Everything that happens in Hebron first, happens elsewhere afterwards.
In the occupied city of Hebron, where hundreds of Israeli settlers live embedded among 230,000 Palestinians under heavy military enforcement, a British-registered charity has channelled nearly £200,000 to a religious school at the heart of settlement expansion. The donations may contradict the charity's own founding documents, which restrict its scope to 'the state of Israel' — a designation that sits uneasily with the UK government's formal recognition of Palestine. This is not merely a regulatory puzzle: it is a question of whether the architecture of charitable giving in Britain is quietly underwriting a system that former heads of state and intelligence services have called apartheid.
- A new dormitory at the Hebron yeshiva has already been approved, its exterior complete — and an Israeli military outpost now sits on the roof of the Palestinian home next door.
- Thousands of Palestinians have lost shops, homes, and livelihoods to the settlement's expansion, while residents describe escalating violence, movement restrictions, and streets from which they are entirely barred.
- The charity's own deed of trust limits donations to 'the state of Israel,' yet its funds flow to territory Britain formally recognises as Palestine — a contradiction that may constitute a breach of its founding legal terms.
- Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told Parliament that charity systems are being 'abused to funnel support to illegal settlements,' and the Charity Commission has been tasked with investigating 32 such organisations that have collectively sent at least £28 million to settlements.
- The Charity Commission has so far framed the issue as legally complex rather than clear-cut, while Labour peers push for an outright ban on British citizens investing in settlements — demanding the government match its words with enforceable action.
Between 2019 and 2024, a British charity called Friends of Yeshivat Shavei Hevron transferred nearly £200,000 to a religious school in Hebron — one of the most militarised and contested Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Unlike settlements on the periphery of Palestinian territory, this one exists inside a Palestinian city of 230,000 people. Israel maintains control through an elaborate grid of checkpoints, walls, and restricted streets. Several hundred settlers live there, guarded by soldiers who now outnumber them. Palestinians are barred from certain roads entirely; those in Israeli-controlled zones are cut off from the rest of their own city.
In June, Israel's far-right finance minister unilaterally rewrote decades of international agreement to grant himself planning authority over the area, and construction of a new dormitory was immediately approved. Palestinian human rights defender Issa Amro warned that more students would mean more violence, more restrictions, and more military presence. Hagit Ofran of Peace Now called Hebron 'the most extreme settlement, where apartheid is everywhere' — a word used deliberately by figures including the late Jimmy Carter, former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, and Israel's former attorney general.
The charity's own legal documents complicate matters further. Its deed of trust restricts charitable activity to 'the state of Israel,' with no mention of Palestine — yet the British government formally recognised Palestine last year, making Hebron unambiguously outside that scope. In 2023, the charity sent £58,200 to the school and claimed gift aid from HMRC, despite stating on its website that it is not registered for gift aid. When The Guardian made inquiries, the charity's contact details — traced to a north London law firm — were quietly changed.
Friends of Yeshivat is not an isolated case. A Labour MP identified 32 charities registered in England and Wales that have collectively donated at least £28 million to Israeli settlements. The Charity Commission passed this information to the Metropolitan Police's war crimes unit, though no investigation has been launched. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told Parliament that charity systems are being abused and that rules appear to be broken. The Commission has acknowledged the concerns but described the legal questions as complex — a framing that sits uneasily with Britain's own recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Labour peer Helena Kennedy has called for a direct ban on British citizens buying property in settlements, arguing that involvement makes them complicit in violations of international law. Nadav Weiman of Breaking the Silence — a group of Israeli combat veterans documenting military abuses — put it more starkly: funding the expansion means 'funding more violence, funding the next wave that will bring death to Palestinian families and Israeli families.' The dormitory's exterior is already finished. On the roof of the Palestinian home next door, Israeli soldiers have built an outpost.
A British charity has been quietly funneling money into one of the most contentious Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Between 2019 and 2024, Friends of Yeshivat Shavei Hevron transferred nearly £200,000 to a religious school in Hebron, the Palestinian city where Israel maintains one of its most militarized and extreme settler enclaves. The school sits at the center of expansion plans that have just been greenlit—in June, Israel's far-right finance minister unilaterally rewrote decades of international agreement to grant himself planning authority over the area, and construction of a new dormitory was immediately approved.
Hebron is unlike other Israeli settlements. It exists not on the periphery of Palestinian territory but embedded within a Palestinian city itself, home to roughly 230,000 people. To maintain control, Israel has constructed an elaborate system of military checkpoints, walls, and gates that carve the city into zones. Several hundred settlers live in the Israeli-controlled areas, guarded by Israeli soldiers who now outnumber them. Palestinians are barred entirely from certain streets. Those living in Israeli-controlled zones are cut off from the rest of their own city. The settlement's expansion means more settlers, more military presence, and according to residents and human rights monitors, more violence. Issa Amro, a Palestinian human rights defender and co-founder of Youth Against Settlements, described the yeshiva students as aggressive and warned that a new dormitory would bring "more violence towards Palestinians, more restrictions, more Israeli military presence."
The human toll is already severe. Thousands of Palestinians in Hebron have lost their shops, their homes, and their means of earning a living to make room for the settlement. Hagit Ofran, from the Israeli advocacy group Peace Now, framed the new dormitory not as a minor construction project but as a significant escalation—a deliberate addition of more settlers to what she called "the most extreme settlement, where apartheid is everywhere." International figures have used that word deliberately. Jimmy Carter, the late US president; Tamir Pardo, former head of Mossad; and Michael Ben-Yair, Israel's former attorney general, have all stated that Israel has imposed apartheid in the occupied West Bank, including Hebron.
The charity's own legal documents may work against it. Friends of Yeshivat Shavei Hevron's deed of trust restricts its charitable work to "the state of Israel," with no mention of Palestine. Yet the donations are flowing to Hebron, which the British government formally recognized last year as part of Palestinian territory. In 2023 alone, the charity sent £58,200 to the school and claimed more than £2,000 in gift aid from HMRC—though the charity claims on its website that it is not registered for gift aid. The following year, it transferred £21,360. The contradiction between the charity's stated geographic scope and where its money actually goes raises questions about whether the donations breach the charity's own founding terms.
The funding mechanism is straightforward. The charity maintains a UK bank account with Barclays through which donors transfer funds. The charity's contact details trace back to a north London law firm, Solomon Taylor & Shaw, where trustee Ari Bloom is a partner. When The Guardian made inquiries, those contact details were changed. Barclays declined to comment on the specific account but said it has policies in place to meet regulatory obligations for charity clients.
Friends of Yeshivat is not alone. A Labour MP identified 32 charities registered in England and Wales that have collectively donated at least £28 million to Israeli settlements in recent years. The Charity Commission, England and Wales's charity regulator, received this information in early June and passed it to the Metropolitan Police's war crimes unit, though no investigation has been launched. Days later, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told Parliament that "charity systems are abused to funnel support to illegal settlements" and that "some evidence suggests that rules are being broken." She said the Charity Commission had been tasked with investigating the links.
The Charity Commission acknowledged the concerns but framed the issue as legally complex, touching on "wider legal principles about charities' right to operate, and support the most vulnerable, in parts of the world in which there may be conflict, contested jurisdiction, or lawlessness." That framing—treating the occupied West Bank as a zone of ambiguous legal status—sits uneasily with the British government's own formal recognition of Palestine. Labour peer Helena Kennedy has called for a direct ban on British citizens buying property in Israeli settlements, arguing that any such involvement makes them "complicit" in violations of international law. She urged the government to "match words with actions."
Meanwhile, the dormitory's exterior is already complete. Israeli soldiers have built an outpost on the roof of the Palestinian home next door. Nadav Weiman, executive director of Breaking the Silence—a group of Israeli combat veterans documenting military abuses—warned that funding the expansion means "funding more violence, funding the next wave that will bring death to Palestinian families and Israeli families." He added a darker observation: "Everything that happens in Hebron first, happens elsewhere afterwards."
Citações Notáveis
For this yeshiva to exist, thousands of Palestinians have already lost their shops, their housing and their daily livelihood in the heart of a Palestinian city.— Hagit Ofran, Peace Now
If communities fund that dormitory, they are funding more violence, funding the next wave that will bring death to Palestinian families and Israeli families.— Nadav Weiman, Breaking the Silence
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a British charity even exist for this particular school? What's the stated mission?
The charity says it supports educational and charitable work in Israel. But the money is going to Hebron, which is in the occupied West Bank—territory the UK now formally recognizes as Palestinian. So there's a fundamental mismatch between what the charity's deed says it does and where the money actually flows.
Is this just a paperwork problem, or does it signal something deliberate?
The fact that they're actively seeking donations in countries that consider settlements illegal—France, Canada—and offering receipts suggests they know exactly what they're doing. They're not confused about the legal status. They're working around it.
What makes Hebron different from other settlements?
Most settlements are built on the edges of Palestinian territory. Hebron is built inside a Palestinian city of 230,000 people. To keep the settlers safe, Israel has essentially carved the city into separate zones with walls, gates, checkpoints. Palestinians can't access certain streets. It's not expansion at the margins—it's occupation at the center.
And the new dormitory—what does that actually mean on the ground?
More settlers means more military presence, more restrictions on Palestinian movement, more confrontation. The students already throw stones at Palestinians from the rooftops. Israeli soldiers have turned Palestinian homes into military outposts to guard the yeshiva. A new building isn't just architecture. It's a statement that this is permanent, and it will intensify.
Why hasn't the Charity Commission acted?
They say it's legally complex—that charities have rights to operate in conflict zones. But that's a dodge. The government itself has recognized Palestine. The Foreign Secretary said charity systems are being abused. The question is whether the Commission will actually enforce the law or hide behind ambiguity.
What's the endgame here?
That's what people like Helena Kennedy are asking. If British money keeps flowing to settlements, and the government keeps saying it opposes them, then words mean nothing. Either you ban it or you don't. Right now, the system allows both things to be true simultaneously.