An Israeli military delegation led by Major General Oded Basyuk visited Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) today, Declassified can reveal.
Basyuk is the head of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Operations Directorate, which is responsible for preparing the Israeli military for war.
The unit works alongside the IDF’s regional commands as well as the air force and navy.
Basyuk was on the ground in Gaza during Israel’s most recent onslaught and presided over decision-making on last year’s offensive in southern Lebanon.
Declassified spotted Basyuk outside the MoD and questioned him about the International Criminal Court (ICC) case against Israeli officials.
Basyuk was asked: “Are you worried about the ICC investigating you for war crimes? Are you a war criminal?”
He did not respond and was rushed by aides into a nearby building.
Basyuk was joined in London by Brigadier General Elad Goren, who is coordinating the “humanitarian effort” in Gaza, intelligence officer Lieutenant Colonel Yuval Litvin, and five other military officials.
Declassified understands that the Israeli delegation gave the British military a security briefing on the ceasefire and what happens if it breaks down.
An MoD spokesman said: “As part of the concerted UK effort to reduce the risk of escalation in the Middle East and to achieve a peaceful resolution – following ceasefires – in Gaza and Lebanon, the MoD hosted counterparts from Israel.
“Discussions included the UK calls to implement all phases of the ceasefire deal in full and establish a pathway to lasting peace and security for the region.”
Arms trade expert Andrew Feinstein told Declassified: “The UK’s ongoing support for the Israeli military – using our tax pounds – while it has been committing a probable genocide, according to the highest court in the world, is indefensible and appalling.
“We must demand that the government inform the UK whether any member of the delegation is wanted for violations of international law, war crimes or crimes against humanity anywhere in the world”.
The visit highlights the ongoing high-level military collaboration between the UK and Israel, despite Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu being pursued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Keir Starmer spoke over the phone with Netanyahu yesterday, with both politicians agreeing to continue “close co-operation on defence and security matters”.
According to Downing Street, the goal of this cooperation is to support “wider stability in the region – particularly in the face of the ongoing threat posed by Iran”.
Netanyahu’s office recounted a different version of events.
It said the Israeli prime minister “raised the issue of the weapons export licences to Israel that have been frozen in the UK”, with Starmer responding “that an evaluation of the issue is being carried out”.
This raises the prospect that the UK government will resume lethal arms exports to Israel should the ceasefire hold.
Israel’s former chief of staff Herzi Halevi also quietly visited Britain in November to discuss “the ongoing conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza” with senior UK officials from the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office.
The UK government provided Halevi with “special mission” immunity for the visit, granting him temporary diplomatic immunity from possible arrest for war crimes.
It is probable that Basyuk and his delegation were also granted “special mission” immunity for today’s visit.
The Ministry of Defence has a longstanding record of cooperation with Israel’s Operations Directorate.
Declassified recently revealed how a high-level information exchange between the Operations Directorate and the British army was arranged in 2018.
The goal was for an Operations Directorate information operations (IO) team to be familiarised with Britain’s “management, planning, and conduct of IO operations from the strategic to tactical level”.
A two-day programme for a visiting IDF team was subsequently developed, which would be split between the MoD’s headquarters in Whitehall and the British army’s 77th brigade’s barracks in Berkshire.
The 77th brigade uses psychological operations and social media to help fight wars “in the information age”. It specialises in “non-lethal forms of psychological warfare” such as cyber-attacks, propaganda activities, and counter-insurgency operations online.
Though this trip was cancelled, the leaked Israeli military documents demonstrate how cooperation between the IDF and the 77th brigade continued through 2018 and 2019.
Declassified also revealed how the UK government developed a secret defence plan with Israel codenamed Project HEZUK in 2019-20.
The project’s goal was to counter the “destabilising regional activity of Iran and Hizballah” through enhanced UK-Israel intelligence collaboration and increasing military cooperation.
Source: Declassified UK