'Little evidence' George Galloway's Gaza charity delivered any humanitarian aid, regulator finds
A charity set up to help Gazans may not have conducted any charitable activity, the Charity Commission has said in a damning report.Hebrew U. prof. emeritus calls to boycott Physics Olympiad in Israel
Viva Palestina was set up in January 2009 by a group which included George Galloway, the former Labour and Respect MP, with the aim of “alleviating the suffering and to help the people of Gaza re-build their land”.
It was removed from the register of charities following an inquiry in 2013, four years after the Charity Commission, which regulates the sector in the UK, opened its first statutory investigation into it.
On Thursday, the commission published its findings from the 2013 inquiry, saying that Viva Palestina “may not have conducted any charitable activity or distributed any humanitarian aid”.
It said: "It was difficult for the inquiry to establish with any certainty whether any charitable activity had taken place, as it found little if any evidence that humanitarian aid was distributed to those in need in accordance with the charity’s objects."
It also concluded that the charity’s trustees failed to meet certain legal duties, including the maintenance of proper financial records, safeguarding the charity’s assets, providing financial records and addressing the Charity Commission’s concerns.
Some 20 scientists, including an Israeli professor, wrote an open letter to the organizers of the 2019 International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) against holding its July competition in Israel.
The letter was signed by Professor emeritus Emmanuel Dror Farjoun of the Einstein Institute of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Though Farjoun no longer actively works at the university, his author page and contact information continue to appear on the university’s website.
“The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has lecturers from all sides of the political divide,” the university’s international media director, Tali Aronsky, told The Jerusalem Post. “We maintain a respectful, academic environment on our campuses and do not police statements made outside the classroom.
“In this particular case, Prof. Farjoun is retired,” Aronsky continued.
The open letter is being hosted on the official website of the BDS movement and was disseminated to the media. The IPhO is the premier international physics competition for high school students that includes competitors from some 80 countries.
The letter protests holding the contest in Israel due to what it describes as Israel’s denial of Palestinian human rights, including the right to education.
“We the undersigned protest against the organization of the next International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) in Tel Aviv, Israel, from the 7th to the 15th of July 2019,” the letter begins. “The organizing committee states that the aim of the International Science Olympiad is to plant ‘the seeds of cooperation and friendship among students from all over the world.’ Under the present circumstances, citizens of many countries are de facto excluded from entering Israel and attending the IPhO, not to mention Palestinian students from the West Bank and Gaza.”
David Collier: Zina the hounded- the hatred that never wants to talk
Last week I told the story of Zina who made the mistake of talking to a Zionist. This is an update of what followed. It is important to stress that this blog and the video I am publishing have been produced without Zina’s co-operation in any way. She remains an anti-Zionist and an adversary. Given some of the abuse she has received, there is little doubt this blog will be taken as further sign of her being little more than a ‘Zionist infiltrator’. Nothing could be further from the truth. What she is however, is evidence of how closed minded, extreme and brutal the anti-Zionist movement is and how swiftly it rounds on anyone who thinks or acts differently.
Brief background
Zina Abdullatif is a hard-core anti-Israel activist. Zina went to the Al Quds March in London. So did Joseph Cohen from the Israel advocacy movement. After the event, circumstances brought them together and they engaged in a dialogue. Each side, the Palestinian activist and the Zionist held their political ground. The meeting was respectful and after the event, they uploaded an image of themselves standing together holding their respective flags. Whilst Joseph was praised for his actions and even Zina received warm comments on Joseph’s page, the same was not true the other way around. Zina was instantly attacked and hounded by her fellow activists. The abuse was incessant.
After the Zina blog
The situation didn’t settle down. Zina had partially caved, but despite her apologies and calls for ‘peace’ amongst her friends, Zina was continuously hounded. Eventually she turned to the police for help:
She also uploaded a video to Facebook in which she spoke of ‘unfair’ ‘horrible’ and attacks.
