A senior British soldier is heading to Israel for a briefing from the country’s military, despite it being under investigation for genocide and war crimes, Declassified has found.
The trip will be led by major general Zachary Stenning, a former commandant of Sandhurst officer academy.
He is now a director of Strategic Command, part of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Known as StratCom, it describes its role as “learning and adapting to make Defence more lethal…We are the capabilities you don’t usually see. Or those you can’t.”
The trip is taking place just weeks after the Israeli military’s head of operations, General Oded Basyuk, had to be given immunity from prosecution to visit the MoD in London.
Israeli generals are afraid of being detained abroad after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over the siege of Gaza.
Business as usual
Although the UK government has banned the export of certain weapons to Israel, Declassified understands that the MoD is routinely conducting bilateral military engagement with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
John Deverell, a retired brigadier who was director of defence diplomacy at the MoD, told Declassified that British soldiers should not be visiting Israel at this time.
He said: “Our MoD should not have anything to do with their Israeli opposite numbers – and nor should British armed forces as a whole.
“Any relationship between the two militaries is useful to the IDF because an onlooker can infer that the British Army agrees with how the IDF conducts operations. In effect, it gives a sort of fig leaf to the IDF.
“But the danger to the British of the series of meetings that are apparently taking place is significant. At the least we are perceived as non-critical of the IDF. And at worst we may be seen as complicit in war crimes.
“So, notwithstanding the possible value of the relationship to the British side – perhaps in terms of technological know-how – we should cut off all links forthwith.
“Indeed, we should have done that as soon as the first allegations of violations of international humanitarian law by the IDF were made. And that was well over a year ago.”
Amnesty International has accused Israel of commiting genocide in Gaza and called on the UK to “immediately suspend…military and security assistance”.
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Britain’s most senior military figures have already made at least five unpublicised visits to Israel since October 2023.
They include the chief of the defence staff, the head of the Royal Air Force and the commander of StratCom.
Meanwhile top Israeli officials have visited the UK including its chief of staff Herzi Halevi, who received immunity like Basyuk.
Stenning, who leads the most recent trip, was previously head of military strategy in the MoD and received medals for “gallant and distinguished services” in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.
An MoD spokesperson told Declassified: “As part of the concerted UK effort to support security and stability in the Middle East and to achieve a peaceful resolution following ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, we continue to conduct defence engagement in the region alongside partners and allies.”
The IDF and Israeli Ministry of Defence did not respond to requests for comment.
