Eurasia Press & News
To protect its ally, Britain’s military is refusing to give details about its coaching of Israeli troops.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has rejected a freedom of information request that would shed light on training it is providing to Israeli armed forces personnel in Britain.
The refusal comes as Israeli forces invade southern Lebanon, sparking a major new crisis in the Middle East.
The rejection is the first sign that Keir Starmer’s new Labour government has adopted the Conservative’s secretive approach towards the training.
Last February, the MoD admitted in answer to a parliamentary question that there were six Israeli military officers posted in the UK.
It said that “Israel is represented by Armed Forces personnel in its Embassy in the UK, and as participants in UK defence-led training courses”.
Asked in parliament in May for details of those training courses, a UK defence minister said: “This information is being withheld in order to protect personal information and to avoid prejudicing relations between the United Kingdom and another State”.
The freedom of information request asked: “Which ‘defence-led training courses’ Israeli armed forces personnel in Britain are currently undertaking and the location of these courses.”
In response, the MoD accepted that “all the information” in the scope of this request “is held”.
However, it refused to disclose details in order to “protect personal information” and “because some of the information has the potential to adversely affect relations with our allies”. This is clearly a reference to Israel.
Information blackout
The UK MoD’s willingness to protect its alliance with Israel will surely come under further scrutiny as Israeli ground forces invade Lebanon.
It is not clear if the British training is significantly aiding those forces in combat operations.
More than one million people have been displaced in Lebanon since Israel escalated airstrikes on its neighbour last month, killing hundreds of people.
The training of Israeli forces in Britain is taking place at a time when the country’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, along with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is wanted by the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor for war crimes.
The Labour government appears to be continuing to impose a blackout on providing much information to the public and parliament about its support for Israel as it continues its mass attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.
The previous British government refused to provide information about the Israeli military aircraft that have recently landed in Britain. It also failed to provide details about the dozens of Royal Air Force flights that have gone to Israel in recent months.
The reason for the information blackout is possibly to protect British ministers from being prosecuted for complicity in war crimes.
As far as Declassified is aware, the UK government’s admission that it is training Israeli forces in Britain has not been mentioned in the UK national media.
Freedom of information requests about British training of foreign countries, including Israel, used to be routinely answered by the MoD prior to the conflict in Gaza.
