MPs have called for sanctions against an Israeli charity, after it was caught on camera by Declassified offering to help UK citizens move to an illegal settlement in the West Bank.
Last week, our undercover investigation revealed how Shivat Zion bragged about “awesome” settlements – and told supporters it could benefit from UK tax subsidies.
We filmed the group’s “encouragement” officer discussing the support it would give settlers moving to Efrat, in the West Bank. “You’re next to the Arabs; you’ll hear their mosques,” he said. “But apart from this, it’s a great living standard.”
The government is now facing calls to take action – including from MPs within the Labour Party . In parliament on Tuesday, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper was grilled over the issue by independent MP Shockat Adam.
“ Declassified UK has found that Israeli charity Shivat Zion is helping British citizens to move to illegal settlements,” Adam said. “That breaks international law; and, to rub salt in the wound, British taxpayers are implicated, as the charity claims UK gift aid.”
He asked: “Will the Secretary of State assure the House that she will look into the matter urgently and sanction any organisation, charity or otherwise, complicit in Israeli illegal land grabs?” Cooper dodged the question, saying: “No one should be building illegal settlements in the West Bank.” She added: “We would expect any organisation in the UK, and people living in the UK, to abide by international law.”
Adam later told Declassified he was “deeply disappointed but not surprised” by Cooper’s response. “We hear repeatedly that the government is doing everything it can, yet now is the time to stop talking and start taking action,” he said.
“The government should immediately sanction Shivat Zion and take steps to ensure this cannot happen again. Equally, it is alarming that the Charity Commission seems unable or unwilling to tighten its grip on the use of Gift Aid.”
Dr Zena Agha, interim director of the British Palestinian Committee, also criticised Cooper’s response to the call for sanctions, saying it “further illustrates the total lack of accountability”. “Not only did Yvette Cooper side-step the specifics of the case in question entirely, she further illustrated the hollowness of international law,” she said. “Her government has been directly responsible for the erosion of the international legal system through its relentless support of Israel ‘s genocide in Gaza .” When pressed on the issue by Declassified today, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We have nothing further to add to this.” Labour MPs The demand for action against Shivat Zion was last night echoed by two Labour MPs, Grahame Morris and Jon Trickett.
Morris, the MP for Easington, told Declassified : “I am appalled that UK taxpayers may have been funding an organisation that helps people move to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
“The government must act swiftly to investigate and shut down any organisations facilitating breaches of international law.”
And Trickett, who represents Normanton and Hemsworth, said: “It’s astonishing if they are enticing settlers when receiving UK Gift Aid. “These settlements are illegal and are part of a process of ethnic cleansing. That is not a charitable endeavour, it is a crime.” He added: “Strong government action is required to put an immediate end to this matter.”
The Labour government has repeatedly condemned Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, describing them as “a flagrant violation of international law”. But the introduction of sanctions and other measures has been limited and slow.
Last year, sanctions were imposed on two Israeli government ministers , Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, in response to their “repeated incitements of violence” against Palestinian communities. The government also sanctioned several individuals and companies linked to violence in the West Bank, including Daniella Weiss, the founder of a far-right Israeli settler organisation.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Cooper said: “We do not discuss sanctions in advance, but we continue to look at the issue of sanctions, and to take immensely seriously the expansion of settlements.” RELATED Revealed: Over 100 Britons among Israeli soldiers and settlers With “inspiring talks” and “practical information”, the event was designed to help British Jews emigrate to Israel – a process known as aliyah.
The event is due to return to London next month, with Shivat Zion posting on Instagram: “Hope to see you there!”
In a written parliamentary question, Shockat Adam has now asked the government if it will take steps to ensure that the group is not hosted at the event.
The campaign group Jewish Antizionist Action – which protested outside the last Aliyah Fair – said it was “disgusted” that Shivat Zion had been invited back to the event following Declassified ’s revelations.
A spokesperson said: “With knowledge of these activities, which violate international law and propagandise to British Jews, we oppose the World Zionist Organisation’s Aliyah Day.
“We call on the British government to take urgent action to ban Shivat Zion and any other organisation that is aiding and abetting war crimes to British citizens.” Gift Aid Alongside growing pressure on the government to sanction Shivat Zion, the Charity Commission has confirmed it is looking into concerns about UK Gift Aid raised by our investigation.
On its website, Shivat Zion invited supporters to claim the tax subsidy when making donations. Despite being registered in Israel, it directed donations to a separate charity called UK Toremet Ltd, based near London. In an email seen by Declassified , a representative from Shivat Zion claimed that donations “go through” the UK Toremet charity, explaining that this “ensures the donations properly reach Shivat Zion”.
If money were to be received this way, it could mean that support for illegal settlers could potentially benefit from British tax subsidies.
But when questioned by Declassified , UK Toremet claimed it has no “active” relationship with Shivat Zion and hadn’t given any grants to the organisation in the last 12 months.
We were unable to verify this claim, but donors to Shivat Zion would have been under the impression that their money would go via UK Toremet in order to benefit from Gift Aid.
Daniel Machover, a leading human rights lawyer, told us he was “deeply disturbed” by the investigation’s findings, saying it was “inexcusable” to claim that these donations were eligible for UK Gift Aid.
Responding to our revelations, a spokesperson for the Charity Commission said: “We are assessing if any information published gives rise to new concerns about UK Toremet Limited. “We have undertaken three separate regulatory compliance cases involving the charity about its work in Palestine since 2016. We issued the charity’s trustees with statutory guidance and an action plan, which warned it must comply with the Geneva Conventions Act 1957. “The Commission also communicated to the trustees the government’s position that construction of settlements in Palestine is illegal under international law.”
In response to our findings, Shivat Zion has posted a video online claiming that the undercover investigation was a “trap” to make it “look as if we tried to convince people to make Aliyah, specifically to Judea and Samaria, which is simply not true”.
The video says: “We are an apolitical organisation and work in accordance with Israeli law. But if someone has decided on a specific city in Israel, we help them. It’s their individual decision.”
The post UK politicians call for sanctions on Israeli charity appeared first on Declassified UK .