A “charity” sanctioned in Israel as a terrorist organization, that supports the widows and orphans of Gaza “martyrs” is being supported by a UK charity.
Qawafil Al Khair was founded by two terrorists, Mansour Rayan and Ali Al-Mughrabi , who were released by Israel in the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap in 2011.
Rayan had been imprisoned for the murder of an Israeli and Al Mughrabi had been part of a terrorist cell that organized a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in which 11 Israelis were killed.
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has reported We Care Foundation (We Care) to the Charity Commission for funding Qawafil Al Khair.
Al-Mughrabi appeared in a 2020 social media post, as a media spokesperson for Hamas’ Office of Prisoners’ Affairs. He was killed in a targeted strike on 15 January 2025 by the Israel Defence Forces.
Hamas issued a Memorial Notice for him on 16 January 2025 on the Telegram channel, which begins: “Hamas announces the death of the warrior shahid Ali Al Mughrabi”.
The notice describes him as “the liberated prisoner deported to the Gaza strip from the Dheisheh camp in Bethlehem who was killed during the Battle of Al Aqsa Flood. It is a jihad of victory or martyrdom.”
Qawafil’s own promotional video shows Hamas fighters parading the dead martyr they helped, and his sacrifice being praised as the greatest “honor.” It also shows a beautiful new flat being presented to the Martyr’s widow and children, and the older child being presented with a toy machine gun. The child proceeds from room to room with the gun, in the manner of a terrorist.
One of the trustees of We Care, an English Charity, has a major ongoing fundraising campaign for Qawafil, on behalf of We Care, on the FundBrite platform, which has raised over £250,000 – more than We Care’s income in the year to April 2023.
We Care has been supporting Qawafil for several years, through previous campaigns on fundraising platforms, and also by arranging events.
We Care is already the subject of an inquiry by the Charity Commission. Its bank accounts were frozen in May 2024 after concerns were identified in its governance and financial management. According to the Charity Commission’s statement
“These concerns included substantial payments from the charity to its trustees and companies for which they are directors. The payments were not disclosed in the charity’s accounts and have not been adequately explained to the Commission.”
At the time the charity had only two trustees, who were husband and wife.
Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI, commented: “If a UK charity is funding a charity in Gaza that specialises in helping the widows and orphans of Hamas fighters, then this amounts to assisting Hamas, a terrorist organisation. The Israeli government recognised that Qawafil Al Khair was a Hamas entity and therefore designated it. We understand that the charity commission is investigating this issue as part of the ongoing investigation.”
The Charity Commission’s Guidelines say that it aims to ensure that trustees comply with their legal duties, including taking reasonable steps to protect their charities from wrongdoing and harm and to minimise the risk of terrorist or extremist abuse.
Regarding charities funding terrorism, the Charity Commission’s guidelines say:
“Where a registered charity supports, or works closely with, overseas partners, the Commission will hold the registered charity and its trustees to account over the suitability and management of that relationship, including its supervision of and protection against terrorism and extremism risks.
“… links between a charity and terrorist activity corrode public confidence in the integrity of charity. Links include, but are not limited to, fundraising, financial support or provision of facilities, formal or informal links to proscribed organisations and the promotion or support of extremist ideas that are conducive to terrorism and are also part of terrorist ideology.”