HEBRON — Friends of Yeshivat Shavei Hevron, a UK-registered charity, sent £21,360 to a yeshiva in Hebron in 2024. Between 2019 and 2024, the charity sent nearly £200,000 to the school, according to Charity Commission accounts. In 2023, the organization donated £58,200 to the school and claimed more than £2,000 in gift aid from HMRC. The charity did not file full accounts in 2024.

Construction of a new dormitory for the school was approved in June, and its exterior is complete. An outpost of the Israeli military has been built on the roof of a Palestinian home adjacent to the new dormitory. The current yeshiva building and its expansion are located at the edge of the Israeli-controlled area of Hebron.

The Charity Commission website lists 2024 as the last year for which accounts are publicly available for the charity. The organization was one of 32 registered in England and Wales identified in a letter sent to the Charity Commission on June 1 by Labour MP Melanie Ward. Ward's letter stated that these charities had collectively donated at least £28 million to Israeli settlements in recent years. The Charity Commission shared the details of this letter with the Metropolitan Police's war crimes unit.

Yvette Cooper, the UK Foreign Secretary, stated in Parliament on June 9 that "charity systems are abused to funnel support to illegal settlements." Cooper added that "some evidence suggests that rules are being broken." She also said that the Charity Commission had been tasked with investigating connections to settlements. The Charity Commission stated that it shared Ward's concerns.

Issa Amro, a Palestinian human rights defender from Hebron and co-founder of Youth Against Settlements, commented on the situation. "We want British charities to fund peace, not to fund obstacles for peace. This is very wrong," Amro said. He further stated, "The students at this yeshiva are very aggressive. A new building will mean more violence towards Palestinians, more restrictions, more Israeli military presence."

Hagit Ofran from the Israeli advocacy group Peace Now also commented. "For this yeshiva to exist, thousands of Palestinians have already lost their shops, their housing and their daily livelihood in the heart of a Palestinian city," Ofran said. She added, "The new dormitory is a significant development because they are adding more settlers in Hebron, the most extreme settlement, where apartheid is everywhere."

Barclays Bank provides a UK account for Friends of Yeshivat Shavei Hevron for donor fund transfers. A spokesperson for Barclays said the bank "does have policies and procedures in place to meet its legal and regulatory obligations – including appropriate due diligence and financial crime controls for charity clients."