United Kingdon – Two British-registered charities have come under fire after revelations that they donated over £5.7 million to an Israeli religious institution located deep within the occupied West Bank. The money, channelled through the Kasner Charitable Trust (KCT) and UK Toremet between 2017 and 2021, was sent to a Haredi yeshiva operating in the illegal settlement of Susya—an outpost denounced under international law and widely viewed as part of Israel’s land-grabbing strategy.
The donations significantly expanded the yeshiva’s influence in Susya, tripling its budget and transforming it into the economic backbone of the settlement. This expansion coincides with increased pressure on Palestinian villagers of Khirbet Susiya, whose homes and agricultural lands have repeatedly faced demolition, displacement orders, and settler violence since Israel occupied the territory in 1967. The proximity and economic growth of Susya directly threaten the Palestinian presence in the area.
UK regulators had long maintained that donations to educational institutions—even in illegal settlements—could remain within legal bounds so long as they served a “charitable purpose.” But mounting outrage from lawmakers and legal scholars has placed this reasoning under intense scrutiny. Many argue that legitimizing financial support for institutions embedded in settlements effectively sanctions the erasure of Palestinian communities and emboldens Israel’s apartheid regime.
Political backlash has been swift. Former Conservative chair Sayeeda Warsi condemned the funding as “appalling,” insisting British taxpayers should not be complicit in human rights violations. Labour MPs echoed these sentiments, demanding that charities involved in supporting settlements be stripped of their charitable status and subjected to prosecution. As calls grow louder for regulatory reform, the Commission faces rising pressure to close this gaping ethical and legal loophole.
The revelations once again expose the stark double standard in Western policies toward Israeli apartheid. While the UK government continues to parrot concern over illegal settlements, its lax regulatory framework allows tax-advantaged charities to actively bankroll the same violations it claims to oppose. In practice, this renders the UK complicit in a wider architecture of occupation and colonization that has dispossessed Palestinians for decades.
The exposure of these financial ties shatters any illusion of Britain’s neutrality in the Israeli occupation. By allowing tax-exempt charities to funnel millions into illegal settlements, the UK effectively launders occupation through the language of charity. It is not just a legal loophole—it is institutional complicity in apartheid, land theft, and the slow annihilation of Palestinian life. This grotesque misuse of British charitable status, as The Guardian noted in their investigation, reveals a system rigged to serve colonial interests while masking itself as benevolence.
