The United Kingdom’s Charity Commission, the nation’s independent charity regulator, has issued an official public warning to a London-based pro-Israel military charity over harmful content posted to its digital platforms amid ongoing regulatory scrutiny of charitable activity linked to the Gaza war.
The regulator’s action targets UK Friends of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers (UK-AWIS), the British affiliate of an Israeli national organization that receives core funding from Israel’s Ministry of Defence and maintains close institutional ties to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The watchdog found the charity violated its legal governance obligations after publishing a graphic combat montage video to solicit donations for Israeli forces engaged in the ongoing conflict with Hamas.
In its official statement, the Charity Commission confirmed that all of UK-AWIS’s trustees failed to meet their fiduciary duties: by allowing the distressing content to be published, they exposed the charity’s public reputation to avoidable damage, falling short of requirements to responsibly manage organizational resources and act in the charity’s best interests. The commission categorized the lapse as a breach of legal trust, qualifying as misconduct and mismanagement in the charity’s administration.
The video, which was removed from the charity’s website, Facebook, and YouTube channels after complaints, was edited in a style matching official IDF promotional content, featuring footage of air strikes and frontline combat. While a full regulatory review ultimately concluded the footage did not depict an on-camera killing, the commission confirmed the content remained deeply distressing and entirely inappropriate for a UK-registered charitable organization.
Public records show UK-AWIS raised roughly £292,358 (equivalent to $394,937) in 2023, a sharp year-over-year increase. Of that total, the charity reported transferring £43,000 ($58,087) to Israel to fund wellbeing programming for IDF soldiers, with priority given to lone soldiers with no family support in Israel and service members injured in combat. In its annual filing, the charity explicitly attributed the fundraising surge to new programming launched after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, noting many supported projects were designed to address the wellbeing needs of mobilized reserve forces called up for the war against Hamas.
The charity suspended all fund transfers to Israel in December 2023, after the Charity Commission launched its formal investigation, but resumed transfers in July 2024 following submission of a required interim progress report to the regulator. Prior to the investigation opening, UK-AWIS ran public fundraising campaigns including an “Adopt an IDF combat unit” program and promoted “IDF Enlistment Festivals” on its now-edited website. Retired British Army Colonel Richard Kemp, a regular right-wing media commentator on UK military and Middle East issues, serves as a director and trustee of the organization. UK-AWIS’s stated core mission is to fund educational and recreational support for currently serving and veteran Israeli soldiers.
This warning is not an isolated case: earlier in 2024, the Charity Commission issued a similar formal warning to another UK charity, Chabad Lubavitch Centres North East London and Essex Limited, after it received 180 public complaints for fundraising directly for an IDF soldier deployed in northern Israel. The commission clarified at that time that it is unlawful for UK registered charities to raise and transfer funds to active combat soldiers serving in the Israeli army. The Chabad fundraising page, launched in October 2023 and removed in January 2024, raised approximately £2,280 ($2,804), £937 of which was transferred directly to the individual soldier. Trustees were unable to provide full documentation of how the allocated funds were spent, though the charity reported remaining funds were used to purchase non-lethal military equipment for the same soldier.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, the Charity Commission has opened more than 200 separate regulatory investigations into UK charities connected to the conflict. The regulator has confirmed these probes target charities holding a wide range of ideological positions on the war, not only those supporting Israeli forces.
The ongoing conflict has drawn widespread international condemnation, with leading global human rights organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights formally accusing Israeli forces of committing war crimes in Gaza.