Medical Aid For Palestinians’ anger at ‘racial hatred of Jews’ complaint

Lawyers in the UK and US have filed a formal complaint against Medical Aid for Palestinians with the Charity Commission, accusing it of “racial hatred of Jews”, charges which MAP rejects.

The 17-page report, submitted this week, alleges that the charity has links to Palestinian terrorist groups, promotes anti-Semitic material and uses its funds for political propaganda.

Jointly submitted by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) and the New York-based Lawfare Project, the report alleges that the London-based Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) has links with affiliates of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

In a statement, an MAP spokesman said: “This appalling smear appears to be part of a wider pattern of attacks on legitimate NGOs. Should the Charity Commission raise points with us, we would be pleased to respond.”

The group’s General-Command was designated a terrorist organisation by the UK in 2014, but the Home Office said “the group is separate from the similarly named Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP),” which is not proscribed. The PFLP is however subject to financial sanctions by the Treasury, which implements the sanctions of the European Union and United Nations. 

Lawyers say MAP works with and/or funds several groups linked to PFLP, including Addameer, an advocacy and lobbying group providing financial and legal support to Palestinian prisoners and detainees, human rights monitoring group Al-Haq, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR).

The complainants say MAP “echoes PCHR’s blatantly distorted anti-Israel view of events, amplifies its views and provides funding to them”.

They also say MAP’s founder and honorary patron, Dr Swee Ang, “has distributed and encouraged others to distribute an openly anti-Semitic video of David Duke, a white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard”. Dr Swee Ang has previously stated she was unaware who Duke was.

Elsewhere, the lawyers say MAP gives a false impression about the health of Palestinians on its website, with UKLFI chief executive Jonathan Turner saying: “Readers of its misleading website would no doubt be surprised to hear that life-expectancy in Gaza in fact compares favourably with Glasgow.”

Turner said MAP was “abusing its position as a charity to spread false information about Israel,” adding: “It uses the halo of its status as a charity to disguise its racial hatred of Israelis and Jews.”

Lawfare Project direct Brooke Goldstein, said MAP was “injecting anti-Semitic poison into British public life and that it was “linked to a terrorist organisation, the PFLP,” adding: “It is incumbent on the Charity Commission to take action against MAP’s sinister abuse of charitable funds.”

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