UK Charity Commission to Probe Charity Suspected of Supporting Hamas-Linked Groups in Gaza, West Bank
Charity News Online
The UK Charity Commission this week pledged to investigate any new evidence against a British charity accused of passing on funds to Hamas-linked charities in Gaza and the West Bank, TotallyJewish.com reports. The announcement came after Sunday’s BBC Panorama documentary Faith, Hate and Charity, in which a senior official at the charities watchdog admitted that its investigations into Interpal had not been “in depth”.
Kenneth Dibble, the Commission’s Director of Legal and Charity Services, told reporter John Ware that evidence presented in the program of activities at charities that received funds from Interpal ‘clearly needed to be looked at’. In one video clip, which program-makers claimed showed activities at the al Khalil al Rahman Girls’ Society, a group of youngsters sang: “We all sacrifice ourselves for our country. We answer your call and make of our skulls a ladder to your glory, a ladder.”
A Charity Commission spokesperson defended the integrity of investigations it carried out into Interpal in 1996 and 2003, claiming that on neither occasion was any evidence found that substantiated the allegations against the charity. She added: “The Panorama program has raised a number of new issues. We will ask the BBC to share with us details of the evidence presented by the program so that we can assess it. The Commission will also seek a meeting with Interpal trustees before deciding whether a new inquiry is necessary. In a statement on its website, Interpal accused the program-makers of pursuing a “political agenda", arguing that “a severe imbalance inherent in the content gives the lie to the claim that this is responsible investigative journalism”. It added that the matter had been passed on to its legal advisors.
The Charity Commission is established by law as the regulator and registrar for charities in England and Wales. Interpal is a non-political, non-profit making British charity that focuses solely on the provision of relief and development aid to the poor and needy of Palestine the world over, primarily in Palestine and the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon, according to the group’s website.
Interpal, Charity Commission, Hamas, Palestine
Charity News Online
The UK Charity Commission this week pledged to investigate any new evidence against a British charity accused of passing on funds to Hamas-linked charities in Gaza and the West Bank, TotallyJewish.com reports. The announcement came after Sunday’s BBC Panorama documentary Faith, Hate and Charity, in which a senior official at the charities watchdog admitted that its investigations into Interpal had not been “in depth”.
Kenneth Dibble, the Commission’s Director of Legal and Charity Services, told reporter John Ware that evidence presented in the program of activities at charities that received funds from Interpal ‘clearly needed to be looked at’. In one video clip, which program-makers claimed showed activities at the al Khalil al Rahman Girls’ Society, a group of youngsters sang: “We all sacrifice ourselves for our country. We answer your call and make of our skulls a ladder to your glory, a ladder.”
A Charity Commission spokesperson defended the integrity of investigations it carried out into Interpal in 1996 and 2003, claiming that on neither occasion was any evidence found that substantiated the allegations against the charity. She added: “The Panorama program has raised a number of new issues. We will ask the BBC to share with us details of the evidence presented by the program so that we can assess it. The Commission will also seek a meeting with Interpal trustees before deciding whether a new inquiry is necessary. In a statement on its website, Interpal accused the program-makers of pursuing a “political agenda", arguing that “a severe imbalance inherent in the content gives the lie to the claim that this is responsible investigative journalism”. It added that the matter had been passed on to its legal advisors.
The Charity Commission is established by law as the regulator and registrar for charities in England and Wales. Interpal is a non-political, non-profit making British charity that focuses solely on the provision of relief and development aid to the poor and needy of Palestine the world over, primarily in Palestine and the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon, according to the group’s website.
Interpal, Charity Commission, Hamas, Palestine
posted by Lisa Vronskaya at 2:35 PM
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