Know Your Laws, UK Chabad Center Issued Warning Over IDF Fundraiser

by CrownHeights.info

A Chabad Center in the UK was targeted over the last year in an attempt to shut down a fundraiser looking to raise money for a lone soldier in the IDF, a common thing that is technically illegal in the United Kingdom.

“Chabad Lubavitch Centres North East London and Essex Limited set up a fundraising page in October 2023 to raise funds for a soldier of the IDF stationed in northern Israel,” the Charity Commission, an independent, non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales wrote in a press release. “The page, which was eventually removed in January 2024, raised around £2,280. Of those monies, £937 was sent directly to an individual soldier. The trustees are unable to account for how those funds were spent. The remaining funds were spent on non-lethal military equipment purchased by the trustees and sent to the same soldier in Israel.”

Fundraising for a foreign military is, according to the commission, illegal in the United Kingdom.

“Charities with appropriate purposes can, in law, raise funds to promote the efficiency of the UK armed forces,” the press release explained. “However, providing aid or military supplies to any foreign armed force is not a charitable purpose, and no charity can legally undertake such activity.”

Shockingly, the commission’s press release notes another unhappy point. The commission had recieved over 180 complains against it, pointing to a coordinated effort to shut it down.

“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,” Helen Earner, Director for Regulatory Services at the Charity Commission said.

Any failure by the charity to implement the requirements in the Official Warning may lead to further regulatory action, according to the commission.