Jews 'are victims and aggressors'

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Three out of 10 Britons believe Jews have been both victims and aggressors in "roughly equal measure" through history, a survey suggests.

Some 51% thought Jews had been mostly victims, the poll for the Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire found.

A third believed criticism of Israel was legitimate in some circumstances, but often covered up anti-semitism.

Of the 1,015 adults surveyed, 23% said criticism of Israel was always legitimate as part of political debate.

Remembrance day

The survey showed 43% of people thought there was not enough emphasis on teaching the Holocaust in schools.

Dr Stephen Smith, director of the Holocaust Centre, said: "After centuries of discrimination, expulsions and pogroms culminating in the Holocaust, it suggests a lack of historical perspective that almost a third of those interviewed think of Jews as being as likely to be aggressors as victims.

The findings have been published to mark the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Ha'Shoah.