Former JNF UK tustee’s Charity Commission disqualification order quashed
Tribunal overturns two-and-half year ban on Gary Mond, citing 'right to freedom of expression'
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
A Charity Commission disqualification order against National Jewish Assembly chair Gary Mond has been quashed after a tribunal ruled in favour of his right to free speech.
Mond was disqualified from acting as a charity trustee or senior manager for two and a half years because of online activity which the tribunal accepted could be “perceived as anti-Islam”.
The former Board of Deputies senior vice-president was a trustee of the Jewish National Fund UK before the commission said it was investigating his posts, which led to him being disqualified in 2023.
He has subsequently spent £60,000 on an appeal against the decision – and last Thursday a tribunal ruled the Commission’s order to disqualify Mond to be undesirable “in order to protect public trust and confidence in charities generally”.
While the tribunal said some of Mond’s social media activity could be “perceived as anti-Islam”, it agreed that “Mr Mond has the right to freedom of expression”.
It also agreed that the online posts in question, dating from 2014 to 2021, did not constitute “the conduct of someone who is unfit” to be a trustee.
It is believed to be the first time the commission has had a disqualification order overturned.
In one such post, Mond said that if a significant number of Muslims were elected as Labour MPs “the Britain that we knew will have gone forever”.
In another he said that “civilisation” was “at war with Islam”. He has since clarified that he meant to refer to “Islamic fundamentalism” rather than the religion of Islam.
The Commission also focused on posts made by others on Facebook which Mond had “liked”. Two such posts were made by Pamela Gellar, an American political commentator banned from coming to the UK by Theresa May because of “extremist” views.
His social media activity came to the Commission’s attention after Jewish News reported them.
Mond has consistently rejected any suggestion that he is “Islamophobic.”
He resigned from the Board in January 2022, ahead of an investigation into his inflammatory posts on Islam, setting up the NJA organisation in an attempt to provide a right-leaning rival to the main communal organisation.
He also quit the Tory Party last year, despite years of membership, to announce his support for Reform UK.
Mond told The Telegraph: “The outcome of this case, which was an appalling waste of both taxpayers’ money and my own, says infinitely more about the Charity Commission than it does about me.
“It shows that a government body is prepared to judge the suitability of individuals to be charity trustees on the basis of their political beliefs and not merely their behaviour in their charity work.
“As a trustee I worked hard and behaved entirely properly. I did not steal money, nor did I mismanage any charity. It should not be any business of the Charity Commission what I choose to write on social media on matters totally unconnected to charities.
“I hope that the powers that be will investigate the Charity Commission’s actions. It is not for me to call for resignations, but I think that the commission’s reputation has been severely damaged and steps to prevent this type of behaviour from a government institution ever happening again need to be taken.”
A Charity Commission spokesman said: “The outcome of this case brings more clarity to trustees’ appropriate use of social media, underlining the need for all trustees to act in the best interests of their charity including while posting in a personal capacity.”
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