Revealed: The British military college teaching Israeli soldiers

Israeli army officers have been allowed to study at a British military academy in central London throughout the Gaza genocide, Declassified can reveal.

At least two Israeli colonels have attended the prestigious Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) since 2023.

One of the soldiers, thought to be Elad Edri, only graduated a fortnight ago.

Another officer, Yeftah Norkin, completed the course in July 2024 and almost immediately led the army’s “Bang” division in Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.

Norkin, who comes from an influential military family, commanded a patrol company in Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s 2008-9 war in Gaza which killed hundreds of children.

‘Rising stars’

Established in 1927 as the Imperial Defence College, the RCDS in Belgravia is one of Britain’s most eminent military academies.

From its elegant Georgian building ringed by embassies, the college organises training for “rising stars” among the officer class from the UK and abroad.

While Sandhurst teaches junior army officers, the RCDS mentors mid-ranking troops who have ambitions to climb the chain of command, awarding them a post-graduate certificate in international security studies.

The college describes itself as “a world-renowned institution committed to developing strategic thinkers… who have the potential to reach the highest ranks”.

RCDS alumni include Major General Hidai Zilberman, the former IDF spokesperson and now Israeli defence attaché to the US, and General Harel Knfao, who served as Chief of Staff of Israel’s Southern Command.

The Royal College of Defence Studies on Belgrave Square, London. (Photo: Simon Turner / Alamy)

How we found out

The revelation about where Israeli soldiers are training in the UK comes after months of stonewalling from ministers and officials under both Labour and Conservative administrations.

MPs were only recently told that “less than five” Israeli troops were studying in the UK on “academic courses” at undisclosed locations.

Freedom of Information requests by Declassified were repeatedly refused until last week.

Eventually the Ministry of Defence (MoD) disclosed that IDF soldiers were studying at the RCDS, admitting that fewer than five officers had trained there in 2023 and 2024.

The MoD did not offer the names and ranks of the officers or provide figures for 2025.

But Declassified was able to find details of one Israeli officer who graduated this summer because the RCDS Commandant posted photos of them on his social media accounts.

Using facial recognition software, it has been possible to identify that officer as Colonel Elad Edri.

Meanwhile Labour MP Tan Dhesi, who chairs parliament’s defence committee and attended an earlier course, tweeted a photo of himself next to a board which named all graduates from 2024.

These included a Colonel I. Norkin from the Israeli army. The initial is understood to stand for Iftach, an alternative spelling for Yeftah. Norkin has since been promoted to Brigadier General.

Declassified put both names to the British military who did not dispute they had attended the RCDS. The IDF did not respond to a request for comment.

Israel National Defense College

In addition to hosting Israeli soldiers, the RCDS also welcomed “senior staff” from the Israel National Defense College (INDC) earlier this year, according to a post on LinkedIn.

The INDC prepares IDF officers as well as defence and government officials for senior command and management positions.

The visit to the RCDS “focused on exchanging ideas, exploring best practices in strategic education, and identifying opportunities for future cooperation between the two institutions”.

INDC alumni have gone on to fight in Gaza, including Colonel Ahsan Daksa, a senior IDF commander was killed in the Jabalia area of the strip in October 2024.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed graduates from the college last year, briefing them on the war in Gaza and declaring: “We are advancing to the end of the stage of eliminating the Hamas terrorist army”.

IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir spoke at the graduation ceremony earlier this month, praising the army’s “actions and achievements since October 7”.

‘Trained on UK soil’

The news comes as John Deverell, a retired brigadier who was director of defence diplomacy at the MoD, is writing to the prime minister urging him to “cut all military collaboration with Israel”, including training.

Deverell told Declassified earlier this year: “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.”

Charlie Herbert, a retired British army general, told Declassified: “It is extraordinary that IDF personnel are still receiving training in the UK.

“All training should have been suspended and individuals returned to Israel when the International Criminal Court issued warrants against prime minister Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant [in November 2024].

“It discredits our Armed Forces to be working alongside IDF officers at RCDS.”

Former Conservative cabinet minister and army veteran Rory Stewart also protested in a recent interview how “we continue to train IDF soldiers”.

He added: “How is it possible for David Lammy on the one hand to describe this horror and on the other hand continue providing military assistance, training?”.

Last month, Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George challenged Lammy in parliament over reports that IDF soldiers were being “trained on UK soil”.

Lammy defended the training, saying: “The UK of course provides military courses for our allies, but we always emphasise, in all those courses, the critical importance of international humanitarian law.

“It is important that we work with our allies to meet the amazing standards of our own armed services, and I am sure the honourable gentleman would not want us to depart from that.”

Foreign Office staff have privately used the fact that Israel receives training from Western militaries to help justify sending weapons to Tel Aviv.

British government documents – released during a court case against arms exports – noted “an exchange programme whereby approximately 500 IDF personnel are sent to the US annually for relevant [US military] DoD-sponsored training.”

It said “US satisfaction as to the level of training” was “not determinative” for the Foreign Office, but “they do nevertheless form a small part of the evidence we consider”.

Whitehall officials previously used a similar strategy to defend arms sales to Saudi Arabia during the war in Yemen, by citing the high number of UK training courses attended by Saudi troops as supposed evidence that they understood international law.

Golan Heights

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson told Declassified: “A limited number of Israeli Defence Forces personnel are currently enrolled in non-combat military academic courses in the UK.

“It is longstanding policy for our educational courses to be open to military personnel from a wide range of countries. All UK military courses emphasise the critical importance of compliance with international humanitarian law”.

They did not answer questions about whether the MoD would apologise for training the IDF or exclude them from attending the college next term.

Andrew George commented: “The Netanyahu government seems content to be increasingly perceived as a pariah state. If the UK really is turning a blind eye to flagrant abuses of international law, then why not open training opportunities to anyone?”

This is not the first time that the RCDS has been criticised for its co-operation with the IDF.

Leaked Israeli army documents seen by Declassified previously revealed how the college brought a delegation of officers to the Golan Heights, which the UK government recognises as illegally occupied by Israel, in May 2019.

The tour involved a visit to the Druze town of Buq’ata and a UN peacekeeping force at Camp Zouani, with officers also planning to go wine and cheese tasting at a winery situated next to “a magical water source overlooking the Sea of Galilee”.

The RCDS has long had no qualms about accepting students from repressive militaries and authoritarian states such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE.

It has taken delegates on trips to Russia’s ally Belarus, where they spent a night at the opera watching Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.

Courses have often included luxury excursions abroad. In 2015, the college sent officers “cruising down the Nile, whale watching in Sri Lanka and on safari in Kenya. The bill for flights and accommodation came close to three quarters of a million pounds”.