Tel Aviv — At the Tel Aviv Port’s Hangar 11, more than a thousand Israelis rose to their feet as Tommy Robinson took the stage. The British activist—reviled across much of Europe as a far-right agitator and serial offender—was greeted with cheers and applause.
Robinson, long condemned by British authorities and mainstream Jewish organizations for his crusade against Islamic extremism, arrived in Israel at the invitation of Amichai Chikli, Israel’s Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. The visit was reportedly supported by Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
“This is a courageous leader on the front line against radical Islam,” Chikli said before the event, describing Robinson as a “British patriot” who “understands the threat the West is facing.”
In interviews with Israeli media, Robinson said he came “to show solidarity with the Jewish people and Israel’s strong leadership” and to expose “the lies told against Israel.” He told ILTV, “The problems Israel faces with jihad are the same ones Britain and Europe will soon face—because we’ve empowered extremism.”
A New Alliance
The Tel Aviv International Salon hosted the event, billed as a discussion touching on Zionism, free speech, and Western values. For many in the audience, it became more than that—a symbolic alignment between Israel’s national self-confidence and populist conservative movements across the West.
Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, Executive Director of Israel365 Action, called Robinson’s visit part of a larger “paradigm shift” in the West.
“When you look at the threat of Islam and the way it’s taking over the Western world right now, all the debates revolve around how far gone things are,” Wolicki said. “That all misses the point. The trajectory shows no way forward for Judeo-Christian Western civilization to push back and regain its identity. And Israel—the nationalism of Jews in our land—is the ultimate pushback.”
According to Wolicki, Robinson’s support for Israel stems from understanding that “the same forces taking over England are the ones we’re fighting on the battlefield in Gaza.”
“Tommy is one of the few people who speaks clearly about this issue,” he added. “He’s willing to say the problem is that Islam, the jihad, is upon us. And Israel is fighting back. He sees that with clarity.”
Backlash Abroad
If the atmosphere in Tel Aviv was celebratory, the reaction in London and New York was anything but.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council issued a joint statement calling Robinson “a thug who represents the very worst of Britain,” accusing Chikli of “ignoring the views of the vast majority of British Jews.” Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim woman to serve in a British Cabinet, called the invitation “deeply dangerous,” accusing the Israeli government of “sowing division.”
Meanwhile, a similar tension is visible in the United States. Progressive Jewish groups increasingly align with candidates hostile to Israel, even as antisemitic incidents surge and anti-Israel rhetoric intensifies on campuses. Polls show many younger Jewish voters now prioritize domestic social issues over support for Israel.
Wolicki sees in this a broader identity crisis. “The Jewish establishment outside of Israel is just increasingly out of step with where the Jewish people as a nation are going,” he said. “The exile has ended. The epicenter of the Jewish people—what it means to be Jewish—is Israel today. And it’s slipping away from them.”
The Broader Battle
Onstage in Tel Aviv, Robinson railed against “the hypocrisy of Jewish leaders in Britain who work hand in hand with pro-Palestinian organizations calling for our destruction.” He accused the Board of Deputies of promoting policies that suppress discussion of Islamist violence—alleging they back legislation defining “Islamophobia” so broadly that it criminalizes criticism of jihadism.
In his remarks, Robinson cast Israel as “the front line in the global fight for Western freedom.” That framing resonated deeply with his audience and with Israeli conservatives who see the country’s resilience as a model for the West’s own culture war.
“Why are populist nationalist conservatives, Christian conservatives, all over the world pro-Israel?” Wolicki asked. “Because they understand that Israel is on the front lines of the battle for Western civilization.”
A Shift in Perception
For years, Robinson’s name has been synonymous in the UK press with extremism and hate. Yet in Israel, he was treated as a man who “gets it.”
“Tommy Robinson understands that Judeo-Christian Western civilization based on a biblical worldview is under attack by political Islam that has invaded Europe and is invading America,” Wolicki said. “He understands that threat, and that’s why he came to Israel—and why he shows such support and solidarity with the Jewish people. Because we are fighting the same enemies that threaten the rest of the world.”
In a world where many Western elites denounce Israel for defending itself, Tommy Robinson’s warm reception in Tel Aviv marked a striking reversal: the vilified outsider embraced by a confident Jewish nation that no longer seeks validation from its critics.
As one attendee put it after the event, “He was treated like a hero here because he stood with us when almost no one else would.”
And for Rabbi Wolicki, the message was simple. “Tommy gets it,” he said. “He sees what we’re fighting—and he stands with us.”
