Charity Commission

PO Box 211

Bootle                                                                                 

L20 7YX

By Email Only

23 September 2024

Dear Sir,

RE: Jewish Chronicle

We write to the Charity Commission as a registered charity who are concerned about the status of the Jewish Chronicle.

Earlier this year, the Jewish Chronicle reported that it was in the process of becoming a charity (Jewish Chronicle converts to charitable structure – The Jewish Chronicle (thejc.com)).

As you may be aware, the Jewish Chronicle is embroiled in a serious controversy which has brought the publication into disrepute after publishing articles by one of its journalists, a former Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldier, who allegedly fabricated sensational claims about Israeli intelligence and Gaza – claims which have been reported as “wild fabrications”. The scandal is one of such gravity that a number of prominent columnists have resigned in protest from the Jewish Chronicle (Columnists quit Jewish Chronicle over Gaza stories based on ‘fabrications’ | Newspapers | The Guardian).

The Jewish Chronicle has long been known for focusing a large number of their articles on Islam, Muslims and those who are pro-Palestine. In 2018, a report by the Muslim Council of Britain highlighted the Jewish Chronicle as one of the most Islamophobic publications in Britain (CfMM-Quarterly-Report.pdf (mcb.org.uk)). A year later, the Jewish Chronicle reacted through an article by Melany Philips that claimed that Islamophobia was a bogus term and an anti-Jewish one. This is tantamount to saying that antisemitism is a made-up lie. 

Considering that a charity is supposed to be one that does not participate in political activities, we fail to see how the Jewish Chronicle can claim to be apolitical while at the same time allegedly producing false stories aimed at the UK Jewish community to sway opinion in favour of a pro Netanyahu stance and the continuing decimation of Palestinian lives.

Moreover, the ownership of the Jewish Chronicle also appears to be shrouded in mystery, with no outright and concrete declaration of ownership – this would be a further reason not to grant the Jewish Chronicle charitable status. We are further minded that given the paper’s recent and notorious history, and the binding expectation of a charity to report serious incidents, we see that the Commission would be inundated by crises of confidence from the general public.

In view of the above, we wish to publicly make our concerns and objections known about the Jewish Chronicle becoming a member of the community of charities. The Commission must safeguard the sector. There is a real question here whether the Jewish Chronicle is fit to be a charity. We contend that the need for the Commission to act here is desirable in the public interest in order to protect the

public trust and confidence in charities generally. Not permitting the Jewish Chronicle to become a charity provides an additional protection for other charities by ensuring that they understand that they cannot engage in activities which the Jewish Chronicle has over the years, and expect to benefit from charitable status.

Conversely, if the Commission took no action, there could be a negative impact on the integrity of the wider charitable sector. This would be unacceptable and would enable a continued risk of abuse to be present in the sector. We consider therefore that it is desirable in the public interest to protect public trust and confidence in charities generally by intervening and reaching the correct outcome.

We also strongly request the Commission to reconsider placing prima facie reliance upon the Jewish Chronicle as the basis for any source or evidence in its seemingly interminable investigations against Muslim charities.

Finally, we call upon all other charities to make their objections known to the Commission about the Jewish Chronicle.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

LIC

LEWISHAM ISLAMIC CENTRE