Yet another instance of aid misused to promote terrorism and anti-Semitism has been exposed.
By: United with Israel Staff
The United Kingdom charity “War on Want” is linked to terrorist organizations, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), say The Lawfare Project and UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), who have filed a complaint to the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
The complaint alleges that the organization has “misused charitable funds for the production and dissemination of political propaganda and published false and misleading allegations likely to result in racial hatred of Jews and Israel,” according to a Tuesday statement by The Lawfare Project.
The complaint describes the War on Want as engaging in “dog-whistle fundraising” by misleading donors with falsehoods regarding “Palestinian Territories” and exploiting ignorance and prejudice against Israel. Furthermore, this “undermines public trust and confidence in War on Want and brings the charitable sector into disrepute.”
The Lawfare Project and UKLFI have petitioned the Charity Commission to take steps to ensure the proper administration of this charity and that its conduct is limited to activities for the public benefit within its charitable objectives.
War on Want’s stated charitable aims, as indicated by the charity’s name, include a focus on global poverty relief and advocacy towards that goal.
‘Disproportionate Focus on Palestinian Political Campaigns’
The complaint argues that the charity’s “disproportionate focus on Palestinian political campaigns” is not in keeping with these objectives.
War on Want’s work involves political campaigns with little or no connection to global poverty, according to the complaint. Of its annual income of approximately $2.4 million in the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2017, $677,008 was spent on “raising funds” and $713,800 on “campaigns and policy.” The Lawfare Project and UKLFI say that a substantial part of that spending may have been used for the “misleading and anti-Semitic propaganda” described at length in the complaint.
“Our complaint alleges that NGOs like War on Want are a part of an infrastructure that advances the delegitimization of Israel, and calls on the Charity Commission to hold them accountable,” stated Brooke Goldstein, executive director of The Lawfare Project, a think tank and litigation fund that takes legal action against anti-Semitic discrimination around the world.
Jonathan Turner, chief executive of UK Lawyers for Israel, a voluntary organization of lawyers fighting against the delegitimization of the State of Israel, said that “War on Want misuses charitable funds to serve clearly political goals that are not connected to the public good.”
The two pro-Israel organizations in June filed a similar complaint against the Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) organization, which has a record of promoting anti-Semitism and is likewise connected to a PFLP.
Palestinian Abuse of Aid for Terrorism
Palestinian terror organizations have a long history of misusing aid to promote terrorism and anti-Semitism, and there is ample evidence of Palestinian terror operatives infiltrating aid groups and diverting funds and other resources for terror purposes.
In 2016, Mohammed El-Halabi, World Vision’s manager of operations in Gaza, was arrested for funneling approximately $50 million – 60 percent of WV’s funds, to Hamas– in order to construct terror tunnels and military installations along with other terrorist activities.
Shortly afterwards, the Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) arrested a “humanitarian aid worker” from the Gaza Strip for exploiting his position at a United Nations agency to provide assistance to Hamas. Similarly, in an April 2018 US court settlement, the NGO Norwegian People’s Aid admitted to working with Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations in Gaza.
Most recently, Yasser Murtaja, a purported journalist killed in April on the border with Israel, was revealed to be a Hamas intelligence officer who was set to become a Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) contractor.
The NRC, which describes itself as “an independent humanitarian organization helping people forced to flee,” stated that Murtaja “had agreed to document for NRC the bitter prolonged struggle faced by Palestinian refugees in Gaza. The work was planned to start the day after he was killed.”