Britain bans Israelis from prestigious military academy

 Israelis have been banned from one of Britain’s most prestigious defence academies over the war in Gaza.

The Royal College of Defence Studies will not accept students from Israel from next year, the Government confirmed.

Amir Baram, the director general of Israel’s defence ministry, who studied at the college, said the decision was “a profoundly dishonourable act of disloyalty to an ally at war”.

In a letter to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), shared with The Telegraph, he called it a “discriminatory act” that amounted to a “disgraceful break with Britain’s proud tradition of tolerance – and plain decency”.

It is the first time that the college has excluded Israelis.

Maj Gen Baram said the decision came at a time when Israel was “defending international shipping from Houthi aggression, preventing nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of an Islamist regime that chants ‘Death to England’, and fighting to bring home 48 hostages from Hamas captivity”.

The establishment’s response is to silence Israeli voices... Frankly, Israel’s exclusion is nothing less than an act of self-sabotage of British security,” the director general added.

An MoD spokesman said British military educational courses had long been open to personnel from a “wide range of countries, with all UK military courses emphasising compliance with international humanitarian law”.

He added: “However, the Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong.

“There must be a diplomatic solution to end this war now, with an immediate ceasefire, the return of the hostages and a surge in humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”

The Israeli ministry of defence said that the ban was on all Israeli citizens enrolling, not just soldiers.

The royal college said its postgraduate course in international strategic studies focusses on “political, diplomatic, security, social and economic issues at the grand strategic level – the level at which governments take decisions on these issues both nationally and within the international community

But its main course is “practical rather than theoretical”, the institution noted.

Some 110 members from the UK and overseas enrol in the programme each year. Notable alumni include Field Marshall Alan Francis Brooke, chief of the Imperial General Staff during the Second World War, and Pervez Musharraf, former president of Pakistan.

The Royal College of Defence Studies is part of the UK’s Defence Academy, which is overseen by the Ministry of Defence. 

It was established in 1927 in accordance with Winston Churchill’s vision of “promoting greater understanding between senior military officers, diplomats, civil servants and officials”.

Punitive actions

The exclusion of Israelis from the college is the latest in a string of punitive actions against Israel taken by Downing Street.

The Government banned Israeli officials from participating in the UK’s largest arms exhibition this weekend, and last year Sir Keir Starmer suspended 30 out of 350 British arms export licences to Israel.

The Prime Minister also said Britain would recognise a Palestinian State at the UN General Assembly in New York later this month unless Israel stopped its war against Hamas in Gaza and committed to not annexing the West Bank.

Israel has criticised Sir Keir for these actions, with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, accusing him of “rewarding Hamas” by promising to recognise Palestine.

Mr Netanyahu also called the halting of arms sales to Israel “shameful”, saying that Britain’s “misguided decision” would “only embolden Hamas”.

He said: “Just as Britain’s heroic stand against the Nazis is seen today as having been vital in defending our common civilisation, so too will history judge Israel’s stand against Hamas and Iran’s axis of terror.”

On Friday, 142 countries at the UN General Assembly voted in favour of a non-binding resolution endorsing “tangible, time-bound, and irreversible steps” towards a two-state solution, while calling for Hamas to release all hostages and condemning the Oct 7 2023 massacre.

The annual general debate at the assembly will begin on Sept 23, when Emmanuel Macron, the French president, is expected to recognise the state of Palestine.

With Israel attempting to assassinate senior Hamas leadership in Qatar last week and preparing for a major ground offensive in Gaza City, the prospects of a ceasefire are low.

It is not known whether Sir Keir will follow through on his commitment to recognise Palestine.

Hostage families criticise Netanyahu

The main Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages held in Gaza said on Saturday that Mr Netanyahu was the chief obstacle to freeing the captives, shortly after he had accused Hamas’s leaders of prolonging the war.

“The targeted operation in Qatar proved beyond any doubt that there is one obstacle to returning the... hostages and ending the war: Prime Minister Netanyahu,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement, referring to Israel’s recent strike on a meeting of Hamas members in the Gulf state.