Former Oxfam UK CEO Halima Begum is taking legal action against the organization for antisemitism, racism, and sexism, alleging that the charity focused disproportionately on the Israel-Hamas War, and accusing it of pushing for the conflict to be labeled a genocide without sufficient evidence.
Begum, a Bangladeshi-British Muslim, made her remarks in a Friday interview with Channel 4, where she said she was forced out of Oxfam UK in December of last year amid a “witch hunt.” She is currently taking the charity to an employment tribunal.
Pressure to call Gaza war a 'genocide'
“It always felt as though we were disproportionately working around the crisis in Gaza,” Begum told Channel 4, noting that she felt there was “strong pushback” to label the war as a “genocide” before the organization had the proper evidence and legal advice to arrive at the conclusion.
She added that, working at the organization, “it was very hard to hold on to neutrality and impartiality. And I say that as a Muslim woman.”
In response, Oxfam GB told Channel 4 that it had not received Begum’s employment tribunal claim and that it had zero tolerance for discrimination such as “racism, antisemitism, and sexism” and called the description “inaccurate and misleading.”
Additionally, a spokesperson for former Oxfam chair Charles Gurassa asserted to Channel 4 that Begum’s “allegations are completely spurious.”
Anti-Israel bias
Oxfam has been accused in the past of anti-Israel bias. It has also been accused of having been manipulated by Hamas. NGO Monitor said a 2021 document showed that the founders and officers of an Oxfam partner organization were affiliated with the terror organization.
According to the group, the document indicated that Hamas thought the company would prevent an Oxfam irrigation project from interfering with its security infrastructure.
“Revelations of vicious antisemitism and anti-Israel bias at Oxfam are as predictable as they are tragic,” NGO Monitor stated following the Channel 4 interview.
“Former Oxfam CEO Halima Begum’s assertions of overt bias – along with pressure to prematurely brand the Gaza war a genocide without evidence – echo developments at other NGOs, where activism and bigotry have replaced objectivity and universal human rights.”