The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that Israel’s participation in UK military education programmes, including at the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS), has been paused following the Israeli government’s escalation of operations in Gaza.
Responding to a series of written questions in the House of Lords, Defence Minister Lord Coaker said that UK military education “has long been open to personnel from a wide range of countries, with all UK military courses emphasising compliance with international humanitarian law.”
However, he added: “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. We have therefore paused future Israeli participation in UK-run courses.”
Lord Coaker clarified that the RCDS, as part of the Ministry of Defence, “implements Government policy and decisions.” He stated that all relevant teams across the Department, including RCDS, were informed of the decision to pause future allocations of training and education places for Israeli personnel.
In response to a separate question from Lord West of Spithead, Coaker confirmed that “28 places have been taken up by Israeli Defence Forces on the Royal College of Defence Studies since 2000.”
When asked by Lord Weir of Ballyholme why military personnel from China and Qatar were not subject to similar bans, Coaker said that the provision of professional military education “is dependent on the nature of our partnerships and course availability, and is kept under regular review.”
He added that all such decisions are made “on a case-by-case basis and are underpinned by a robust assessment as to the benefits, risks, and compliance with international human rights law.”
And it aeens Trump might have achieved just that.
Or maybe, forced it.
So when will they be returning?
Curse the day the edit function was lost here.
Seems.
Daniele you been on the whiskey again 😂😂
I know some have a moral issue ( and that is ok they are allowed) but I firmly sit on the pragmatic bus on this one. So for me the question is not wrong or right but national interest.
Now the brutal truth is supporting the Palestinian people per se has no real national interest to the UK, the government of Gaza hate our guts and are completely apposed to our way of life. So supporting a Palestinian state in that form does not seem to support our interest.
Isreal on the other hand is a wealthy democracy that we trade with so being on good terms with them it’s important… BUT
The wider Arab and Muslim majority states hold far more economic and geostrategic importance than Israel ever will, so what they think about what Israel is doing has massive geopolitical implications for the UK stance on Israel.
Finally we have internal politics.. political warfare by extremist Muslim states and none state actors as well as enemies of the west ( Iran, Syrian groups, the Islamic state groups, hamas, Hezbollah, china, Russia etc) have created a profound domestic political issue that weakens the UK government’s ability to pursue a purely pragmatic national interest agenda…which is what they should be doing.
So for me the only points that matter as a nation
1) good relationships with the key region Islamic powers that accept the west as a partner.
2) good relationship with Israel
3) maintaining stability within the UK
That is not a personal moral set of priorities..just saying.
J for PM.
I don’t think anyone would go for my sort of serious mercantilism or utter pragmatic approach to foreign policy and foreign economics policy.. when it comes to domestic politics im a light and fluffy liberal middle of the road fence sitter.. but on geopolitics I would eat with the devil if it was of benefit to the UK…I’m so anti Neoliberal globalisation it’s not funny ( because I think neoliberal globalisation has actually lead to the far left and far right spit we are seeing in western politics that is destroying our societies from within.. I think people are allowed to hold either view but when you start getting to a three way equal split between the far right middle and far left the shit hits because the two ends really cannot abide each other and will not accommodate and if 60%-70% of the population will not agree to disagree your up the creek.. you need at least 50% in the middle calming it all down).. so the left would hate me as I worked with right wing governs.. the right hate me as I made a deal with the communists and the middle would dislike the fact I would work with everyone but arm the country like I was planning a war.