The Charity Commission has said it is “carefully considering” an MP’s call to investigate 32 charities she claims have “funnelled” £28m to illegal Israeli settlements over the last five years.

Labour MP for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy Melanie Ward, who is a former chief executive of the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, has submitted a formal complaint to the regulator about the charities.

Among charities she wants investigated is UK Toremet. She claimed in the House of Commons this week that the charity “currently has a live donation page" to the organisation Artzenu, which backs settler farms, including fundraising for military equipment, and has this week been subject to UK government sanctions.

She said that her research into the charities has been carried out jointly with Israeli human rights organisations.

Ward also claims that the Commission has known about the issue of charities funding illegal settlements since July 2025 “but has done nothing so far”.

She also wants charities, which are found to have financed illegal settlements, to be banned.

A spokesperson for UK Toremet said that Ward’s comments are “inaccurate”.

“There is no live campaign page to Artzenu through which UK Toremet would accept donations,” they said.

“Artzenu has never been an entity approved to receive any grant funding from UK Toremet, and no grants have ever been made by UK Toremet to Artzenu.”

They added: “It is disappointing that those elected to represent the people and to govern the country do not conduct verification of information they are fed by parties using them as tools for the advancement of their own prejudicial ideological aims.”

Ward’s call follows a package of measures announced by foreign secretary Yvette Cooper earlier this week against the financing of “settler violence” in the West Bank. This has included Cooper writing to the Charity Commission “requesting that they open an investigation into evidence of UK charities that have links to illegal settlements”.

In a statement to parliament this week she also said that Hamish Falconer, the minister for the middle east, was due to meet with Charity Commission chief executive officer David Holdsworth about the matter this week “because no UK charity should be supporting or enabling these breaches of international law”.

‘Complex and contentious issue’

A Charity Commission spokesperson said that it is “carefully considering” matters raised by the government and Ward.

“We share with government a concern about the potential impact, including on public trust and confidence, of registered charities being seen to actively assist in the development or expansion of illegal settlements in Palestine,” they said.

“All charities must be able to demonstrate that they have charitable purposes for the public benefit, wherever in the world they operate.

“We have been considering this matter actively, having received complaints about a number of named charities by Members of Parliament.

“However, this is a complex and contentious issue, which touches on wider legal principles about charities’ right to operate, and support the most vulnerable, in parts of the world in which there may be conflict, contested jurisdiction, or lawlessness.

“It is right that we consider the implications of any actions carefully”.

---