After the war Barker was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan from 1946 to 1947 during the Palestine Emergency and is remembered for his antisemitism and his controversial order, in the wake of the King David Hotel bombing in July 1946, where he declared: "[We] will be punishing the Jews in a way the race dislikes as much as any, by striking at their pockets and showing our contempt of them."