Jews in Britain are facing unprecedented levels of anti-Semitism, and “have become more anxious and more vulnerable to abuse and attack than at any other time for a generation or longer,” according to a report released this month by the British All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism.

The report details a rise within Britain of anti-Jew acts of abuse and violence against persons and property. It also documents the increase in public discussion grounded in criticism against the State of Israel that crosses the line into something more sinister—a more subtle but unmistakable and increasingly pervasive general hatred of Jews.

Though the majority in Britain would have considered anti-Semitism a marginal viewpoint in the past, the report claims that, since the year 2000, “It is clear that violence, desecration of property, and intimidation directed toward Jews is on the rise ….”

The inquiry provides ample proof of how not only has the traditional anti-Semitism of the far right flared up in recent years, but how it has been joined by a new anti-Semitism on the left in politics, newsmedia and academia. Among British liberals in particular, Israel has come to be routinely accused of explicit racism, and criticisms of Israeli foreign policy bleed into out-and-out resentment of Jews generally.

Added to these groups is Britain’s rising tide of Islamism, an ideology thoroughly leavened with anti-Semitism. Thus, the report shows, certain anti-Semitic ideas are increasingly providing common ground for Britons of every political stripe and Islamist radicals. The report says:

Anti-Semitism is no longer the sole preserve of the political far right, as it was throughout much of the 20th century. It now occurs across the political spectrum. The anti-Semitic stereotypes and themes discussed in the previous chapter are utilised by groups with a variety of political and religious perspectives. Groups and organisations that appear to be ideologically incompatible are uniting in their opposition to the actions of the Israeli government and we were particularly concerned to hear evidence that the language and imagery used to express this opposition has, in some cases, become polluted by anti-Semitism. …Alliances between extremist and fundamentalist groups have created links between groups on the far left and radical Islamists who do not share traditional left-wing views on issues such as the rights of homosexuals and ethnic groups and women’s suffrage.

This major finding in the report says much about the climate of today’s Britain. Having sharply broken from its imperial past and cut loose from its traditional moral moorings, the nation is experiencing a slide to the left in political and academic circles (markedly manifested as a popular rejection of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s loyalty to George W. Bush and support of the “war on terror”).

At the same time, it is embracing a virtual flood of immigrants and asylum seekers—including many known Islamist extremists—and bending over backward to demonstrate its hospitality toward their cultures and religious beliefs, no matter how extreme. Thanks to lax immigration and social benefits policies, Britain has attracted and become home to swaths of outrageously radical Islamists, who, in the words of commentator Melanie Phillips in her book Londonistan, find its capital city “to be more hospitable and tolerant than any other place on the globe.”

Unfortunately, of course, tolerance of certain things equates to rabid intolerance of certain other things.

The fact that these ideological earthquakes are combining to produce an increase in anti-Semitic abuse, violence and rhetoric in public discourse in Britain should hardly come as a shock.

This state of affairs provides evidence of a growing divide, pushed by public opinion, between Britain and Israel, which have traditionally been strong allies. The British public is creating a similar separation between Britain and the United States. Sadly, fractures separating these three entities will only leave all three of them weaker for it.