A new survey has revealed that young British Christians are more likely to hold anti-Jewish views than older generations.

The study, funded by a coalition of antisemitism watchdogs, looked at Christians’ perception of Jewish people and Israel, in light of the current Middle East conflict.

“Young Brits are significantly more likely to hold very negative opinions of Jews and Israel, than older British Christians,” said researcher Dr Motti Inbari, a professor of Jewish studies at the University of North Carolina, and co-author of the national study, ‘A Survey of British Christian Attitudes Towards the Israel-Palestine Conflict.’

Only half of young Christian respondents said they believed Jesus to be Jewish – with the rest either unsure, or of the belief that he was non-Jewish.

Across all ages, a third said they felt Jewish people speak “too much” about the Holocaust.

Dr Inbari told Premier that one reason behind the trend is a disapproval of the state of Israel’s actions in Gaza: “The image of Jews tends to be mixed with the image of the of the conflict.”

Overall, Brits showed an even split in their views on the Gaza conflict, with 23.6% supporting Israel and 22.5% saying they back Palestine. Most - 37.3% - were neutral, and 16.6 percent ‘didn’t know’.

“There’s this thing which we call the ‘Judeo-Christian civilisation’,” Dr Inbari said: “We are hoping that Christians will understand the context of Christianity.

“If you understand the roots of Christianity, maybe you will develop a better views of Jews eventually.”

Dr Inbari highlighted that churches could be a good place to have open discussions about inbuilt prejudice. “Let’s first have a conversation," he told Premier: "because most people say that they never hear their pastor talking about [antisemitism], or seldom hear other members of the church talking about [prejudice]. So let's start having a conversation, because typically it's not part of the conversation at all.”