Right, so Israel has already faced criticism over Tommy Robinson, but it seems the fallout has not gone away and if anything, Israel’s problems off the back of this have only gotten bigger.

In October 2025, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, AKA Robinson AKA Tommy Ten-Names travelled to Israel at the personal invitation of Amichai Chikli, Israel’s Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. And even for Israel and it’s Zionist fan club, this was a tough pill to swallow. He is as we know a British far-right, anti-Islam activist whose politics had already made him toxic to many of the very British Jewish organisations Chikli’s ministry was supposedly there to engage with, literally Chikli’s remit as that is. The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council, infamous bodies as they are, publicly rejected the invitation, describing Robinson as representing the worst of Britain, while the chair of the Knesset’s own Diaspora Affairs Committee called bringing him to Israel a “slap in the face” to British and Diaspora Jews.

The Knesset later confirmed that Robinson had indeed come at Chikli’s invitation, and the controversy became serious enough to trigger a parliamentary committee hearing. A Foreign Ministry official told that hearing that, to the best of his knowledge, the visit had not even been brought before the ministry, while the Jewish Agency’s Yigal Palmor said it had caused “great diplomatic harm” and gained Israel nothing.

So this was hardly Chikli inviting some mildly controversial British conservative over for coffee. He had deliberately embraced a figure whom prominent British Jewish bodies, most of the bloody country I would like to think, themselves had publicly rejected, and then managed to provoke criticism from inside Israel’s own institutions for doing it.

And for Chikli’s part, this was not some random lapse in judgement either. Chikli had already publicly praised Robinson’s “Unite the Kingdom” rally, before inviting him to Israel the following month. So the sequence was pretty clear: praise him, invite him, host him, take the backlash.

Now that was then. It would seem Amichai Chikli hasn’t learnt from Robinson however and if anything is now doubling down and then some.

He has since gone on camera effectively saying: no, no, you misunderstand, this is part of something much bigger.

Chikli has now appeared on camera to explain what he considers one of his most significant achievements now in fact.

An unprecedented system of alliances. With Europe's deep conservative right. Those are his words.

So if you thought this was just about one Israeli minister and one national nuisance here in the UK, that was only the preview.

Because Chikli has now laid out he next plot twist.

What has changed now since Robinson’s visit is that the minister responsible has now placed this kind of relationship within a much broader context. Not just as a one-off embarrassment. He remains proud of it.

And now it’s not just a single questionable invitation, it’s a system of alliances. And, in a way that is almost comically unfortunate, Chikli has been discussing who these allies are for some time.

But first, recall what happened when Tommy Robinson went to Israel.

Tommy Robinson arrived in Israel at Chikli's invitation.

And that was received by British Jewish organisations about as well as a dead rat in the punch bowl at a bar mitzvah.

Because the minister responsible for relations with Jewish communities abroad managed to select a British political figure that major British Jewish organisations themselves were publicly telling him they rejected.

Chikli literally disenfranchised everyone his role in Israeli government is supposed to be dealing with in favour of courting the human equivalent of Donald Trump’s soiled diaper.

"Diaspora Minister in name only."  
That's a smack in the teeth, but it seems to fit.

The very people Chikli's ministry is supposed to work with were essentially asking whose interests he thought he was serving.

And the criticism extended beyond just hurt feelings.

Israel's own parliamentary record later documented criticism of the invitation, including a warning from a Jewish Agency representative that it caused what he called "great diplomatic harm," and that Israel gained nothing from it.

But to see how much bigger this story is than just Tommy Robinson now, it is necessary to look back at an antisemitism conference organised by Chikli's ministry in Jerusalem.

Chikli's guest list included Jordan Bardella of France's National Rally and Marion Maréchal, along with other figures from Europe's nationalist and far-right parties.

One of the politicians attending described the event with a particularly soothing phrase.

A "natural alignment". Israel and Europe’s far right.  
The phrase almost makes it sound inevitable, but given Chikli’s hard-headedness over such things, perhaps it is and for the record, no this guy is not one of Smotrich’s or Ben-Gvir’s lot either, he’s one of Netanyahu’s Likud bunch, but then perhaps that isn’t so surprising either.

It suggests something like tectonic plates shifting, not a political strategy though. As if Europe shifted and, suddenly, Marine Le Pen is at the table.

Nothing political to see here. Europe just woke up one morning and found Marine Le Pen, Jordan Bardella, and Israel's Diaspora Affairs Ministry all together, as if by chance.

But "natural alignment" still leaves an important question open.

Aligned around what exactly?  
Well, Chikli has provided us with a less than comforting answer.

"These are our allies in Europe."  
Again, those are his words.

And notice what led up to this.

Chikli did not say these politicians are simply friends of Jewish people, offering support and goodwill.

He spoke about political usefulness.

Who supports Israel against Hamas?  
Who speaks as he wants about radical Islam?  
Who opposes international action against Israel's leaders?

Those are among the reasons he gives for considering these people allies. That is significant. Because at this point, it no longer looks like a ministry searching Europe for groups doing outstanding work against antisemitism, as again, is his brief.

It starts to look like an Israeli cabinet minister is building relationships with political forces abroad because they can offer something valuable: political support for Israel, opposition to ICC warrants against Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and possibly more sympathetic governments across Europe. Saves money on lobbying efforts for elsewhere I suppose?

I suppose I ought to caveat that statement though really.

Well it does not prove Israel funds Tommy Robinson.

It does not prove Israel controls the likes of Vox, National Rally, or any other far right party.

It does not prove Mossad has a group chat called "European Right-Wing Shenanigans".

It does not prove election interference.

And it certainly does not mean every part of the Israeli state agrees with Chikli. The backlash inside Israel's own institutions already disproves that idea.

But ultimately, even if all of that were true, none of that is necessary even to bring up, because what Chikli is actually admitting is enough on its own.

A sitting Israeli cabinet minister says he has been building an unprecedented system of alliances with Europe's deep conservative far right.

He names political groups in Spain and France.

He discusses their political prospects.

He describes developing relationships with them.

And he openly identifies political positions that are useful to Israel. There is no need to start drawing diagrams or connecting red string on a board.

Just listen to what he says, because the new interview goes even further.

Chikli is not talking about these people as just friendly voices in opposition, tweeting their support for Israel.

He is watching their political progress.

The political rise matters.

The rise of the far right.

The possibility of real power matters.

Their stances on Israel matter.

That is why this is not just another story about a politician saying something controversial, or cosying up to controversial figures.

Chikli is describing relationships with political movements he believes could soon be much more influential in major European countries.

And Britain is part of this picture as well.

That is where Tommy Robinson returns to the story.

Because when Tommy Robinson visited Israel, it was easy to see that as a single, shocking event.

Chikli likes Tommy.

Chikli invited Tommy.

Tommy went to Israel.

There was an uproar.

End of story.

But Chikli has now made it much harder to keep that interpretation.

Because the same minister who says:  
"I brought Tommy Robinson here"  
is now saying:  
"I created an unprecedented system of alliances with the European far right." The Minister for antisemitism in the here and now despite all of that history with the European far right.

That brings up the contradiction at the heart of all this.

Chikli's actual job title.

Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism.

A title so long it almost requires a break just to read it.

The ministerial role is supposed to focus on Jewish communities abroad and fighting antisemitism.

Yet Chikli's own response, when asked about his achievements, leads him into this discussion about political alliances with Europe's right.

Meanwhile, some of the organisations opposing Chikli's European outreach are far from being Israel's enemies.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council have repeatedly defended Israel and opposed political moves they saw as hostile. The European Jewish Congress has gone even further, often declaring its support for Israel and describing its commitment as unwavering. These are not groups trying to undermine Zionism. The opposite is very much true.

And yet even they have looked at Chikli's direction and recoiled.

The Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council condemned his invitation to Tommy Robinson. At the same time, European Jewish Congress president Ariel Muzicant called Chikli's outreach to Europe's far right a "knife in the back" of European Jews.

That is what makes this more complex than a simple left-versus-right debate about Israel. This is a split inside the pro-Israel establishment itself. Organisations that have defended Israel through wars, occupation, and constant international criticism are now saying that some members of Netanyahu's government have moved so far to the right, and become so enthusiastic about Europe's nationalist right, that even they cannot accept where things are heading.

When groups that usually go to great lengths to defend Israel start telling Israel's own Diaspora Minister that his actions are a slap in the face, a knife in the back, and diplomatically damaging, this is not a sudden outbreak of anti-Zionism.

This is the point where parts of the Zionist establishment begin to question whether Netanyahu's government has become too extreme even for them.

That is why the Robinson backlash is more than a distraction.

It brings up a fundamental question.

If Jewish organisations in Britain are telling Israel's Diaspora Minister that his actions do not represent them, while the minister himself is celebrating political relationships with people he sees as useful allies for Israel, then who is this foreign policy supposed to serve?

That question becomes even more pressing when you consider what Israel gains from those political relationships.

Support.

Political cover.

Opposition to measures against Israeli leaders.

Politicians who may soon have much more influence.

Again, none of this is secret.

That is why Chikli's statements are so revealing though.

Nobody needed to hack his emails.

Nobody needed to search through his bins..

The minister sat down and explained what he considers an achievement. Which leaves Chikli with a problem so obvious it could be packaged and sold as a diplomatic cautionary tale, but I think he’d probably scoff at the notion.

Because once you call it a system of alliances, people will naturally look back at all those supposedly isolated relationships and wonder if they were ever isolated at all.

The conference.

Bardella.

Le Pen.

Abascal.

Tommy Robinson.

Different countries.

Different political figures.

Different controversies.

All from the European right.

And now one minister providing the phrase that ties his political approach together.

That is what he revealed.  
And yet, after Robinson, after the fallout from all of that, Chikli's main conclusion was to expand the effort further into Europe and that is what he’s apparently done as a source of great pride.

A learning curve so steep it is less a curve and more a sheer drop, with Chikli seemingly eager to leap right off.

There is no need for elaborate conspiracy theories around here about Mossad manipulation or some such thing when Chikli is clearly stating the straightforward, serious version himself: identify political movements abroad that align with Israel's interests, build relationships with them early, and hope they become the ones making decisions in the future.

That should concern anyone living in countries where those groups aim to govern.

Political alliances are not just for appearances or decoration.

They are formed because someone expects to gain something from them.

And Chikli has been unusually clear about what some of those expectations are.

So let's go back to the sentence that changed this story.

Because Tommy Robinson being invited to Israel was the scandal everyone already knew about.

But now it is an unprecedented system of alliances.

And that is how Chikli has now managed to turn one damaging controversy into something much bigger.

Tommy Robinson was the obvious British link, the one that drew outrage and headlines.

But once Chikli says he has been deliberately building alliances across Europe's right, Robinson is no longer the whole story.

He’s just the first sign we noticed.

Israel already suffered consequences from that relationship.

And instead of making Tommy Robinson seem like the outer limit of Chikli's political judgment, Chikli has now gone on camera and shown that his ambitions go much further.

I think we ought to be a tad concerned about this, don’t you?

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Israel Took A Hit Over Tommy Robinson; Now They've Gone Even FURTHER RIGHT