• 'Zionists play all sides of every political equation, so it’s not just the far right ... All the mainstream parties in the UK are pro-Zionists,’ claims British sociologist David Miller
  
• ‘What they’re doing is trying to play off their assets against one another … That’s why you see them trying to get a Reform government into place, because they realize that Reform will be even more racist against Muslims than the current Labour government,’ says Miller

LONDON

Israel’s invitation of British far-right figure Tommy Robinson, long known for anti-Muslim activism and street mobilization in the UK, has triggered fierce backlash in Britain and renewed scrutiny of growing ties between Israel’s right-wing government and European far-right movements.

Analysts say Robinson’s trip – and the politics surrounding it – reflect a deeper ideological convergence that is reshaping alliances across Europe.

Robinson, founder of the English Defense League, traveled to Israel in October at the invitation of Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

The visit was immediately condemned by major British Jewish organizations, including the UK’s Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council, who issued a joint statement calling Robinson “a thug who represents the very worst of Britain.”

In a video posted from Ben Gurion Airport, Robinson claimed he was “here to show solidarity with the Jewish people and the Israeli people,” describing Israel as “a beacon of freedom and democracy … and all the places surrounding this are human rights violations (sic), terror states and jihad states.”

His appearance, analysts say, highlights a broader pattern: Israel’s far-right leadership cultivating links with European far-right parties, even as these groups campaign on anti-migrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric that often fuels domestic unrest.

Robinson’s visit came amid months of anti-migrant protests in the UK, where far-right groups rallied outside hotels housing asylum seekers and mobilized street demonstrations. At a recent “Unite the Kingdom” rally in London, speakers declared that “Islam has no place in Europe,” while witnesses reported Israeli flags among crowds “hurling obscene anti-Palestinian abuse” at counter-protesters.

For David Miller, a British sociologist known for his work on Islamophobia and propaganda, Robinson’s rise – and the violent scenes that shook the UK this summer – are no coincidence.

Miller argues that the nearly week-long riots in several UK cities this summer fit into a longer trajectory in which “pro-Israel lobby groups” have played a role in elevating Robinson and other far-right figures to redirect social and economic grievances toward Muslims.

According to Miller, this alignment has been driven by “financial backing and political support from pro-Israel networks based mainly in Tel Aviv and the US,” aimed at channeling working-class anger toward Muslim immigrants while reinforcing support for Western and Israeli military agendas.

‘Zionists play all sides’

Miller said the relationship between Robinson and figures within the Israeli establishment reflects a strategic repositioning.

“We make a mistake if we think that the Zionists, or right-wing Zionists, have links with the so-called far right in the UK or in Europe,” he said.

“Actually, the Zionists play all sides of every political equation, so it’s not just the far right ... All the mainstream parties in the UK are pro-Zionists.”

He emphasized that many key figures in these parties or groups receive “thousands, sometimes millions, of pounds of funding from the Zionist movement.”

Miller described this as “an attempt to colonize and occupy the whole political, administrative hierarchy and functions of the UK state, as they are doing in other countries as well.”

For Miller, the traditional notion of a separate neo-fascist far right no longer applies.

“There isn’t a far right that is just one block. What we used to refer to as neo-fascist or neo-Nazi, that has gone. And the reason it’s gone is that the Zionists have co-opted most of the far right,” he said.

“Most of the organizations to the right of the Conservative Party – for example, UKIP, Reform UK, Tommy Robinson and his collection of people coming out of the English Defense League – all of these are organizations which are assets and agents of the Zionist colony in Palestine.”

‘They realize their propaganda isn’t working’

Miller traces this political realignment back to the late 2000s.

“It was around 2009-2010 that … American Zionists came over to the UK and to the rest of Western Europe to convince people who were then on the far right that they should abandon their Judeo-skepticism and change their politics, so that their main focus of racism and campaigning was Islam and Muslims,” he said.

“They created something which called itself the ‘counter-jihad movement,’” he said, describing networks spanning Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK, organized under “counter-jihad Europe” and linked to a US-based global coordination body.

“That’s grown since then into an international network, and that, of course, is funded in large part by the Zionist movement – not necessarily by the Zionist state itself – but by the movement.”

Miller argues that this influence extends across the UK’s political spectrum, claiming that beneficiaries of this funding include parties from Labour to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party.

“What they’re doing is trying to play off their assets against one another … That’s why you see them trying to get a Reform government into place, because they realize that the Reform government will be even more racist against Muslims than the current Labour government.”

He suggested that Reform UK could even emerge as the next government unless a strong left-wing alternative takes shape.

Under Netanyahu, Israel has sought closer ties with European nationalist governments – from Viktor Orban’s Hungary to Giorgia Meloni’s Italy – as part of a shift analysts say reflects a fusion of Zionist and Islamophobic movements – once seen as opposing forces.

“Nobody likes Israel anymore across the whole world, so they realize their propaganda isn’t working, and that the only thing which does work, according to their polling, is anti-Muslim hatred,” said Miller.

“That’s why they’re pivoting towards anti-Muslim hatred as a key note in current and contemporary Zionist propaganda.”