UK psychological warfare unit collaborated with Israeli army

Exclusive: The British army’s 77th brigade held secret exchanges with the IDF, leaked files reveal.

Britain secretly advised the Israeli military on psychological warfare techniques, Declassified has found.

Leaked documents reveal how the British army’s 77th brigade discussed strategy and tactics with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

The 77th brigade uses psychological operations and social media to help fight wars “in the information age”.

It specialises in “non-lethal forms of psychological warfare” such as cyber-attacks, propaganda activities, and counter-insurgency operations online.

Israel’s own information operations have involved using fabricated videos and fake social media accounts to defend the bombing of Gaza.

Two exchanges with the IDF took place at the 77th brigade’s barracks in Hermitage, Berkshire, between 2018-19.

Leaked documents about the encounters originate from a hack of the IDF by a group called “Anonymous for Justice”. The dataset was subsequently published by Distributed Denial of Secrets.

Although some of the documents reference “secret” matters, there is strong public interest in reporting on their contents.

Israel is being investigated by international courts for genocide and war crimes in Gaza, while the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) refuses to answer freedom of information requests or parliamentary questions about its military assistance to Israel.

Professor Paul Rogers, an honorary fellow of the Joint Services Command and Staff College, commented: “This is a highly significant revelation that shows the extent of high level links between Israeli and British counter-insurgency and psychological warfare operators – and, as ever, the need for greater transparency from the military right across the board”.

An MoD spokesperson said: “We regularly conduct non-operational defence engagements at staff level with partners across the globe. All engagement focuses on best practices and is in compliance with International Humanitarian Law”.

The department refused to clarify whether psychological warfare collaboration with Israel was ongoing.