UK poll finds 78 percent see Israel as serious threat to world peace

A new poll by Britain's National Centre for Social Research indicates that 78 percent of respondents consider Israel a serious threat to world peace, compared with about 48 percent two decades ago, Mehr News reported. The figure stood at 73 percent in the fall of 2024 and, after a temporary decline, rose again in the spring of 2026. In the same survey, 74 percent of participants also described the United States as a serious threat to world peace, up from about 35 percent in 2024.

The report links the shift to the historical role of Britain, whose then foreign secretary Arthur Balfour announced on November 2, 1917, his government's support for the establishment of a so-called national home for Jews in Palestine. The Balfour Declaration is described as a turning point that converted the political aspiration of the Zionist movement into a project backed by a major power. During the British Mandate over Palestine from 1922 to 1947, London administered the territory and, according to the report, played an important role in providing the grounds for the formation of Israel.

According to the article, the change in public opinion is rooted primarily in Israel's military operations in Gaza after October 7, 2023, which it says destroyed large parts of residential areas and vital infrastructure, collapsed much of the healthcare system and displaced many Palestinians. It cites Gaza's Ministry of Health as recording more than 74,000 Palestinians killed and about 175,000 wounded by September 27, 2026. It also refers to a September 2025 finding by the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry that Israeli officials and forces committed genocide in Gaza, along with war crimes and crimes against humanity, and to the International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion declaring the continuation of Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal.

The report argues that the shift reflects a perception that events in Palestine form part of a long-term pattern of occupation, settlement expansion and restrictions on Palestinian rights, rather than a temporary incident. It adds that the expansion of Israel's operations to Lebanon and Syria and its direct confrontation with Iran have reinforced concerns that its security and military policies have themselves become a factor in regional instability. The article also notes that Washington's continued backing of Israel has prompted questions in Western public opinion about the consistency of great powers' commitment to international order and human rights.

The report cautions that the change in British public attitudes does not amount to a change in London's official policy or an end to its support for Israel, since governments still decide on security, economic and strategic considerations. It adds, however, that widespread public opposition can raise the political cost of that support and influence future decisions. According to Mehr News, the poll points to an erosion of the political and diplomatic immunity Israel long enjoyed in parts of the Western world, and suggests that international legitimacy depends on political behavior and adherence to the rights of nations rather than on historical declarations.