After the furore over the BBC and Sky’s decision not to broadcast the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal for Gaza, there were some questions left hanging from what became a highly dogmatic debate.

The first, in what circumstances does a charity campaign become a political campaign?

Second, are the charities, as has been accused, involved in the DEC, such as Christian Aid and Oxfam, politically motivated in the Gaza region?

Third, was the Charity Commission, as the sector’s regulator, correct to attack the BBC and Sky for not broadcasting the appeal?

Point one first. Politics, or at least a perception of politics, was at the heart of the debate over the DEC Gaza appeal. The broadcasters with international reach said their impartiality would be compromised, while the charities argued it was a humanitarian appeal not a political one.

I asked PR guru and founder of Borkowski PR, Mark Borkowski what he made of the campaign, was it biased and political?

“It is biased only in the eye of the beholder,” he says. “The issue of Gaza, the Palestinians and Israelis splits people as soon it is mentioned. So politics is already an issue.”

What did he make of the BBC’s approach? “I think Mark Thompson’s defence of the BBC’s decision hit all the right sound bites, but it lacked humanity. It was a principled position but missed the milk of human kindness.”

Debra Allcock Tyler, CEO of the Directory of Social Change, adds: “Speaking personally, I saw the appeal and I believe to say it isn’t political is a little naive. It may not be intended to be and I am sure that the intent was good, however, when I viewed it, it did feel to me to be making, albeit subliminally, a political point. If I thought that presumably others did too, hence the BBC's decision.”

Stephen Bubb, CEO of Acevo, says the political issue doesn’t matter. “The work of charity is often, by dint of the mission, political. And we should be proud of that. Many of the great pioneers of charities have been people who were tired of seeing injustice and determined to do something about it. So the founders of the RSPCA were being political when they campaigned to stop animal abuse. The founders of the NSPCC were political in seeking the reform of child laws. Campaigning against slavery was a political act and a charitable one.”

But what about the accusation that those charities involved in the DEC, such as Christian Aid and Oxfam, are not just getting involved in politics but are actually politically motivated in the Gaza region?

The historian Andrew Roberts wrote in The Times that many of the charities in DEC are overtly political in the region. “While groups such as the British Red Cross and Christian Aid are generally impartial in other areas of the world, that cannot be said to apply to their role in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, where they regularly view the conflict through a deeply partisan lens. In the months prior to the decision by Hamas to end the six-month ceasefire and resume rocket attacks, these charities issue a flood of one-sided denunciations aimed at Israel.”

Is this fair? The DEC is made up of 13 charities, and its defence against such claims comes back to the work being humanitarian. In response to Roberts’s denunciation, Barbara Stocking CEO of Oxfam, replied: “Mr Roberts accuses Oxfam of being anti- Israel. He quotes one sentence from an Oxfam press statement criticising Israeli military action, but not the next sentence, which was: ‘Oxfam condemns outright Hamas’s rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.”

A spokesperson for the DEC adds: “The DEC works on the basis of humanitarian need and there is an urgent need in Gaza. Political solutions are for others to resolve, but what is of major concern to us all is that many innocent people have been affected by the situation – and it is them that we seek to help, so this was clearly charitable.

“The DEC launches joint appeals when three criteria are met: overwhelming humanitarian need, ability by DEC members and their partners to respond to the need and evidence that the UK public want to help. DEC promotes the appeal with the help of allies and partners in the media and offers the UK public a way to respond by donating.”

Lindsay Boswell, CEO of the Institute of Fundraising, reinforces this view. He says: “The DEC is not about politics it is humanitarian. The DEC is about supplying food, water and blankets in Gaza. The cause of the problem in the region may be political, but the work being done is humanitarian.”

But was it purely humanitarian? There can be no doubt that the situation in Gaza was a political conflict, but is the humanitarian mission untainted? Dame Suzi Leather, chair of the Charity Commission, says it was. “Emergency appeals of this nature rely on publicity to ensure they are well supported by the public, and without the funds that result from that publicity, the work of the member aid agencies of the DEC could be severely hampered. The need for charitable humanitarian aid in Gaza is desperate. For the past 45 years the leading international charities operating under the unique alliance of the DEC have shown themselves well able to deliver aid in areas of crisis around the world in an effective and non-partisan way.”

But Stephen Bubb, CEO of Acevo, says there is an element of politics in such campaigns. “It is no good simply working to alleviate the effects of poverty if you do not also tackle the symptoms. I have no time for those who think the job of charity is to be ‘seen but not heard’. Politics is often too important to be simply left to politicians and we must never fall into the trap of thinking that to avoid being seen as party politically aligned we must never get involved in what are political matters. Campaigning and advocacy are a core part of charitable endeavour.”

“Our international NGOs have a fine tradition of campaigning for a better world. The campaign to end world poverty was a brilliant example of our charities at their finest. Of course their campaign was political in the sense it aimed to get governments to act. The idea that Oxfam or Christian Aid would not be advocates of peace, for humanitarian help and for a just outcome for the people of the Middle East is nonsense, and whose suffering would be intolerable without them.”

This suggests that an overlapping of politics and charity is inevitable. Does that also mean that the Charity Commission was justified in apparently overstepping its remit, as the sector’s independent regulator, by declaring itself against the BBC’s decision?

Lindsay Boswell at the Institute of Fundraising says: “There are those who think the Charity Commission is there only as a regulator, but I think it can, and should, be a force for good in the sector and I think it is doing that on this occasion.”

But Stuart Etherington CEO of the NCVO offered a word of caution. “It is completely appropriate that the Charity Commission comment on the role of charities and ensure that any appeal complies with charity law. But they must be careful not to condemn the BBC’s independent assessment and decision on this matter.”

On this, a spokesperson for the Commission responds: “The Charity Commission did express disappointment at the decision of some broadcasters not to show the DEC emergency fundraising appeal for humanitarian aid for Gaza. Part of our role is to encourage effectiveness in charities, and our concern was that without the support of broadcasters, the appeal may not have been as effective as it could be, and less help may have been made available to those that needed it.”

But in the end, didn’t all the publicity and media coverage help the DEC Gaza campaign?

“I think it did. Some argue with me that it didn’t, but when you look at the level of publicity it gained, it did get coverage it would not have done, or would have been lost in a sea of other campaigns,” says Borkowski. Indeed the amount raised was just over £3 million in the first week. So while the campaign may have been successful, the issues and debate it created, will have to continue to run.

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