Starmer: UK charities must not fund West Bank settlements

Illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank are “a flagrant breach of international law and no UK charity should be supporting them,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told MPs.

Starmer addressed the issue during Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons, in a response to claims about 32 UK charities made by Labour MP Melanie Ward.

Ward, who previously served as chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians and now represents the Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy constituency, said she had worked with Israeli human rights researchers to identify 32 British charities “funnelling money to settlements on Palestinian land.”

Ward alleged that, over the past five years, these charities have sent more than £28 million to illegal settlements, with a likely taxpayer subsidy of over £5 million through Gift Aid.

She also revealed that she had submitted a formal complaint to the Charity Commission regarding the charities’ activities.

“Our constituents will be appalled by this,” Ward said, adding: “Violence against Palestinians is a major and deliberate impediment to peace.”

In response, Starmer reiterated: “Settlements are a flagrant breach of international law and no UK charity should be supporting them.

“The Middle East Minister met the Charity Commission today to discuss these concerns. We announced yesterday further sanctions against those who support settler violence, and we will continue to look at strengthening those sanctions. British businesses should have no economic involvement in illegal settlements.”

Starmer added: “Let me just say that the situation across Palestine remains desperate, and the UK will continue to lead efforts to prevent human suffering, get aid in, and preserve the viability of a two-state solution.”

According to the Guardian, Ward outlined details of the charities’ recent activities in a letter to the Commission and urged action, including investigations and removal of the organisations from the charity register.

A Charity Commission spokesperson said it was carefully considering the “serious matters” the MP raised.

“As we have previously confirmed, we are actively considering the wider legal and compliance issues relating to charities operating in Palestine,” added the spokesperson.

“We know this is a complex and highly contentious issue and so it is right that we take the time needed to consider these matters fully.”

In response to  new UK sanctions, Rabbis Charley Bagisnky and Josh Levi, co-leaders of the Movement for Progressive Judaism, said: “We welcome the UK government’s decision to impose targeted sanctions on those responsible for financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence in the West Bank.

“As Progressive Jews, we have consistently opposed settlement expansion, settler violence and moves towards annexation. Settler violence is not only an attack on Palestinians; it is a direct contradiction of Jewish values and of the vision set out in Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

“We support a liberal, democratic State of Israel, as envisaged in that Declaration, with equal rights for all its citizens. Settlement expansion, settler violence and annexation make a negotiated two-state solution harder to achieve and damage Israel’s future as both a Jewish and democratic state.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said: “Israel firmly rejects the disgraceful measures adopted by foreign governments against Israeli citizens, entities, and a government minister [France’s ban on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich].

“The real essence of these steps is the attempt to impose a political stance regarding the right of Jews to live in the Land of Israel and concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – camouflaged as measures against violence.”