The UK Charity Commission is reportedly investigating UK Lawyers for Israel and Campaign Against Antisemitism following a complaint from CAGE International, CAGE reported.
CAGE complained last month that UKLFI and CAA have helped legitimize Israel’s “racist, apartheid, and genocidal policies” and has brought “malicious complaints to universities, employers, and regulatory bodies to silence pro-Palestinian voices.”
It specifically took issue with UKLFI’s charitable wing, accusing its director – Natasha Hausdorff – of apologia for racial segregation and apartheid.
UKLFI, however, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that the Charity Commission has not informed it about any new investigation, so it is unable to comment on it.
A spokesperson for CAA told the Post on Tuesday that “CAGE is a discredited organisation which seems to have made this complaint primarily to generate media publicity." CAA added that it has already written to the Charity Commission to point out that CAGE’s letter "merely recycles old, baseless complaints" and said that the Commission has confirmed that it does not require anything further from CAA.
The Jerusalem Post reached out to the commission for confirmation, but it did not respond by press time.
CAGE International is an independent advocacy organization based in the UK that aims to challenge “War on terror-inspired state oppression.”
On May 27, it released a 66-page report titled “Britain’s Apartheid Apologists,” which tracks how UKLFI and CAA “have instrumentalized regulatory authorities in Britain to attack and harass those who criticize Zionism and Israel’s racist policies.”
CAGE’s report criticized UKLFI for “concealing its funding sources, refusing to disclose the financial backers driving its campaign of professional harassment and governance, and institutional racism.”
It also claimed UKLFI has become adept at weaponizing professional
It also claimed UKLFI has become adept at weaponizing professional regulation, bombarding regulators like the General Medical Council, Solicitors’ Regulation Authority, Bar Standards Board, and the Charity Commission with “vexatious complaints designed to harass and silence Palestinian rights advocates.”
The report referred to CAA as “UKLFI’s less respectable twin,” aiming to exploit “legitimate concerns about antisemitism to silence criticism of Israel and Zionism through strategic deployment of the dysfunctional, and arguably now totally broken, IHRA working definition [of antisemitism].”
It condemned CAA’s “relentless” pressure on universities, local councils, and public bodies claiming it created a “climate of fear in British public life and particularly in academia.”
Plot to overwhelm UK police with Palestine Action demonstrations
CAGE International received additional media attention on Sunday, albeit for a different reason, after an exclusive investigation by The Telegraph claimed that the group is aiming to flout terror laws in a coordinated attempt to overwhelm the police with pro-Palestinian protests.
The Telegraph attended a pro-Palestine Cage International event in Birmingham last week where groups called on the Muslim community to join left-wing protesters at a demonstration in support of Palestine Action on Saturday.
Support for PA is now a punishable offence in the UK after it was proscribed by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in July. However, according to the Telegraph, CAGE International hopes that by protesting en masse it will overwhelm law enforcement and put pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
While protests are allegedly planned for towns and cities across the UK, the main event will take place in Westminster.
“I would urge everybody to join the action on the 9th of August. That is the first step to take for the resistance,” meeting organizer Moazzam Begg told attendees of the Birmingham event.
The Telegraph saw a briefing document drafted by another participating group – Defend Our Juries – which stated that “it would be practically and politically difficult for the state to respond to an action on this scale.”
“Even assuming it had the physical capacity to arrest so many people on the same day, the political fallout from such an operation would be incalculable, causing irreparable damage to the reputation of the government and the police.
“Our assessment is that an action on this scale could be enough for the ban to be lifted. Charging and prosecuting at least 500 more people, in addition to the 200 people already arrested, is likely to be beyond the capacity of the state, given the current situation in the criminal justice system.”