Terror washing: how extremists exploit Britain’s charitable sector

Britain is rightly proud of its charitable sector. Charities feed families, support the vulnerable, care for the elderly and provide welfare services beyond the NHS. Yet sentimentality must never replace scrutiny, particularly at a time of growing extremist activity and malign foreign interference in the West, increasingly pursued not only through violence but also through access to mainstream institutions and society, including, alarmingly, parts of the charitable ecosystem itself.

Terrorism today does not operate solely through masked gunmen belonging to clandestine cells. Increasingly, it functions through concentric circles of influence.

At the centre lie terrorist groups and hostile regimes such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Around them sit propagandists, charities, and protest movements that can provide political cover and social legitimacy, repackaging extremist narratives in the language of human rights and free speech. Essentially, these actors serve as a bridge through which extremism is laundered into respectable public discourse. In effect these groups are engaging in “terror washing”.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, whose chairman, Ramy Abdu, was identified by Israel’s Ministry of Defence in 2013 as linked to alleged Hamas-front institutions in Europe. Abdu was identified as living in the UK at the time. Euro-Med’s predecessor entity, Euromid Observer for Human Rights, was designated in 2015.

Euro-Med was reportedly the source for an incendiary allegation that Israel trained dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners that was featured in an opinion piece authored by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times and widely circulated throughout the media. Euro-Med’s claim was also disseminated by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. That is just one example.

Terrorism today does not operate solely through masked gunmen belonging to clandestine cells

This week, it was reported that Israeli entities were added to a UN blacklist on sexual violence, likely relying on the outrageous Euro-med allegation. As documented by NGO Monitor, where I work, the compilation of this and other UN blacklists is based in large part on uncritically repeating unverified claims of NGOs, several of which are linked to designated terror organisations. According to Israeli officials, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was shown clear evidence refuting these claims and yet rejected this information, instead choosing to credit Hamas propaganda sources.

Promotion of outrageous claims by media outlets and UN officials obscures the original sketchy provenance, yet furthers the ongoing demonisation of Israel and targeting of Jewish communities in the diaspora.

Shockat Adam MP recently tabled an Early Day Motion calling for banks and regulators to simplify compliance and identity verification procedures for charities. Reducing unnecessary burdens on legitimate charities is a worthy objective. But due diligence and financial scrutiny exist for a reason, and Britain should be extremely cautious about weakening oversight at precisely the moment extremist networks are becoming more sophisticated in how they operate.

Increasingly, though, organisations linked to extremist groups are not operating solely as charities at all but as companies, or without any formal structure at all, allowing them to sidestep regulation and reporting requirements. We have seen this phenomenon regarding some opaque entities set up in the UK with potential ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Britain does not need weaker oversight in this area. Terror washing occurs in a regulatory vacuum, where democratic societies fail to apply the same standards and critical analysis towards organisations that claim to be promoting noble aims as they would towards other institutions.

It is important that the UK protect the charitable sector from being exploited by those seeking to destabilise our way of life.

• Anne Herzberg is a legal advisor at NGO Monitor