A knitwear retailer has been accused of distressing customers after it inserted an Amnesty International fundraising leaflet into catalogue packs. UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) say the Amnesty leaflets contained “false and inflammatory” allegations against the Israeli military.

WoolOvers, a Sussex-based clothing company, recently mailed customers a brochure accompanied by an Amnesty leaflet headed: “Israeli forces are killing Palestinian families. Please help the campaign to stop these devastating human rights atrocities.”

Among the recipients was an elderly Jewish woman who arrived in Britain as a child on the Kindertransport. She was said to be “extremely distressed” after reading accusations of genocide and deliberate killing of civilians.

UKLFI pointed out that the International Court of Justice did not find a plausible case of genocide against Israel, despite widespread media claims to the contrary. It accused Amnesty of conducting a fundraising campaign for “politically-motivated lawfare” rather than providing meaningful assistance to Palestinian civilians.

UKLFI’s letter also explained that WoolOvers may have breached its own charity-vetting policies. The company states it supports appeals related to medical research, elderly care, veterans, conservation and similar causes, and that it screens charities to ensure their work provides a “genuine benefit to society”.

The Amnesty leaflet, UKLFI argued, fell outside those categories and risked “stirring up racial hatred against Jews and Israelis” by disseminating misleading allegations of genocide.

The letter calls on WoolOvers to confirm it will cease distributing politically charged material, to improve its screening process, to destroy any remaining stock of the leaflet and to issue an apology—via UKLFI—to the Holocaust survivor who received it.

WoolOvers failed to respond to UKLFI’s letter.

Caroline Turner, Director of UK Lawyers for Israel commented:  “Amnesty International’s leaflet was not only misleading, it was profoundly distressing for vulnerable members of the Jewish community. It is entirely inappropriate for WoolOvers to distribute politically charged material that repeats false allegations of genocide and ignores the brutal actions of Hamas. Retail customers do not expect to receive propaganda with their knitwear catalogues, and we are asking WoolOvers to ensure this never happens again.”