What is Tommy Robinson doing in Israel?

Posted: 17th October 2025

Far-right activist Tommy Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – travelled to Israel yesterday on an official visit.

He had been in court on Monday for refusing to give police access to his phonewhile travelling through the Channel tunnel last Summer.

The police officers said they had “reasonable suspicions that the phone contained information relevant to acts of terrorism”, while Robinson claimed it had “journalistic material on it”.

Robinson had been driving a silver Bentley registered to a friend’s addresswith more than £13,000 in a small bag, the trial heard.

Speaking outside court, Robinson boasted about how the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, had helped to pay his legal fees. “I’m grateful to Musk for giving me the opportunity to have my King’s Counsel Alasdair Williamson in there”, the far-right activist declared.

More remarkably, Williamson told the court that Robinson would be “a guest of the Israeli government in Israel tomorrow” and thus requested to delay the trial verdict date.

But what is Robinson actually doing in Israel?

He had been invited earlier this month by Israeli diaspora minister Amichai Chikli, who has broad ties to the European far-right movement including French politician Marine Le-Pen.

“Thank you for the invite Amichai”, Robinson wrote from Tel Aviv airport. “I’m honoured to be here and looking forward to meeting as many people as possible”.

It might seem contradictory for Robinson to be invited to Israel given his relationship with far-right groups in Britain which traffic in anti-Semitism.

Yet Robinson and the Israeli government have a lot in common. They both share a worldview that the West is engaged in a clash of civilisations with the Muslim world.

“Israel is surrounded by Jihad. Britain is going to be surrounded by Jihad. The problems that Israel faces are the same problems that we’re going to face”, Robinson declared in Tel Aviv.

These thoughts are shared by Netanyahu, who claimed that Israel’s growing political isolation can be attributed to “the unlimited migration of Muslim minorities into Western European countries”.

Robinson’s visit also appears to be in line with Israel’s efforts to destabilisewhat it views as adversarial states in favour of right-wing narratives, movements, and political parties.

The same minister who invited Robinson to Israel previously declared: “Starmer’s Britain lowers voting age to 16 to pander to Muslim voters. What’s next, adopting Islamist child marriages at 12?”

This attack line, according to Kings College London professor Andreas Krieg, “reflects a concerted Israeli effort to exploit and inflame socio-political fault lines in the UK”. The broader goal is “shaping the information environment in ways that are favourable to Israel’s geopolitical agenda”.

Robinson’s trip, paired with Reform MP Richard Tice’s recent visit to Tel Aviv, should be read within this broader Israeli strategic foreign policy.

The Netherlands recently designated Israel as a foreign threat to national security due to its disinformation campaigns aimed at influencing public opinion and politics. Is it time for Britain to follow suit?

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