The UK government has confirmed that British soldiers trained in Israel during its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza that began in October 2023.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Veterans Al Carns said that “fewer than five British Armed Forces personnel have studied on educational staff courses in Israel since October 2023”.
The statement marks the first official admission of UK military presence in Israeli military academies since the 7 October attack by Hamas-led fighters on southern Israel.
Royal Air Force surveillance planes are known to have been conducting surveillance flights over Gaza since the start of the war despite accusations of war crimes against Israel.
The International Court of Justice has deemed that there is a “plausible” case for genocide by Israel in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Seperately, the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
At least 100,000 Palestinians were likely killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, according to a new study released by one of Germany’s leading research institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.
‘Absolutely extraordinary’
Carns was responding to a request for comment by Zarah Sultana, a former Labour MP turned independent.
Speaking to news outlet Declassified UK, retired British general Charlie Herbert called the revelation “absolutely extraordinary”.
“Given the credible allegations of war crimes against the political and military leadership of the IDF [Israeli army], all such exchanges should have immediately ceased,” he said.
“It does our armed forces a huge disservice to be associated with the IDF, given the conduct of the IDF in Gaza since late 2023 and to think that we are training in Israel only adds to the accusations of UK complicity in this genocide.”
Despite becoming increasingly critical of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, the UK remains a staunch ally of the state and continues to collaborate with it militarily and commercially.
In August this year, Private Eye reported that the British arm of Israeli arms manufacture Elbit, Elbit Systems UK, was close to winning a major contract that would make it a “strategic partner” of Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
The deal worth £2bn ($2.69bn) would see Israel’s largest arms manufacturer train 60,000 British soldiers a year.
Elbit Systems provides around 85 percent of Israel’s drones and land-based military equipment, and has played a major role in supplying Israel with weaponry for its genocide in Gaza.
In September 2024, the British government suspended 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel after a review found there was a clear risk that British-made weapons could be used in violation of international humanitarian law.
Licences for parts for F-35 fighter jets, which are directly used in Gaza, were among those exempted from the embargo.
