The European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) has been reported to the Charity Commission following its adoption of a boycott motion that UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) believes breaches both charity law and the Equality Act 2010.

EASA recently passed, and is now implementing, a motion prohibiting collaboration with Israeli academic institutions. The motion is predicated on guilt by association and relies on a series of false and misleading claims presented as fact. These include the suggestion that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found a “plausible genocide” or is “considering plausible a genocide” in Gaza. In reality, the ICJ made no such finding. As the ICJ President at the time clarified in relation to the Court’s Order in January 2024, the ICJ “didn’t decide that the claim of genocide was plausible.”

The boycott motion, together with its Implementation Guidelines,  directly conflicts with EASA’s stated charitable objects, to “promote education and research in social anthropology by improving understanding of world societies and encouraging professional communication and cooperation between anthropologists, especially in Europe”. Instead, it advances a racist political campaign that undermines academic exchange and stifles collaboration.

UKLFI has reported EASA to the Charity Commission and highlighted that:

• The motion breaches Charity Commission guidance on political activity, which prohibits political campaigning that is not in furtherance of a charity’s purposes.
• By excluding all Israeli institutions, it undermines the public benefit requirement under section 4 of the Charities Act 2011. EASA’s area of benefit is registered as “worldwide”, yet the motion explicitly excludes all Israeli institutions from key academic activities, denying them access to collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and conferences.
• Several trustees have publicly expressed strong anti-Israel political views, raising serious concerns that trustees may have misused their positions to pursue personal political agendas. This raises questions around the potential misuse of charitable resources, breach of fiduciary duties, and conduct likely to bring the charity, and the wider sector, into disrepute.
• This exclusion is ideologically motivated and unconnected to the advancement of anthropology.

UKLFI also believes the motion breaches the Equality Act 2010 by:

• Constituting direct discrimination under section 13 by treating Israeli academics less favourably based on nationality.
• Alternatively, amounting to indirect discrimination under section 19 by placing Israeli academics at a particular disadvantage.
• Causing harassment under section 26 by fostering an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for Israeli, Jewish and Zionist service users, employees, and members.
• Denying equal access to services, employment, and association participation under sections 29, 39, and 101.

These concerns are heightened by EASA’s recent call for panels for its upcoming summer conference, the largest academic gathering of anthropologists in Europe. Alarmingly, the boycott Implementation Guidelines are featured prominently in the announcement, with prospective panel proposers explicitly instructed to read and familiarise themselves with them. Adherence is even cited as a factor in panel selection. By embedding discriminatory political conditions into its flagship event, EASA is effectively using its most important platform to impose a racist and exclusionary policy.

A UKLFI spokesperson said: “EASA’s boycott motion is racist, politically motivated, and wholly inconsistent with its charitable objects. It also breaches the Equality Act 2010 and exposes EASA to liabilities. We trust the Charity Commission will take appropriate action to ensure that EASA complies with legal requirements.”