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Israel–United Kingdom relations

Bilateral relations

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Through United Kingdom, Palestine and World War I

History

Anglo-Yishuv relations (1914–48)

Britain seized Palestine from the Ottoman Empire during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in World War I. Close cooperation between Britain and the Yishuv, the nascent pre-state Jewish community in Palestine, developed during this time, when Britain received intelligence from the Nili Jewish spy network, which assisted British forces in conquering Palestine. Additionally, over 5000 Jews from various countries served in the Jewish Legion of the British Army which fought at Gallipoli and in the Palestine Campaign, although some Palestinian Jews also served in the Ottoman Army. In 1917, Britain issued the pro-Zionist Balfour Declaration, which called for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Six weeks afterward, British troops concluded the Palestine campaign, driving out the Ottoman army from Jerusalem, under the leadership of Field Marshal Allenby. The British then took control of Palestine. In 1920, Britain established its authority under the Mandate for Palestine granted by the League of Nations, which was confirmed in the San Remo Agreement of 1922. A High Commissioner was appointed with instructions to allow the Jews to build their national home, and spent 31 years in charge of British Mandate Palestine under a League of Nations mandate that originally extended to both sides of the Jordan River. In 1921, Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill visited the Jewish community and endorsed the fulfillment of long-standing Jewish aspirations to the land. In 1922, he separated Transjordan from the mandate, reconstituting it as an emirate ruled by the Hashemites. He also issued the White Paper of 1922, reaffirming Britain's commitment to the Balfour Declaration while stipulating that Jewish immigration be limited by the country's economic absorptive capacity.

Following the 1920 Nebi Musa riots, the Yishuv's leadership created the Haganah, a nationwide defense organization. During the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, the Haganah actively assisted the British Army, which in turn financed a Haganah-controlled Jewish police force known as Notrim. The crushing of the revolt decisively tipped the balance of power in Palestine in favor of the Yishuv. However, Britain also recognized a need to avoid antagonizing the wider Arab world. In 1937, the Peel Commission presented a plan for a Jewish state and an Arab state. After this was rejected, the British District Commissioner for the Galilee, Lewis Yelland Andrews was assassinated by Arab gunmen in Nazareth. In 1939, Britain announced the White Paper of 1939, which greatly restricted Jewish immigration and land purchases and called for a single unitary state in Palestine. In response to the White Paper, Jewish paramilitary group Irgun (an offshoot from the Haganah) began to carry out operations against the British.

World War II necessitated cooperation between Britain and the Jewish paramilitaries in Palestine. The Irgun halted its operations against the British and opted for temporary cooperation, including a mission to assist the British in the Anglo-Iraqi War. To prepare for a possible Axis invasion of Palestine, Britain assisted the Haganah in the creation of Palmach, a commando section specialized in sabotage and guerilla warfare. Members of Palmach fought alongside the British in the Syria–Lebanon campaign. Following the Second Battle of El Alamein, Britain withdrew its support for the Palmach and tried to disarm it, resulting in the Palmach going underground. In 1944, Britain created the Jewish Brigade, a military formation consisting of Yishuv volunteers, which fought in the Italian campaign. 30,000 Palestinian Jews ended up serving in the British army during the war.

With World War II nearing an end, the Irgun renewed its campaign against the British. From 1944 and onwards, the British faced a growing Jewish insurgency in Palestine. 784 British soldiers and civilians were killed in the insurgency. The army's failure to defeat the insurgents convinced the British government that Palestine was a lost cause, and directly led to its decision to withdraw from the territory. In February 1947, the British government – having already decided to withdraw from India – announced it was handing the mandate back to the League of Nations. The British mandate was relinquished and the establishment of the State of Israel was affirmed by a United Nations General Assembly resolution. The conflict with the insurgents continued until the last British soldier left Palestine; at the end of April 1948, British forces fought a small battle against Zionist militias near Jaffa, temporarily preventing a Jewish takeover of the city, while failing to expel the militias from Menashiya.

Israel independence period (1948–1950)

Relations between Israel and Britain were hostile during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, at one point bringing the two countries to the edge of direct military confrontation. Britain, which had military forces in Egypt and Transjordan and defense agreements with both nations, foresaw possible military intervention on their behalf. Early in the war, a Royal Air Force base in Amman was hit during an Israeli raid on the city. The British threatened to attack the Israeli Air Force if such an action was repeated. During the battles in Sinai, the Royal Air Force conducted almost daily reconnaissance missions over Israel and the Sinai. RAF reconnaissance aircraft took off from Egyptian airbases and sometimes flew alongside Royal Egyptian Air Force planes, and high-flying British aircraft frequently flew over Haifa and Ramat David Airbase. The British government planned military action against Israel codenamed Operation Clatter in the event of an Israeli invasion of Egypt and the flights were deployed to discover the strength of the Israeli Air Force and locate its forward bases.

On 20 November 1948, an unarmed RAF photo-reconnaissance de Havilland Mosquito was shot down by an Israeli Air Force P-51 Mustang. On 7 January 1949, four British Spitfire FR18s flew over an Israeli convoy that had been attacked by five Egyptian Spitfires fifteen minutes earlier. Fearing an imminent attack, Israeli ground troops opened fire on the British Spitfires, and shot down one with a tank-mounted machine gun. The remaining three Spitfires were subsequently shot down by Israeli planes, and two pilots were killed. Two of the surviving pilots were taken to Tel Aviv and interrogated, and were later released. The Israelis dragged the wrecks of the British planes into Israeli territory, but failed to conceal them before they were photographed by British reconnaissance planes. In response, the Royal Air Force readied its planes to bomb Israeli airfields, British troops in the Middle East were placed on high alert with all leave cancelled, and British citizens were advised to leave Israel. Convinced the British would not allow the loss of five aircraft and two pilots go without retaliation, the Israelis were determined to repel any retaliatory airstrike, and made preparations to defend their airbases. However, British commanders defied pressure from the squadrons involved in the incidents, and refused to authorize any strikes. Following a British ultimatum to vacate the Sinai, Israeli forces pulled back. War between Israel and the United Kingdom was thus avoided.

In the aftermath of the 1948–1949 war, Israel and France successfully worked to oppose Anglo-Iraqi plans for an Iraqi takeover of Syria.

Relations post 1950

In 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal and blocked the Straits of Tiran to ships bound to Israel, whilst encouraging violent terror attacks into Israel via Egyptian-controlled Gaza. Britain and France resolved to secure the Suez Canal by force. Although Israel had its own problems with Egypt and wanted to attack, Britain was hesitant to fight alongside the Israelis, lest the ensuing backlash in the Arab world threaten London's close allies in Baghdad and Amman. In the end, the government of Anthony Eden reluctantly included Israel in the war plans, due to French pressure and the need for a local ally. In November 1956, Israel attacked Egypt, and Britain and France seized most of the Suez Canal before financial and diplomatic intervention by Russia and the United States forced them to halt their advance. This marked the point where Israeli-British relations were at their best.

In 1958, the 14 July Revolution took place in Iraq, resulting in the murder of the King Faisal II and the creation of an Iraqi Republic. Fearing that the same thing could happen in Jordan, King Hussein appealed to Britain to come to his aid. While officially at war with Jordan, Israel shared Britain's interest in keeping Hussein on the throne, and agreed to allow British troops to be flown in through Israeli airspace.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the UK was seen as pro-Arab, maintaining close relations with Jordan and the Gulf states. However, in 1975 the UK voted against the motion in the UN that “Zionism is racism.”

Relations were strained in the 1980s. During the 1982 Lebanon War, Britain imposed an arms embargo on Israel, which were not lifted until 1994. Relations further worsened after Israel supplied weaponry to Argentina during the 1982 Falklands War.

There were also two diplomatic incidents during the 1980s that involved operations by the Mossad (Israeli secret service). In 1986, a bag containing eight forged British passports was discovered in a telephone booth in West Germany. The passports had been the work of Mossad, and were intended for the Israeli Embassy in London for use in covert operations. The British government, furious, demanded that Israel give a promise not forge its passports again, which was obtained. In June 1988, two Israeli diplomats, Arie Regev and Jacob Barad, from the Mossad station in London were expelled and the station closed after a Palestinian post graduate student living in Hull, Ismail Sowan, was convicted to eleven years in prison for possession of a large arms cache, and it was revealed that he had been a Mossad double agent for ten years.

In 1993, the British Government privately held the belief that Israel was in possession of nuclear weapons, but had no hard evidence to confirm or deny this belief.

Relations improved significantly in the 2000s and 2010s. In June 2019, the Royal Air Force and the Israeli Air Force carried out their first-ever joint exercise. In December 2020, the countries signed an agreement on military cooperation, the text of which has not been published for UK national security reasons.

In September 2026, following the announcement of British sanctions on goods from illegal settlements in the West Bank, Israel decreed the closure of the British Consulate General in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.

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