UK taxpayers subsidised therapy for Israeli soldiers committing genocide in Gaza, investigation finds

British taxpayers subsidised therapy for Israeli soldiers committing genocide Gaza, according to a new video by Declassified UK. The investigation focuses on UK Toremet, a registered British charity that reportedly channelled donations to projects in illegal Israeli settlements and provided funding to Regavim, a settler group sanctioned by the European Union.

The latest video follows Declassified’s investigation published last month, which revealed how British taxpayers subsidised therapy through the Yahalom Foundation, an Israeli organisation supporting serving members and veterans of the army’s elite Yahalom engineering unit.

Emails obtained by Declassified show that the Yahalom Foundation told British supporters to donate through UK Toremet, which it called its “registered partner platform in the UK”.

Eligible donations through UK Toremet can attract Gift Aid, allowing the charity to reclaim 25p from HMRC for every £1 donated, provided the donor meets the scheme’s tax requirements. As a foreign organisation, the Yahalom Foundation cannot claim UK Gift Aid directly. 

Projects advertised to British donors included a £5,000 ($6,750) “therapeutic healing journey” for soldiers returning from Gaza, individual psychological treatment and a £100,000 ($135,000) memorial hall commemorating soldiers killed in service.

“We’re actually giving therapy to IDF soldiers who’ve caused this destruction,” Martin Williams, Declassified’s chief investigator, said in the video. “It’s sickening.”

The Yahalom military unit, whose soldiers and veterans receive support from the Yahalom Foundation, specialises in explosives and tunnel demolition. Declassified reports that the unit has played a key role in the Gaza genocide, including the destruction of civilian infrastructure. 

READ: Revealed – the UK charity facilitating donations to Israeli settlements

An Israeli army spokesperson has said it operates throughout Gaza, while one of its soldiers has spoken publicly about demolishing buildings and operating inside Palestinian hospitals.

“This genocide would be very different without the Yahalom unit,” Williams said.

The Charity Commission has previously warned that charities cannot lawfully raise funds to support soldiers of a foreign military.

UK Toremet described the foundation as a veterans’ alumni association, said monitoring confirmed its grant was used exclusively for PTSD treatment, and maintained that mental-health provision constituted charitable welfare and medical relief under English law. It also rejected the foundation’s description of it as a partner platform. 

The findings follow earlier investigations into UK Toremet. This year, Declassified filmed Shivat Zion, an Israeli organisation offering relocation assistance, proposing help for British citizens moving to an illegal West Bank settlement. The organisation told supporters donations could go through UK Toremet and benefit from Gift Aid.

UK Toremet said it had no active relationship with Shivat Zion and had made no grants to the organisation during the preceding 12 months. 

An Al Jazeera documentary examining British complicity in settler violence linked UK Toremet to Regavim, a pro-settler group sanctioned by the European Union over its support for the destruction of Palestinian homes.

Regavim’s international director, Naomi Linder Kahn, was secretly filmed describing a donation route through UK Toremet and an Israeli intermediary, Giving. 

The Al Jazeera documentary also linked UK Toremet to Ateret Cohanim, which purchases property for settlers. Its director claimed in an email that UK Toremet had previously transferred funds to a sister organisation under its auspices.

The Guardian reported last year that approximately £5.7 million ($7.7 million) reached the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva high school in Susya, an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, through the Kasner Charitable Trust and UK Toremet, with the latter acting as a conduit.

In June, Labour MP Melanie Ward submitted a complaint identifying 32 charities that she said had collectively donated at least £28 million ($37.8 million) to illegal settlements. She estimated a potential Gift Aid subsidy of £5.6 million ($7.6 million), conditional on claims having been made.

Since 2016, the Charity Commission has conducted three regulatory compliance cases concerning UK Toremet’s work in Palestine. Its trustees received statutory guidance and an action plan warning them to comply with the Geneva Conventions Act 1957, according to Declassified.

On 5 August, the Commission opened a statutory class inquiry initially involving eight unnamed charities working in illegal settlements. The regulator said it had shared specific concerns with the police and HMRC. 

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