Tommy Robinson Endorses Israeli Minister Amichai Chikli Ahead of Likud Primary

Tommy Robinson, the British anti-Islam agitator whose legal name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has publicly endorsed Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli ahead of Monday's Likud primary.

In a video shared by Chikli's team on Saturday, Robinson called the minister his "dear friend" and told Likud members that Chikli "understands the problems the West faces and that we must unite all Western patriots for Western civilisation," before pointing viewers to Chikli's number on the primary ballot.

Chikli welcomed the endorsement without hesitation. He said he would "continue to strengthen Israel's strategic relations with the European Right and the European street, with figures such as Tommy Robinson," calling Robinson's movement "the hope of Europe, the hope of the West."

A pattern, not a one-off

This is not the first time the two men have aligned publicly. Last October, Chikli invited Robinson to Israel for a week-long hasbara tour, during which Robinson produced dozens of videos praising Israel and attacking Palestinians, framing the country as a frontline defender against the Muslim world.

Since taking the diaspora affairs post in 2022, Chikli has built relationships with far-right parties across Europe, including Germany's AfD, Spain's Vox, and France's National Rally, according to reporting by The New Arab. He has also organized international conferences framed as efforts to fight antisemitism, while inviting representatives from European parties whose own histories or affiliates have drawn accusations of antisemitism or neo-Nazi links.

That contradiction has not gone unnoticed among Israel's traditional allies. Britain's 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" and accusing Chikli of "ignoring the views of the vast majority of British Jews."

Why the timing matters

Robinson's endorsement lands two days before Israel's Likud primary, where party members will select candidates for the October 27 parliamentary election. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was given authority last month by Likud's central committee to personally select nine of the top 29 slate positions, four of which have already gone to Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, Defence Minister Israel Katz, Likud committee chairman Haim Katz, and a California businessman.

Chikli's embrace of Robinson is not merely a foreign curiosity. It reflects a broader strategy among segments of Israel's governing right to court European nationalist movements as ideological allies, recasting groups long shunned over antisemitic histories as partners in a shared civilizational struggle against Islam and immigration. That a sitting Israeli minister tasked with combating antisemitism is the one forging these ties has drawn direct pushback from Jewish communal organizations abroad, underscoring how contested this strategy remains even among Israel's own diaspora constituencies.