack a number of protesters lobbied outside the Israeli embassy in London.
There is a significant concern that a drop in support for President Joe Biden due to the conflict in the Middle East could cause him to lose a number of states, including Michigan and Minnesota.
