Oxfordshire County Council refuse to ask if IDF are trained at local military bases
Green councillor Ian Middleton planned to ask to the Ministry of Defence to disclose whether the IDF were being trained at Oxfordshire military bases including RAF Brize Norton
Last updated 12th Sep 2025
Oxfordshire County Council has refused calls to ask whether the IDF are being trained at military bases in Oxfordshire, amid growing anger about the suffering in Gaza.
Green councillor Ian Middleton had initially put forward a motion for the council to ask to the Ministry of Defence to disclose whether the IDF were being trained at, or supported by, Oxfordshire military bases, including RAF Brize Norton and the Defence Academy in Shrivenham.
However, this was blocked and had to be changed due to restrictions to the council constitution.
Councillor Middleton proposed an amended version of the motion asking the council to write to the Police and Crime Commissioner asking for information on increased costs and resource requirements for military bases in Oxfordshire being used by the Israeli military.
It was debated by councillors at the full council meeting on Tuesday, September 9, but it was voted down with 19 votes in favour, 34 votes against and two abstentions.
The leader of Oxfordshire County Council Liz Leffman said at the meeting: “I don’t think writing to the Police and Crime Commissioner is going to do anything to stop what’s going on in Gaza.
“What we see on a daily basis going on in Gaza is appalling and we should all be condemning what’s going on … but it’s a very complex set of affairs.
“The fact is that we unfortunately, individually or collectively, are not in a position to do very much about it.
“I think that one of the things that concerns me about this motion is that it’s based on speculation rather than fact.”
She added that “it’s not our job to know” what military bases were doing, and that they may be taking part in humanitarian efforts.
In the meeting, councillor Middleton responded to councillors’ comments about whether the motion was appropriate for the council to debate, saying “if this isn’t the right place where is the right place?”
Speaking afterwards he said it was “disappointing” that the motion did not get more support from councillors.
He added: “If the council had spoken with one voice, we could have pressed for clarity on matters of great concern to Oxfordshire residents and pushed the government to ensure that facilities in our county don’t play any part in potential war crimes.
“Given the daily atrocities being committed against the civilian population in Gaza and the West Bank, I believe the vast majority of people in Oxfordshire would be appalled to learn that members of the Israeli military could be being welcomed to our county to receive training and support.
“Amid growing international condemnation of what many are calling genocide, the eyes of the world are on countries like ours, which may eventually be held to account for their complicity.
“We must be clear: this is not being done in our name.”
Outside the meeting, Green councillor Katherine Foxhall, who represents Watchfield and Shrivenham on Vale of White Horse district council, said she was “deeply concerned” about the lack of transparency about how the Defence Academy was being used.
She said: “Providing training to Israeli military personnel is direct participation in a genocide of the Palestinian people, a betrayal of human rights and a clear violation of international law.
“It must not continue.”
Green councillor Emma Garnett said: “Under no circumstances should Israeli military personnel be visiting UK military sites while war crimes and acts of genocide continue in Gaza.
“We must exert pressure on the UK Government to, in turn, exert pressure on the Israeli Government to end the genocide, apartheid, and illegal occupation of Palestine.”
Activists from Palestine Action broke into RAF Brize Norton and spray painted two voyager planes, leading to the group being proscribed as a terror organisation.