UK funds human rights group supporting asylum seekers in Israel

The British Government has said it is funding Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) to help asylum seekers in the country during the coronavirus pandemic.

Middle East Minister James Cleverly revealed that PHRI, whose work has been criticised by Israel’s right-wing, was one of two named recipients of funding from the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, the other being Tel Aviv University.

Addressing a question from Stephen Crabb MP, the parliamentary head of Conservative Friends of Israel, Cleverly said the embassy ran an open competition and that three organisations were successful in their application for funding.

“One of the projects includes funding for Physicians for Human Rights Israel who are helping migrant and asylum seekers in Israel in response to the Covid-19 crisis.

“Tel Aviv University also received funding to analyse which forms of preventative behaviour can allow economic recovery from Covid-19. We are still in negotiations with the third organisation.”

Im Tirtzu, a right-wing Zionist group in Israel, said this week that PHRI was a “radical-left anti-Israel organisation” which had received “substantial funding from the European Union, United Nations, and New Israel Fund”.