UK defence academy to ban Israelis over Gaza war

Israelis will be barred from enrolling at a prestigious government-run defence studies institute in London over the war in Gaza, UK media reported Monday.

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The Royal College of Defence Studies, which is overseen by the defence ministry, will bar Israeli students from next year, according to The Times and Telegraph newspapers.

The postgraduate college part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom offers training for “strategic thinkers and leaders within the armed forces and civil service”, according to its website, with international students allowed to study specific courses.

A UK Ministry of Defence official in June confirmed to parliament that the college was providing “noncombat academic courses” to “fewer than five” members of the Israeli military.

The ministry did not immediately reply to an AFP request for comment.

But Amir Baram, the director general of Israel’s defence ministry who studied at the college, slammed the decision as a “discriminatory act” and “disloyalty to an ally at war”.

“Frankly, Israel's exclusion is nothing less than an act of self-sabotage of British security,” Baram, also a senior Israeli army military official, reportedly wrote in a letter to the UK defence ministry.