The housing and homelessness charity, Shelter, has rebuffed union-led antisemitic and anti-Israel campaigns within its organization, as explained by its chief executive Polly Neate.

Ms Neate responded to a list of concerns sent by an anonymous whistleblower to UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), who was worried about the antisemitic atmosphere amongst some staff at the organization.

Shelter had produced an advertising campaign to promote social housing and its benefits and to dispel negative connotations attached to it. The campaign was given the name “Made In Social Housing” (MISH). Eddie Marsan, a well-known actor, who was himself brought up on a council estate in East London, participated in it.

Between May and July 2024 around 100 people signed a petition at the behest of Unite, calling for Shelter to “Remove Eddie Marsan from the MISH Campaign or commit to ensuring no future content is released with Eddie Marsan, and all pinned content with him or tags to his account(s) are removed”.

The petitioners objected to Eddie Marsan having a tree planted in his name, in recognition of his bravery in speaking up against antisemitism in the UK. They claimed the objection was to the Jewish National Fund, the organisation that planted the tree in Eddie Marsan’s name.

Staff requested that the trade union should have a role in future campaign planning and celebrity support. “We responded that this was inappropriate and refused the request”, Ms Neate said. The MISH campaign went on to win several awards.

Earlier in the year a number of staff requested that Shelter change its approach to procurement to incorporate BDS into the framework  “We did not take up this suggestion”, said Ms Neate.

Another concern was the poor behaviour of staff during antisemitism training, which was delivered via webinars in October 2024. Ms Neate responded: “colleagues were free to ask questions or query assertions made during the training.”

Ms Neate commented: “We will continue to take any action necessary to ensure Shelter is a safe and welcoming workplace for Jewish and Israeli colleagues. We have made considerable progress towards becoming an anti-racist organisation, introducing a new ‘We Will Not Tolerate’ approach through the whole organisation, we recognise there is always more action we can take and we are absolutely committed to the work of equity and inclusion “

Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI commented: “We are pleased that Shelter has taken a firm stand against the pressure from the Unite Union to introduce its own anti-Israel agenda into the organisation.”