Tomer Bar (left) with Israel’s prime minister. (Photo: Tsafrir Abayov / Alamy)
Exclusive: Israeli air force commander Tomer Bar received a “special mission” certificate for his secret trip to the UK, protecting him from arrest for war crimes.
The UK government has admitted that Israel’s air force chief Tomer Bar was given special diplomatic immunity to visit Britain earlier this summer.
The revelation comes as Israeli president Isaac Herzog is about to visit Britain, with campaigners planning protests to greet him.
Major General Bar travelled to Oxfordshire in July to attend the Royal International Air Tattoo event at RAF Fairford.
The trip was organised in secrecy, but news of Bar’s arrival in Britain was reported in the Israeli press shortly before his arrival.
When asked if Bar was attending the airshow, Britain’s Ministry of Defence initially told Declassified: “Israel remains a key partner”.
The spokesperson added: “The Royal International Air Tattoo is a world-leading airshow and we routinely host a large number of dignitaries from across the globe”.
The Foreign Office has now confirmed that Bar visited Britain and was given “special mission” diplomatic immunity for the duration of his trip.
Special mission certificates are used to protect foreign officials from arrest under universal jurisdiction legislation, which allows for the most serious crimes to be prosecuted regardless of where they are committed.
The Foreign Office said Bar “would have had bilateral engagements with UK ministers and officials during [his] visit, pertinent to the individual bilateral relationship”.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Vote Labour for Genocide.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Vote Labour for Genocide.
Defend Our Juries (DOJ) said the action is planned on condition of at least 1,000 people pledging support, but hundreds more are said to be planning to take part, with a boost in support after a number of activists involved in organising the protests were arrested under terror laws.
Attendees are expected to refuse street bail, requiring more people to be taken into custody, and they plan to go “floppy”, forcing officers to physically carry them away.
Scotland Yard’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan warned that anyone showing support for Palestine Action would face arrest. He said the group was proscribed as a terrorist organisation and that police had the “officer numbers, custody capacity and all other resources to process as many people as is required.”
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Palestinians look at the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive, in central Gaza Strip, September 4, 2025
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A US-contracted flight over the southern city of Khan Younis in December 2024, the night before Israeli bombing killed 30 Palestinians, indicated intelligence flights from the British base were “being used for fighting on the ground,” according to the journalist.
Britain’s intelligence and military support to Israel since October 7, as well as the continued authorisation of components of F35 jets, “crosses the line into participation,” Mr Kennard added.
Forz Khan, the lawyer who represented the family of Jim Henderson, an aid worker with World Central Kitchen who was killed in April 2024, said it was ”highly likely that Sir Keir Starmer is guilty of genocide.”
Considering the government’s failure to totally ban the sale of arms and to stop intelligence sharing with Israel, he said: “It is highly likely the Prime Minister of this country is guilty of genocide.
“It is highly likely that John Healey, the Defence Secretary, is guilty of genocide. And others who provide support, some of them civil servants, will be found guilty should they be tried.
“Not only has it not fulfilled its legal obligations, the United Kingdom government has totally and utterly breached international criminal law —and UK criminal law— and its legal obligations, as well as assisted genocide.”
Mr Khan also said the government had footage which could have provided further information concerning the killing of Mr Henderson, from an RAF surveillance flight said to be operating at the scene.
He added that it is “absolutely true” that the government is more interested in protecting Isreal than it is in finding the truth about a citizen who was killed in Gaza.
Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Vote Labour for Genocide.
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Israel continues to deploy soldiers, tanks, military aircraft and armoured vehicles near the Gaza Border as Israeli attacks continue on Gaza on May 1, 2024 [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]
Israeli media reported that 4 soldiers were missing, and others were killed and wounded in Gaza, as part of a large ambush to capture Israeli soldiers carried out by the Qassam Brigades in the Zeitoun neighbourhood east of Gaza City.
Sources reported that the operation began with a large ambush in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, which resulted in the deaths of several Israeli soldiers, while other reports confirmed injuries described as critical.
Hebrew media added that the Israeli army deployed 6 additional helicopters to evacuate the dead and wounded from the ambush site, while firing flares intensively into the skies over central Gaza in an attempt to secure its forces.
Reports also indicated that the Israeli army activated the Hannibal Protocol, an emergency military measure used in such situations to prevent its soldiers from being captured.
Sources confirmed that forces from the (162) Division and the (401) Armoured Brigade were the ones who fell into the ambush, and that these forces were under heavy field pressure due to fighting in the Zeitoun neighbourhood with the arrival of more Palestinian fighters to support the operation.
Israeli media reported that Qassam fighters attempted to capture soldiers during the ambush in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, while the Israeli army continues extensive searches for the missing soldiers.
Reports also indicated that the first operation took place in the Zeitoun neighbourhood when a force from the Nahal Brigade fell into a well-planned ambush, killing one soldier and wounding others. Other forces were then subjected to a second ambush in the Sabra neighbourhood, prompting Israeli helicopters to intervene and bomb the site.
Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), confirmed that the Palestinian resistance is on high alert to confront Israel’s plans to occupy Gaza City, which he said would be devastating for the occupation’s political and military leadership. He noted that the Israeli prisoners would be with the resistance fighters in the fighting areas.
In a series of posts on Telegram on Friday evening, Abu Obeida said that the plans to occupy Gaza “will be paid for by the enemy army in the blood of its soldiers, and will increase the chances of capturing new soldiers, God willing.”
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA