Tim Mahon
Human Appeal – a self-described ‘faith-based charity with Islamic values,’ headquartered in Britain, garnered an estimated £85 million in donations in 2024. Although the organisation’s website claims “100% of your donations reaches families in need,” it has appeared on US government watchlists, figured in intelligence assessments and been identified as an ‘organisation of interest’ in enquiries into terrorist financing for over a quarter of a century.
Since 2020, Human Appeal has transferred approaching £5 million to the Islamic Zakat Society in Gaza, a body that pledges “steadfast soldiers” to Hamas, whom the latter group acknowledges will “return our lands […] through the power of jihad.” Some of Human Appeal’s senior management have held positions within Islamic organisations that are known to support Hamas – among whom some have openly celebrated the Hamas massacre in October 2023.
CIA, FBI, US State Department and US Senate analyses, as well as some from the Israeli government, have suggested Human Appeal actively supports extremist and terrorist activities, including a probability that it acts as a fundraiser for Hamas and has direct connections to Al-Qaeda. Britain has so far ignored any calls for investigation.
Does saying all this make it true? Absolutely not. But multiple sources in multiple countries bring the organisation’s legitimacy into question. And for that reason alone we need to investigate, to reassure ourselves we are not being hoodwinked and to plug any extant holes in our national societal defence.
One of the Muslim Brotherhood’s hallmark ploys has been to exploit Western institutions – particularly in Britain, where public opinion and the acceleration of charitable giving over the last several decades leave us more vulnerable than some, perhaps more cynical societies. The possibility (some would say eminent probability) that at least a portion of the money being given in a spirit of goodwill and empathy is being channelled to organisations whose ethos is diametrically opposed to such sentiments should, in all honesty, trigger an objective investigation – if such a thing can be kept away from the panoply of gesture politics that is modern life in the United Kingdom. This applies across a broad swathe of charitable organisations that may support terrorist or anti-social behaviour in any of many forms – from Gaza to Belfast, from Venezuela to Myanmar and beyond.
Politicians are unlikely to support such an investigation for fear of alienating potential voters. The pertinent regulatory framework is loose at best and virtually non-existent at worst. Public opinion is not yet sufficiently mobilised to support such action. Yet none of that negates the fact that there is a strong possibility we are being taken for a ride or – worse – being used to partially fund terrorist activities.
Charity is a wonderful thing and everything possible should be done to support and promote it as well as to nurture the spirit that gives rise to it. Organised charities have, in the main, laudable intentions and morals, plus management experienced at and dedicated to negotiating the murky corridors of international aid. But there is a gap in our knowledge to be filled here, an avenue of investigation to be followed, a determination to be made as to how to ensure what we give gets to those it is intended for – and nowhere else.
Natural scepticism, and the increasing cynicism born of bitter experience of corruption, obfuscation and criminality, has given birth to uncertainty and suspicion. It’s time we did something about that. Certainly not singling out Human Appeal, which undoubtedly does a lot of good in its avowed aims; certainly not singling out Islamic charities, for that would be to perpetuate the prejudices that gave rise to this abysmal conflict in which we seem to be permanently embedded. But let us do something, at least, rather than ignore a situation difficult to penetrate and manage, instead turning away and leaving it to somebody else, or the next government, to sort out. There has to be a realisation at all levels of British society that we are, to all intents and purposes, at war. Not a shooting war, of course, perhaps not even a Cold War, but a war nevertheless: one in which our values, our assets and our freedoms are being attacked: one against which we need to marshal our defences across society as a whole.
This challenge needs to be addressed, investigated and resolved. We cannot simply hope it will just go away.
It won’t.
Headline image is AI-generated, illustrative of the consequences of funding terrorism (freepik.com)
