Boris Johnson has just replaced Theresa May as prime minister of Great Britain. Johnson has been a strong supporter of Israel and an advocate for a two-state solution with the Palestinians. What was Johnson’s connection to Israel before he became a politician?
Prime Minister of Israel by Foreign and Commonwealth Office is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
A. Johnson attended high school at the elite British boarding school Eton, where he stood out as a rugby player. When Johnson was 16, he traveled to Israel as a member of the British National Youth Rugby squad to compete in an international tournament. The British team won the tournament, and Johnson later spoke of the trip, saying, “It was exciting to be in the Holy Land, but the best part was meeting so many people from so many different countries.” In particular, Johnson became friendly with Natan Shavit, the captain of the Israeli team, and the two men have stayed in touch ever since. Johnson stayed with Shavit on his most recent trip to Israel in 2017 as the British foreign minister.
B. Before entering politics, Johnson was a journalist, working for the Times and later for the Daily Telegraph. Reflecting his right-leaning political views, in 1992 Johnson wrote an award-winning series of articles about world leaders who had led their countries during a political shift from liberal to conservative government, including President Ronald Reagan, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. For the article about Begin, Johnson traveled to Israel and interviewed many of the people who had worked with Begin, and he became close friends with Begin’s son (and former Knesset member) Benny.
C. In 1993, the European Young Conservatives was founded in Great Britain, uniting organizations from across Europe who shared a conservative political philosophy. Over time the EYC expanded to include members from non-European countries, including Canada, New Zealand, and Israel. In 1998, Boris Johnson served as an advisor and traveled with a British teen delegation to the international conference of the EYC, which was held in Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the keynote speaker at the conference, and he and Johnson met and became close friends.
D. In the summer of 1984, Boris Johnson and his sister Rachel traveled to Israel to be volunteers on Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi, in the Galilee. According to Rachel, “for me, it was summer vacation, mostly spent gazing at the good looking young Israeli soldiers.” But Boris, she said, “already showed his leadership skills by becoming the head of the volunteers group within a month of our arrival.” In this position, Boris worked with the kibbutz leadership in scheduling the workload for the volunteers, and also arranged for the volunteers to take trips to other parts of the country.
E. In the summer of 1984, Boris Johnson and his sister Rachel traveled to Israel to be volunteers on Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi, in the Galilee. Rachel worked cleaning the men’s toilets until she complained and was moved to apple picking. Boris cleaned pots and pans in the kitchen, and according to Rachel, was hardly noticed, other than sticking out like a sore goy thumb because of his pale skin and blonde hair.