UK charities fund Israeli settlement expansion in occupied West Bank
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The UK Charity Commission is under fire for approving the transfer of nearly $7.7 million from two UK charities to a school in the illegal Israeli settlement of Susya.
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Susya village, in the south of the occupied West Bank, with al-Khalil in the background (AFP)
The UK’s Charity Commission is facing criticism for approving the transfer of approximately $7.67 million to a school located in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.
According to documents reviewed by The Guardian, two UK charities, the Kasner Charitable Trust (KCT) and the conduit organization UK Toremet, channeled the funds to the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva high school in Susya, a settlement established south of al-Khalil on occupied Palestinian land.
The influx of donations led to a significant increase in the school’s budget, which, in turn, contributed to a rise in student enrollment, staff employment, and the growth of the settlement’s population.
Dror Etkes, an Israeli settlement expert, noted that the school is "the largest single source of employment in the settlement, and constitutes one of the main elements of the entire settlement’s existence.”
Susya was founded around 1983 near the historic Palestinian village of Khirbet Susiya. In 1986, Israeli authorities declared the village’s central residential area an archaeological site and forcibly expelled its Palestinian residents, according to Amnesty International.
Former Conservative Party chair Sayeeda Warsi condemned the revelations, calling it "appalling that any British national should be engaged in funding illegal settlements on occupied land – and it’s even more disturbing that this is being subsidised by all of us taxpayers."
Warsi believes most of her colleagues would share the outrage regarding the greenlighting of these donations.
"Serious action must be taken so that settlements which are illegal under international law, and at the heart of a regime of discrimination and displacement, cannot benefit from charitable donations.”
While certain UK charities opt for funding schools in occupied territories, this being complicit in the expansionist Israeli project, other UK organizations take a different route, as a token of rejection of the atrocities Israeli occupation forces are committing in Gaza.
UK doctors cut ties with Israeli medical body over Gaza genocide
In early July, the British Medical Association (BMA) voted overwhelmingly to suspend its ties with the Israeli Medical Association (IMA), citing the IMA’s failure to condemn attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system amid the ongoing Israeli genocide.
Passed with over 80% support at the BMA’s annual conference in Liverpool, the resolution reflects growing international support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and intensifying calls to hold Israeli institutions accountable for complicity in violations of international law.
The motion demands that ties remain suspended until the IMA upholds principles of medical neutrality and explicitly condemns the systematic targeting of Gaza’s medical infrastructure. Some members advocated for even stronger action, including expelling the IMA from the World Medical Association (WMA).
Dr. Fareed Al-Qusous, a 26-year-old British physician of Jordanian descent who supported the resolution, explained, “As physicians, our duty is to protect patients and healthcare facilities. The IMA remained silent on Israeli airstrikes that devastated Gaza’s hospitals, while swiftly condemning Iran’s strike on Soroka Medical Center. This double standard cannot be ignored.”
