A secretive government move to bar Israeli officers from Britain’s top defence academy is attracting criticism. Labour’s decision to exclude Israeli officers from Britain’s elite Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) poses questions over Britain’s stance on Israel and its intervention against Hamas terrorists in Gaza,
The government confirmed that Israeli officers will no longer be admitted to the RCDS from 2026. Ministers have not explained the reasoning, but critics say the “dubious decision” risks undermining a key security partnership.
The exclusion also drew sharp criticism from Nigel Farage, who warned that the decision sends the wrong signal at a time when UK–Israel relations are already under strain.
While celebrating the defection of senior Conservative MP Danny Kruger to Reform UK, Farage said he was firmly opposed to excluding soldiers from the Jewish state:
I don’t think we should be doing that. We’ve always been a great ally of Israel. It doesn’t mean we support every single thing they do … but it seems to me that all the pressure is heading in the wrong direction.
Farage added that hostility to Israel risks sliding into antisemitism (at a time when the London Metropolitan Police announced the arrest of the main suspect in a series of antisemitic attacks on properties in Golders Green in the London Borough of Barnet.)
The announcement came after families of British citizens murdered or still held by Hamas urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a Downing Street meeting to step up pressure on the Islamist group. They called for sanctions and other measures to secure the release of 48 hostages still in Gaza.
