UK war college fretted that ban on Israeli genocide troops would be bad PR

One of the UK’s top military colleges fought to distance itself from a September 2025 government ban on training Israeli officers. The head of the college sought advice, fearing that banning the genocidal settler-colony’s forces would be bad optics. A truly strange perception of what constitutes bad PR…

Al Jazeera gained access to emails which show concerned internal discussions at the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS).

The outlet reported on 13 April:

The British government made the decision, which was widely reported in international media, amid a wave of condemnation of Israel’s escalation of the war, calling the planned ground offensive “wrong”.

However:

Previously unreported correspondence shows that the move prompted discussion within the RCDS about potential harm to its reputation as an institution which welcomes students of all backgrounds, leading its head to ask a senior military official to ensure that the public would be aware that the college played no role in the decision.

The head of the college, RCDS commandant George Norton, emailed British general Tom Copinger-Symes for advice just after the ban started in September 2025.

Norton told Copinger-Symes:

that it would “appear to be important” for Jenny Chapman, the UK’s development minister, to highlight that the college does not invite or select participants in its courses, and that invitations were “rather a government-to-government matter”.

Israeli genocide: optics of banning a pariah state

His main worry appears to have been optics, rather than the idea the college might be training the genocidal military personnel of a pariah state. Norton wanted it made clear that the government, not the college, had come up with the ban.

These key pieces of information have been absent from the majority of media portrayal, generating a perception that RCDS itself is deciding which countries to invite or not to invite.

Norton also expressed a concern about making it clear the college was not trying to undermine government policy:

I would be grateful for your support in underlining this position in our public narrative, without of course creating a perception that RCDS (or CSOC) is seeking to undermine government policy.

Copinger-Symes said he would “see what we can do”.

‘Positively engaging’ and ‘diversity’.

Another RCDS staff member, deputy commandant Tamara Jennings, wrote in an email:

I appreciate that while we fall under MOD, we do have a standalone brand and our reputation as a welcoming college that positively wants to engage with all as that diversity and dealing with places we would not always agree with on a topic is exactly what this place is about.

So a story which says RCDS have banned anyone is unhelpful, both in terms of attribution of the decision and the term ‘ban’.

Our colleagues at Declassified UK were first to report the story on 29 July 2025. They said:

At least two Israeli colonels have attended the prestigious Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) since 2023.

After weeks of stonewalled inquiries to the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the military was forced to disclose:

that IDF soldiers were studying at the RCDS, admitting that fewer than five officers had trained there in 2023 and 2024.

The MoD did not offer the names and ranks of the officers or provide figures for 2025.

However:

Declassified was able to find details of one Israeli officer who graduated this summer because the RCDS Commandant posted photos of them on his social media accounts.

The UK military is well known for training military personnel from nations on its own human rights watchlists. The latest revelation of such activity came via the NGO Action of Armed Violence on 27 March.

However it is notable that:

Israel does not appear in the dataset, despite the MoD previously confirming that a “limited number” of Israeli personnel have been trained in the UK. No explanation is given for the omission.

That the UK’s top military college was worried that a ban on personnel from a genocidal army would be bad PR is remarkable. And the fact one staff member drew on the language of ‘diversity’ in her complaint about the ban – or its framing in official comms – must be too. Why, one ought to ask, would an educational institution want members of an army which has been carrying out war crimes in attendance anyway?

It’s hard not to think this is same old colonial arrogance, the British military have embodied for centuries. Perhaps in future, they’ll be more careful what they write in their emails…

Featured image via the Canary