UK Jewish groups condemn Israeli minister’s invite to Tommy Robinson

Plans by an Israeli minister to host the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson have been condemned by Jewish bodies in the UK and others.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council described Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, as “a thug” who represented the “very worst of Britain”.

Both organisations spoke out after the Israeli diaspora minister, Amichai Chikli, said on Friday that Robinson would visit Israel this month after the terror attack on a Manchester synagogue. In a post on X, Chikli described Robinson as “a courageous leader on the front line against radical Islam”.

Robinson said he had accepted an invitation by the Israeli government to cover the cost of his flight and hotel stay for a few days, adding that he intended to travel after an appearance in court on 13 October.

He said he would visit the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, to meet government leaders andvisit “Judea and Samaria”, a term typically used by rightwing Israeli politicians for the West Bank.

However, the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council said of Robinson: “His presence undermines those genuinely working to tackle Islamist extremism and foster community cohesion.”

“Minister Chikli has proven himself to be a diaspora minister in name only. In our darkest hour, he has ignored the views of the vast majority of British Jews, who utterly and consistently reject Robinson and everything he stands for,” they added.

Labour Friends of Israel, which includes MPs and others, called on Chikli to withdraw the invitation, noting Robinson’s multiple criminal convictions and adding: “He’s no friend to the Jewish people. Amichai Chikli should withdraw this invitation now.”

Robinson has long been accused of seeking to weaponise a self-proclaimed role as an ally against antisemitism as a way of stoking anti-Muslim sentiment. At the same time, he has repeated far-right tropes such as the “Great Replacement”, which have antisemitic roots.

In 2023, organisers of a British march against antisemitism urged Robinson to stay away . In 2018, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in the US urged the first Trump administration to reject a visa application by Robinson.

In the past, he has been a member of the far-right British National party, which had historically been a political home for antisemites.

Robinson’s media platform, Urban Scoop, appears to have buried a long text it published online in 2022 under the title: “Tommy’s Statement: The Jewish Question”.

While it is no longer accessible in its original form on the site, the piece was intended to be Robinson’s attempt to analyse the antisemitic comments of the rapper Kanye West about the role of Jewish people in Hollywood and the media.

“[W]e should be able to discuss this elephant in the room now that Kanye has opened the door, and because its firmly in the public consciousness,” it said.

“There are powerful Jewish people, claiming to be Zionists, who have their fingers on buttons of power in the entertainment industry, in big tech, in mainstream media, in the music industry, in Hollywood and in governments.”

In a section headed “Do Jews control the media?” Robinson drew on pseudoscientific sources and added that they were in positions of power because “Jews (generally speaking, at least the white European Jews) have an average IQ of 110”.