The Dual Reality of Tommy Robinson and Israel’s Image War
The same media that flattens Robinson into a headline does the same to Israel. And I saw both realities that night.
A little-known secret among those who live in Israel is that there are actually two different realities.
This dual reality isn’t designed to be a secret. If it were up to us, there wouldn’t even BE two realities. We would be perfectly happy with one: where what happens on our ground is reflected accurately online. The internet is where that second reality lives, or ‘lies’, causing the fractures that we can all see today.
Yesterday, another inflection point was created in Israel when British journalist (Tommy, Tommy,) Tommy Robinson spoke to a crowd of 1,800 people in Tel Aviv during a visit to the country. As is often the case when an event occurs in Israel, two realities were born that night.
The first, where I attended physically, was emboldened by love, respect, tolerance, compassion, and, at times, jealousy. Robinson took to the stage at first to eruptive applause, followed by silent attention. It was clear he was scheduled to speak for only a few minutes before sitting with Gadi Taub for an extended discussion and open Q&A. The reverse would be true.
Robinson spoke largely unscripted for close to 90 minutes about his experience in Israel, how what he experiences on its land is not represented accurately online. He remembered Jewish friends in the UK who feared for their lives. He shared how, in his youth, his Muslim friends from his hometown of Luton would celebrate attacking Jews, which left him wondering why. And ultimately, he lamented the direction the UK is taking as it tackles the dual problem of radical Islam and an emigrating Jewish population - one that is increasingly leaving to make Aliyah to Israel.
“I will always stand with the British Jewish community,” he said. “I have only met patriots… We do not want proud British Jews to have to leave our country due to [cowardly] leadership, and due to people remaining silent.”
The four-hour event was a celebration of Israel’s victories and strong defense of Western values. I would know since I was there. So too was a single protestor, who interrupted in the event’s opening minutes before being swiftly removed. This brief moment is what began a singularity that would spark the emergence of a second reality to become immortalized online (much like this very piece, which aims to counter any negative media attention brought on by that moment).
Outlets today summarize the evening as ‘ending’ with someone “violently accosted” (even though the occasion happened early in the evening). The Times of Israel covered the news, admitting that the protester was a former employee of the outlet.
Reading that story today left me feeling like I was at a different event entirely. And I came to realize that Tommy Robinson, and the contradictory news coverage around him, is becoming the personification of one of the most vicious forms of attack against Israel: That is, two different realities being built with contrasting coverage, skewed historical facts, and bad intentions of global - and distant - media coverage of local issues with a local people.
A journalist from Channel 4 was in attendance too, that night - although today I guess she wishes she wasn’t. An acrimonious exchange went viral, with Robinson declaring that the mainstream media is quickly dying. “Everyone’s had enough of you,” he told her. Hundreds of thousands of people watching directly from a live stream would likely agree.
Now comes the time I tell you my story with the man himself - and its humble beginnings in Luton (where I was enrolled at university and when he was founding the EDL).
In 2012, I interviewed Robinson when I was studying Broadcast Journalism at the University of Bedfordshire. I went in skeptical. He knew I wasn’t sold on what he was saying. One of the questions I asked was “Why do you ask for donations in the form of ‘buying a pint?’,” implying a link between his organization and alcohol-fuelled violence. It was a low-brow question. He answered, saying it was an informal way of offering support and showing solidarity.
Fast-forward to 2025: last night’s event in Tel Aviv after two years of war was, in many ways, validation for what he said all those years ago. Many Israelis and British Jews in attendance saw this event as vindication of his earlier warnings, and how today he is one of the biggest defenders of Israel and the fight against Hamas and radical Islam. And there I was, sitting in the front row.
Then, we even spoke again. This time on Rebel News, reminiscing about those days together. We also spoke about his views on Israel, which were largely positive, and on Jihad, which naturally were not. We were two men interviewing each other. Reflecting and contemplating. A far cry from our Luton days.
Robinson is not perfect - let him be the first person to tell you that. He’s gotten in trouble with the law, spent much of last year in jail, and his work as a journalist has been scrutinized to a point where its validity can fairly be questioned. But many people deserve our attention and our criticism - like this imam at the Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham, UK, lecturing on how to stone a woman to death. This moral decline in British culture is just one example of what Robinson says he’s fighting against.
As far as moral outrage goes, I don’t think it should be toward the man who is trying to defend Western values from attack - and anyone else who spends 10 minutes talking to Tommy would say the same thing. Not only because he’s right or wrong, but because last night’s event shows just how much he embodies this phenomenon of competing narratives and dual realities.
I left the event early; there were dozens of people waiting to speak to Tommy, and I would have been there all night hostage to the undying enthusiasm of his presence. But on my long drive home, I had a think: about the man I just saw, against the man I’d read about. It reminded me of the feeling I had about the country I lived in, against the country I’d read about.
The same media that flattens Tommy Robinson into a headline does the same to Israel. And I saw both realities that night: one in the room, full of pride and conviction; and one on my screen, full of noise. The distance between them isn’t just unfair, but unsustainable.