Israel’s embrace of Tommy Robinson deepens rift with British Jewry

Israel has “made the crisis for Britain’s Jews even worse,” said journalist Melanie Phillips, reacting to the Israeli government’s decision to invite far-right activist Tommy Robinson to visit the country. The move has triggered a bitter row between Israel and Jewish community leaders in the UK who view Robinson as a far-right agitator.

Phillips, a long-time defender of Israel, said the invitation by Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli amounted to “a very stupid and dangerous mistake,” accusing Israel’s government of “handing an unexpected weapon to the enemies of Israel and the Jewish people in Britain.”

Her remarks came after Chikli announced that Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, would be hosted in Israel this month “as a courageous leader on the front line against radical Islam.” The minister said Robinson’s visit was intended to “strengthen bonds with allies who refuse to be silent.”

In the wake of the horrific Manchester terrorist attack, Israel and the Jewish people stand firmly with our allies in the United Kingdom.

On behalf of the State of Israel, I am proud to host British patriot @TRobinsonNewEra who will visit Israel in mid-October.

Tommy is a… pic.twitter.com/D7gcNvHMFj

— עמיחי שיקלי – Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) October 3, 2025

Robinson confirmed that the Israeli government would pay for his flight and accommodation, and said he planned to meet Knesset members, visit “Judea and Samaria” — the term used by right-wing Israeli politicians for the occupied West Bank — and tour Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial. 

The decision has been condemned by leading Jewish bodies in Britain, who described Robinson as a dangerous extremist and said the invitation showed contempt for the Jewish community’s views. 

READ: Islamophobia unites Israel and Europe’s far-right

In a joint statement, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) called Robinson “a thug who represents the very worst of Britain.”

“In our darkest hour, [Minister Chikli] has ignored the views of the vast majority of British Jews, who utterly and consistently reject Robinson and everything he stands for,” the organisations said.

The statement accused the Israeli minister of being “a diaspora minister in name only.”

Labour Friends of Israel also urged Chikli to withdraw the invitation, noting Robinson’s criminal record and history of far-right activism. “He’s no friend to the Jewish people,” the group said.

Condemnation also came from within Israel. Gilad Kariv, chair of the Knesset Committee on Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, said Robinson’s visit “is a disgraceful exploitation of the role of Diaspora Affairs Minister.”

“Tommy Robinson is a racist and violent criminal,” Kariv said. “His support for Israel does not erase his antisemitic past or his extreme-nationalist positions. Cooperating with him is a slap in the face of British Jewry.”

Kariv’s remarks followed growing alarm in Israel about Chikli’s broader efforts to cultivate ties with Europe’s far-right movements, some with anti-Semitic roots. In March, Chikli invited representatives from France’s National Rally, Spain’s Vox, and Hungary’s Fidesz to a Jerusalem conference on what was described as combating anti-Semitism. The event prompted boycotts from Jewish and human rights figures, including Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt.

In an article titled “A Very Stupid and Dangerous Mistake,” Phillips said that Israeli ministers had “pulled the rug from under the feet of Israel’s defenders” in Britain and “made life even more dangerous for British Jews.”

She described Robinson as “a thug who shows contempt for justice, order and the rule of law” and said Israel’s embrace of him would according to Phillips “allow Islamists and their fellow travellers to paint Zionism as aligned with far-right extremism.”

Robinson, a former leader of the far-right group known as the English Defence League, has attempted to reinvent himself as a pro-Israel activist. Yet he has reportedly published anti-Semitic material, including a 2022 essay titled “The Jewish Question,” which repeated conspiracy theories about Jewish control of the media and finance.

Nevertheless, Robinson has been promoted and financially supported by pro-Israel advocacy networks in the US and Europe that frame him as a defender of Israel and a “truth-teller” on Islamist extremism.

Historians have long noted the paradoxical relationship between anti-Semites and Zionism. In the 1930s, for example, Zionist groups agreed a pact with Nazis known as the Haavara (Transfer) Agreement. It allowed some German Jews to emigrate to Palestine by transferring part of their assets through a German-Zionist trade arrangement — a deal negotiated under the Nazi regime. 

Though intended as a means of rescue, it has since become emblematic of the uneasy relationship between Zionism and fascism. Today, scholars and community leaders warn that similar paradoxes are re-emerging as segments of Europe’s far right adopt pro-Israel rhetoric while continuing to promote anti-Jewish or xenophobic ideas at home.

For many British Jews, already reeling from rising anti-Semitism, Israel’s decision has deepened their sense of isolation. 

The result, Jewish leaders warn, is a growing perception that Israel’s government has chosen political expediency over moral clarity and, in doing so, has made life for Britain’s Jews not safer, but more precarious than ever.

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