Alex Morris and John McEvoy – DeClassified UK Feb 27, 2025
Israel’s former top military officer, General Aviv Kohavi (pictured above) held private meetings with the editors of major British news organisations one month after the Gaza bombing began, Declassified can reveal.
The meetings took place with Katherine Viner, editor-in-chief of the Guardian, Richard Burgess, director of news content at the BBC, and Roula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times.
Further meetings were due to be held with Sky News chairman David Rhodes at the Israeli embassy, and then shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, between 7 and 9 November 2023, according to Kohavi’s itinerary.
By this time, Israeli forces had killed over 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza, and Israeli officials had made several public statements of genocidal intent. Kohavi had only stepped down from running Israel’s military months earlier.
During his tenure, he justified attacks on journalists, saying the soldiers who shot reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank “showed courage” and that he had not one “gram of regret” for flattening the Associated Press (AP) office in Gaza.
The information about General Kohavi’s visit comes in documents obtained in Israel under the Freedom of Information Act by lawyer Elad Man and seen by Declassified.
They reveal how Kohavi’s tour of Britain was planned with support from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), and Ministry of Defence.
The trip was specifically designed to take advantage of a perceived “reversal in the attitude of Western countries toward Israel [in light of] the severity of the events… of October 7”.
To this end, Kohavi was tasked with cultivating support for Israel as it escalated its brutal military offensive in Gaza. His full itinerary can be viewed at the foot of this article.
A journalist who was working for the BBC at the time of the visit told Declassified: “I don’t recall any internal correspondence about the meeting, which the BBC would ordinarily send out if there was a high profile visit of this kind. I also find it very difficult to believe that the organisation would hold an equivalent meeting with the Hamas government”.
The journalist, who requested anonymity, added: “Not only is Kohavi’s visit unprecedented but it’s also outrageous that one of the most senior editors at the BBC should court company with a foreign military figure in this way, especially one whose country stands accused of serious human rights violations.
“It further undermines the independence and impartiality that the BBC claims to uphold, and I think it has done irreparable damage to any trust audiences had in the corporation”.
‘Enhance the trend of support for Israel’
In planning documents for the November 2023 trip, IDF lieutenant colonel (reserve) Gad Yishayahu noted how “visits by high-ranking Israeli dignitaries to Western countries will help influence various target audiences and thereby enhance the trend of support for Israel”.
Yishayahu has worked on “crisis management” in the office of the Israeli prime minister, and served in the IDF’s special forces. He recently accompanied Israeli general Oded Basyuk on a secret visit to London, and is listed as a visiting lecturer at London’s City University.
The British media was seen by Yishayahu as a particularly valuable target within this Israeli influence operation.
“As part of the idea to influence influencers”, he noted, “we wish to hold meetings between Kohavi and senior media figures, including the CEO of the BBC… senior officials from Sky, and others”.
Yishayahu continued: “We see these meetings as highly important in dealing with individuals who have a significant impact on the legitimacy of the State of Israel in the Iron Swords War”, Israel’s war on Gaza since 7 October 2023.
It was also proposed that Kohavi meet with Madeleine Alessandri, the chair of Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee, and “other senior officials from the British foreign, defence, and home offices”. It is unclear whether these meetings occurred.
Another target was General Sir Nick Carter, Britain’s former army chief who in 2020 signed a joint agreement with Kohavi to “formalise and enhance” military co-operation between the UK and Israel, details of which remain classified.
General Aviv Kohavi
Kohavi was the Chief of General Staff of the IDF between 2019 and January 2023.
In 2022, he sought to justify the IDF’s killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, an act which the UN described as “without justification”.
He claimed that Palestinian gunmen had “fired extensively at Israeli forces, recklessly and indiscriminately in every direction”, and that Akleh was “killed in a battle zone”. The Israeli soldiers, he added, “showed courage and determination to protect Israel’s civilians”.
The same year, Israeli forces flattened a high-rise building in Gaza housing an AP office in what was widely viewed as a war crime. Kohavi reportedly said the “building was destroyed justly” and he did not have one “gram of regret”, erroneously claiming AP staff had been drinking coffee with Hamas electronic experts.
In 2021, Kohavi also flaunted how he had been “responsible for the order to open fire” on Palestinian protesters during the Great March of Return in Gaza in 2018-19. Over 200 Palestinians – including 46 children – were killed as they tried to return to their ancestral homes, and over 36,000 were injured.
Prior to becoming Chief of the General Staff, Kohavi served as the IDF’s commander of the Gaza division, head of Northern Command, and director of military intelligence.
A spokesperson for the BBC told Declassified that Burgess met with Kohavi alongside other journalists, adding: “They were able to question him on the war in Gaza and the IDF’s tactics. We hold similar briefings with figures from both sides of the conflict and all stories”.
The spokesperson did not say how many other journalists were in attendance, nor clarify whether the BBC has held comparable meetings with representatives from Hamas. “We are saying that as a principle we meet with figures from both sides of conflicts and all stories”, they said.
The former BBC journalist commented: “The BBC and Burgess must put out a statement to confirm the meeting with Kohavi occurred, why it took place, and with whom. Furthermore it should clarify if equivalent meetings were held with senior figures from the Palestinian side.
“It makes perfect sense that Israel would try to extend its influence over one the largest broadcasters in the world, and now that it has been revealed this meeting took place it perhaps explains why there has been so much bias and distortion in the corporation’s coverage of Gaza.”
A Guardian spokesperson told Declassified: “Our editorial teams regularly meet with people representing a range of views on different issues to inform our reporting”.
They added that the meeting was “not an endorsement, but part of responsible journalism”, but refused to provide details about what was discussed.
A spokesperson for the FT said “Roula Khalaf met Mr Kohavi when he accompanied Israel’s ambassador to the UK to a meeting at the FT‘s office in London. This was a meeting conducted by a group of journalists who cover events in the Middle East”.
Des Freedman, a professor of media at Goldsmiths, University of London, told Declassified he could find no mention of General Kohavi in any BBC, Guardian or FT coverage since 2023, when searching on the Nexis database.
Sky, David Lammy, and Gad Yishayahu did not respond to requests for comment.
Guardians of power
Kohavi’s private meetings with leading media executives have come under scrutiny amid widespread public anger over the British media’s coverage of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
An investigation published by Drop Site News in November 2024 alleged that Raffi Berg, BBC News online’s Middle East editor, “micromanages” coverage of the Middle East to ensure stories cast a positive light on Israel.
Berg has also boasted about being indirectly employed by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) while working for the US Foreign Broadcast Information Service.
“One day, I was taken to one side and told, ‘you may or may not know that we are part of the CIA, but don’t go telling people’”, Berg recounted. “I was absolutely thrilled”, he continued.
It was subsequently found that Berg’s home office seemingly dons a framed letter from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a picture with the former Israeli ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev.
The author of the Drop Site News article, Owen Jones, approached Berg for comment. Apparently contesting the claims, Berg said he had hired British-Israeli lawyer Mark Lewis, the former director of UK Lawyers for Israel, to mount a legal challenge.
The Guardian has also been criticised over its coverage of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Declassified revealed last week that disgruntled staff at the Guardian have compiled an “exhaustive spreadsheet” with a “mountain of examples” of the paper “amplifying unchallenged Israeli propaganda… or treating clearly false statements by Israeli spokespeople as credible”.
Another insider told Novara Media in 2024 that the Guardian’s editorial leadership had “become more cautious and to some degree more gun-shy […] partly because the pro-Israel lobby is more aggressive in the UK than it used to be”.
Reacting to our investigation, professor Freedman told Declassified: “Obviously off the record briefings have a place in journalism. However, meeting secretly with a senior IDF representative in the middle of a genocidal campaign as part of an organised propaganda offensive raises serious questions about integrity and transparency.
“You would hope that news titles would go out of their way to avoid accusations of bias by rejecting the offer to meet privately and instead to put such meetings on the record.
“In reality, editors at the Guardian, BBC and FT appear willing to open their doors to Israeli spokespeople – no matter how controversial and offensive – in a way which is denied to Palestinian representatives.
“It reinforces growing public perceptions that Israel is treated with kid gloves and is another example of the media’s amplification of Israeli talking points in their coverage of that country’s war on Gaza.”
the Uk will revolt if starmer does not resign
https://www.renegadetribune.com/why-britain-is-on-the-edge-of-revolution/
“Yishayahu noted how “visits by high-ranking Israeli dignitaries to Western countries will help influence various target audiences and thereby enhance the trend of support for Israel”.”
Yes, along with bribes, small boys, girls and threats ! Typical kikery in other words.
Zionist Governments are not only destroying countries, their cultures and civilization, they are turning humanity into a cesspool of wars, immorality and corruption. Zionism must be totally eradicated, so it can never exist again in any form whatsoever.
Now you understand why money is so important to Jews.
Zionist Governments and Zionist media should be totally eradicated.
There’s been a quality mural sprayed on the wall of the Royal Courts of Justice but I don’t know what to make of the truth of it. It would have taken a skilled artist some time to spray or paint it, maybe an hour or more. The Strand is a busy thoroughfare and the RCJ is politically sensitive as it’s the High Court and handles appeals and bankruptcies. Nnear the entrance is a CCTV camera yet the artist wasn’t stopped?
The news says Banksy has claimed the work, in which case good show. But perhaps his site has been hacked to say he claimed it, and it’s a Deep State psy-op to demonstrate that dissent from ordinary people will be crushed? Maybe Banksy is a Deep State psy-op, nurtured all these years for times like these? After all this time he still remains unknown to us in this the surveillance age.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/news/banksy-artwork-shows-judge-attacking-113252574.html
Maybe the mural isn’t a sign of resistance but a sign resistance will not be tolerated? In Starmer’s Britain that’s easily possible.
“The British Media was seen by Yishayahu as a particularly valuable target within this Israeli influence operation”
Gee… what a SURPRISE!!!
Are you tv licence-paying suckers at least STARTING to see how the BBC – that has brainwashed you into oblivion! – is nothing but the B’nai B’rith Corporation??
Ditto the rest of Izzy’s Bwitish Mweedia mouthpieces!
LMFAO!!!
jewish mafia knows no limits to infiltrate,
cushion, blackmail other states or even
press governments to receive visits of IDF .
the first militarised international murder mafia .
SOON IN YOUR BLABLATHEATRE !
Rev 3:9 Behold, I give out of the synagogue of Satan those saying themselves to be Jews, and they are not, but they lie. Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they shall know that I love you.
The actions of the current Israeli government paint a picture of a beastly power having no human compassion for the Palestinians, whom they are murdering by the thousands. Years ago, such actions would have led the nations to rebuke Israel as they were walking in the footsteps of NAZI Germany.
Israel should be hanging its head in shame. How they can’t see their actions as reminiscent of NAZI Germany is beyond me. I am absolutely amazed that Trump is going along with it.
Those “governing” the British people – and I do not mean the puppets in Parliament – are at war with the British people.
TPTB NEED TO DISGUISE THIS TRUTH, BUT THIS IS THE ESSENTIAL POLITICAL TRUTH.
One could of course begin to begin to list the reasons for my claim, and I will for those only just waking up; in no particular order:
1/ Unrestricted immigration.
2/ The Scamdemic and death jab.
3/ Obvious puppet leaders, including the increased tokenism of one sort or another that merely underlines the puppet show itself.
4/ Kowtowing towards Israel and minimising the Palestinian’s plight.
5/ The privitisation of natural monopolies now owned by international capital.
6/ The subservience of science and scientific inquiry to political agendas. Eg “manmade global warming”.
To be a combatant in this war against us means refusing to be a slave. It doesn’t mean overt violence, flag waving, or membership of infiltrated political parties. It means driving at 31mph in a 30mph limit. It means knowing what to do with TV licence “reminders” and much else besides.
It also means realising that most people are quite happy in their bondage and there is scarcely anything those awake can do to help them. The Scamdemic was the intelligence test that most failed.
Guardian and BBC ‘ead ‘itters
Their lack of human compassion toward the weak is because they are Bolsheviks, a twisted Babylonian Talmudic Jewish trait as revealed by:
The book The Jewish Religion: Its Influence Today (1983) by Elizabeth Dilling, Chapter V. Talmudic Immorality, Asininity and Pornography: The Reprobate Mind, p.58. states:
#1a is being carried out by withdrawal of food and water.
#1b,2,3,5 was carried out by destroying all durable permanent housing.
#4 is carried out by wounding or killing and leaving the bodies to be consumed by wild animals, particularly dogs.
#6 is carried out by bombing buildings and leaving the Palestinians trapped in the rubble.
#7 is carried out by mines, grenade launching and indiscriminate shooting, use of exploding pagers, etc.
The reason why they follow this Talmudic Satanic heartlessness is that they don’t have a heart; they are Bolsheviks. 17 months ago, the following was published: Israel Opens Fire on Palestinians Gathered at Food Truck Killing 104 by TTS Admin/Mike Whitney | Mar 3, 2024:
Israel further reduced required food by one-half that necessary. Essentially these Bolsheviks are repeating the Holodomor done to the Ukrainians by the Soviets. The late Russian historian, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn summarised:
Bolshevism was extended to Khazakstan as well:
https://crazzfiles.com/the-kazakh-holodomor-a-jewish-atrocity-you-will-never-hear-about-in-hollywood/
Greater Israel includes not just Palestine and the Arab lands, they plan to holodomor the entire world. Indeed these Israeli Bolsheviks fulfil:
Yet the ultra-wealthy cleric John Hagee worships these murderers. He and his Christians United for Israel funded millions to move these Christless Soviet Jews to Israel, but spared nothing for the Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian Arabs of who are 40% Christians under Israel’s heavy persecution.
All of you think that God is a fairy tale, a fantasy’ but in one day, everything will be different! Pulling a total one eighty!
God is coming to see you. really! He is the God of this world, and he’s got a real surprise for you!
Coming to a location near you soon than you think!
All of you think that God is a fairy tale, a fantasy’ but in one day, everything will be different! Pulling a total one eighty!
God is coming to see you. Really! He is the God of this world, and he’s got a real surprise for you!
Coming to a location near you sooner than you think!