Illegal Israeli settlements received at least £28 million in donations from 32 charities in England and Wales in the last five years, Labour MP Melanie Ward has revealed, while Israel continues to pass laws that pave the way for settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Working with Israeli human rights researchers Ward, who was previously chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians, found that a likely taxpayer subsidy of almost £5.6 million of gift aid was claimed against the donations.
This comes as the United Kingdom announced limited sanctions against groups connected to settler violence in the West Bank on 9 June, and as the government faces scrutiny over its relations with Israel.
"If these countries…really wanted to put an end to Israeli settlers and their violence in the West Bank, we have to see a new reality, new facts, new sanctions, real sanctions against the Israeli settlers," Mohamad Alqeeq,a Palestinian analyst and writer based in the occupied West Bank, told The New Arab .
"After the Israeli genocide and starvation in Gaza…instead of being able to discuss the Israeli violations, [Western countries] decided to ignore the issues, and to make some shallow steps to impose more sanctions on some of the settlers under the pretext of protecting the Palestinians, but indeed we have nothing on the ground."
Ward raised the findings at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, noting that she had previously raised concerns with the Charity Commission on 1 June.
The complaint she filed centres on the organisations that are "wilfully misrepresenting" where their work is based by stating "Israel" rather than "Palestine", and on the argument that these organisations are not engaged in charitable activities of benefit to the UK public.
Ward warned that charitable donations sent from the UK to illegal Israeli settlements would "contribute to distrust or a loss of confidence in the integrity of the charity system".
"Does the Prime Minister agree that funnelling money to Israeli settlements is extremist activity, not charitable activity, and will he be clear that it is banned?" Ward asked Keir Starmer.
In response, Starmer said: "Settlements are a flagrant breach of international law, and no UK charity should be supporting them."
"British businesses should have no economic involvement in illegal settlements." Starmer added that Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer met the Charity Commission on Wednesday to discuss the concerns, announcing further sanctions against those who support settler violence and will "continue to look at strengthening those sanctions".
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper also announced that the Charity Commission has been tasked with investigating charities' links to settlements, which are illegal under international law.
On the ground in the West Bank, Alqeeq said that settlers were still escalating their attacks on a daily basis.
"We have more escalation from the settlers and their attacks, more escalation from the Israeli government."
"They have daily invasions targeting the heart of the Palestinian cities, to force people to leave their land, to think about the next day in the West Bank. This is hell for the Palestinians." Government 'aware for more than a year' of donations to settlers Ward said that the Charity Commission and UK Government have been aware for almost a year that large donations have been sent to Israeli settlements by organisations registered as British charities .
She noted that it was revealed in July that the Kasner Charitable Trust had donated approximately £5.7 million to the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva high school in the Susya Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. The same trust also donated £40,000 to Yeshivat Shavei Hevron High School, located in a settlement in Hebron .
Ward notes that despite the UK government announcing sanctions on 9 June against the settler organisation Artzenu, it still has a donations page hosted by British charity UK Toremet, one of the charities named by the MP.
A TNA investigation in October 2024 found that Artzenu raised funds for armed rapid response squads (kitot konenut) and provided military training to settlers.
The MP said that "many of the charities mentioned in the report appear to have been set up with the express purpose of donating money to settlements, even mentioning them in their charity names".
Alqeeq notes that Israel has taken more aggressive steps against Palestinians in the West Bank due to the silence of the international community .
"I think the international community has a formidable challenge, and has to at least force Israel to stop its policies and hostilities against the Palestinians" Alqeeq said.
"Without accountability, without a real decision from the international community against these actions, I think we will witness more escalation in the region."