# Fundraising campaign for Israeli Defence Forces soldier earns charity official warning

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2025/01/10/fundraising-campaign-for-israeli-defence-forces-soldier-earns-charity-official-warning/
- Published: 2025-01-10T08:30:00+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**The Charity Commission issued the official warning to Chabad Lubavitch Centres
North East London and Essex Limited after finding the trustees had acted outside
the charity’s purposes and failed to safeguard its best interests and its reputation.**

[Chabad Lubavitch Centres North East London and Essex Limited](http://chabadilford.co.uk/)’
s purposes are to advance the orthodox Jewish religion, advance orthodox Jewish 
education, and relieve poverty and sickness.

However, in October 2023, the charity set up a fundraising page to raise funds for
a soldier of the IDF stationed in northern Israel. This was removed in January 2024,
after having raised around £2,280. £937 of this was sent directly to an individual
soldier with the trustees unable to account for how those funds were spent. The 
rest was spent on non-lethal military equipment purchased by the trustees and sent
to the same soldier in Israel.

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#### 180 complaints

The Charity Commission opened a regulatory compliance case into the charity in December
2023 and engaged with its trustees after receiving over 180 complaints about the
activities.

The Commission found the fundraising activity to be outside the charity’s purposes,
and not capable of being charitable. It also found that the trustees had failed 
to act in the best interests of the charity and its reputation, judging this to 
be misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of charity, and a breach
of trust.

#### Providing aid or military supplies to foreign armed forces, & the law

The Commission says that while charities with appropriate purposes can lawfully 
raise funds to promote the efficiency of the UK armed forces, providing aid or military
supplies to any foreign armed force is not a charitable purpose, and as such charities
cannot legally undertake this activity.

The official warning imposes a number of requirements on the charity’s trustees 
to remedy the misconduct and/or mismanagement.

Helen Earner, Director for Regulatory Services at the Charity Commission said:

> “It is not lawful, or acceptable, for a charity to raise funds to support a soldier
> of a foreign military.
>  
> “Our Official Warning requires the charity to set things right and is a clear 
> message to other charities to stay true to their established purposes.
>  
> “Any failure by the charity to implement the requirements in the Official Warning
> may lead to further regulatory action.”

#### Middle East conflict

Since October 2023, the Commission has opened over 200 regulatory cases relating
to the escalating conflict in the Middle East, involving charities with different
positions on the conflict, and has made over 40 referrals to the police.

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