UK charities funding illegal Israeli settlements
Charities in England and Wales funding illegal Israeli settlements are now under investigation.
In June, Labour MP Melanie Ward submitted a complaint to the Charity Commission regarding 32 charities donating more than £28 million to projects in the Occupied Territories in recent years.
Ward’s research concluded that if standard gift aid tax relief was claimed, it would amount to £5.6 million of UK taxpayers’ money.
Some recent transfers supported pro-settler groups involved in the destruction of Palestinian homes and land.
UK Toremet facilitated a £38,479 donation to Regavim, one of four groups actively involved in the demolition of Palestinian properties, and sanctioned by the EU for “serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank”.
Al Jazeera’s documentary Complicit: How the West is Helping Israel Seize the West Bank tracks how funds from the UK and Canada are funnelled to illegal settlements via organisations like UK Toremet.
It shows settlers thanking western donors for kit they’ve helped pay for, including guns used to drive Palestinian families off their land. The film also includes harrowing footage of violent settlers shooting and beating Palestinian men, women and children, stealing animals, breaking into homes, setting fire to cars and buildings, destroying solar panels and water tanks.
Co-producer Richard Sanders says the evidence shows an “intent to deceive” by fundraising organisations. Those filmed appear to know that their activities violate UK charity law, disguising where money goes, what it’s spent on and how it gets there.
The Charity Commission has launched an official inquiry to scrutinise whether these funds were transferred legally. Supporting illegal settlements would breach international law and fall outside official charitable purposes.
Initially investigating eight charities, the Commission will add more that “appear to expend charitable funds to support, directly or indirectly, activities and/or projects within illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine”.
Stephen Roake, assistant director of high risk compliance at the Charity Commission said: “Serious allegations have been made about UK charities operating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine, so our first step is to establish the facts. Only then can we determine if regulatory action is required, based on our findings and the evidence we see.”
