UK to bar Israelis from The Royal College of Defence Studies amid ongoing war on Gaza

In a major blow to Tel Aviv, the UK government confirmed on Sunday that it is banning students from Israel from joining one of the country’s most prestigious defence academies, the Royal College of Defence Studies.

The ban will come into effect from next year, the government said, and comes amid Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, which has killed over 64,000 Palestinians and decimated the enclave since October 2023.

According to The Telegraph, the move marks the first time that the institution has barred Israelis since it was founded in 1927.

The report added that a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said that British military educational courses have historically been open to people from "a wide range of countries, with all UK military courses emphasising compliance with international humanitarian law".

The spokesperson continued: "However, the Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong".

They further said that "there must be a diplomatic solution to end this war now, with an immediate ceasefire, the return of hostages and a surge in humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza".

The decision comes as Israel faces global condemnation and scrutiny over war crimes committed in Gaza, including starving the population and triggering a famine by obstructing emergency aid and cutting off essential supplies to the enclave.

The Israeli army has further displaced much of the population, targeted schools, shelters, hospitals and places of worship, as well as killed over 200 journalists since the start of the war.

Despite ceasefire proposals put forward by mediators and warnings from global rights groups and the UN, Israel has continued to relentlessly pound the Strip.

The exclusion of Israel from the academy follows the UK government’s decision to also ban Israeli officials from taking part in the country’s largest arms exhibition. Last year, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer further suspended 30 of 350 British arms export licenses to Israel amid growing international pressure.

The decision to ban Israelis from the academy has angered Amir Baram, the director-general of Tel Aviv’s defence ministry, who previously studied at the same college.

Baram denounced the decision as a "profoundly dishonourable act of disloyalty to an ally at war".

The Telegraph further reported that, Baram also penned a letter to the Ministry of Defence, where he called it a "discriminatory act" that also marked a "disgraceful break with Brittain’s proud tradition of tolerance and plain decency".

The latest developments come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under fire from the families of the captives held in Gaza, who accuse him of sabotaging the prospect of a ceasefire deal.

On Saturday, a group representing them said Netanyahu was prolonging the war through its recent strikes on Qatar.

"The targeted operation in Qatar proved beyond any doubt that there is one obstacle to returning the... hostages and ending the war: Prime Minister Netanyahu," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.