Today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised with his British counterpart, Theresa May, the issue of UK funding for Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including Breaking the Silence.

Millions of shekels are provided by the UK government to a number of highly politicized NGOs – some of the funding is directly granted by government agencies, and other amounts are channelled indirectly by humanitarian aid groups, ostensibly for humanitarian purposes.

For example, Breaking the Silence has been receiving funds originating with the British government, via aid organizations, as follows (information taken from submissions to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits):

Prof. Gerald Steinberg, President of NGO Monitor, commented: “For many years, the UK, like other European governments, has streamed money to groups that polarize Israeli society, and for campaigns exploiting false allegations of ‘war crimes’. The UK has recently been scandalized by such incendiary claims against its own soldiers, and British leaders will understand that funding similar NGO campaigns against Israelis is immoral.”

Direct and Indirect UK funding to Israeli NGOs (2014-2016)

Information for 2014 taken from annual and quarterly reports submitted to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits; 2015-2016 from quarterly reports submitted to the Registrar of Non-Profits.

NGOYearDonorGrant Amount (NIS)
Zochrot2016Christian Aid345,964
2014241,169
2014Oxfam - GB25,878
Yesh Din2015Catholic Agency For Overseas Development (CAFOD)156,550
2014136,800
2016Embassy - UK690,189
20151,045,711
20141,139,171
Breaking the Silence2016Catholic Agency For Overseas Development (CAFOD)57,407
2015Christian Aid293,500
Adalah2016Christian Aid169,892
2015165,544
2014213,399
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I)2014Christian Aid168,000
B'Tselem2014Oxfam - GB26,163
Emek Shave2015Oxfam - GB63,000
Terrestrial Jerusalem2015Consulate - UK1,044,442
2014163,211
2016Embassy - UK86,338
2014145,192
2015MFA - UK156,380
Gisha2016Embassy - UK194,501
2015280,465
2014338,552
2016Oxfam - GB197,141
2015223,265
2014216,618
Rabbis for Human Rights2016Consulate - UK321,618
2015337,046
2015Embassy - UK291,254
2014Consulate – UK569,510
Total9,503,437