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War on Want website 3 April 2016: Does this look like they are bothered by criticism of being anti-Israel? |
I am sorry to have to break this news to everybody celebrating the
Telegraph story that the Government has stopped funding the antisemitic 'charity' War on Jews Want as a result of its anti-Israel incitement. The above is a screenshot from War on Want's website today, which gives you a pretty good indication of how un-bothered they are by the Telegraph story (War on Want essentially does nothing
other than campaign against Israel so, as far as they are concerned, the Telegraph is simply advertising what they do best). The Press release from War on Want that is referred to in the highlighted section is reproduced below. They claim they have not been criticised by the Government and that they have not sought Government support for years.
For once War on Want is more or less telling the truth (it's
incredible how many Jews continue to delude themselves that David Cameron's government would ever actually take real action against Israel haters). War on Want no longer asks for
direct funding from the British government** for the simple reason that it gets it
indirectly from the
EU and
Comic Relief (which of course is run by the government funded BBC). As I
pointed out only last month, Comic Relief recently awarded War on Want its largest grant ever £590,719 (in 2013 it got £139,407 from Comic Relief and in 2014 it only got £27,790). But
it is the EU that continues to be their main financier** - which, of course, is also partly funded by British taxpayers.
As my many previous reports on War on Want confirm, Cameron's government and the Charities Commission know all about War on Want's activities and refused to do anything about it - publicly at least. Maybe behind the scenes they were sufficiently embarrassed to suggest discreetly to War on Want that they should stop applying for direct Government funding. Either way, Gilligan's Telegraph report will make no difference at all except almost certainly lead to increased funding from Comic Relief and the EU and some additional Israel haters who have now been alerted to what they do.
Here is the War on Want Press release
War on Want has dismissed the story in today's Sunday Telegraph suggesting that it has had its funding 'pulled' by the UK government and that the charity has been criticised by the government over its support for human rights in Palestine.
John Hilary, Executive Director at War on Want, said: "The story in today's Telegraph is a complete fabrication. War on Want has not sought any UK government support for its operations for a number of years now, so it is absurd to suggest that we have had our funding 'pulled'. The insinuation that we have been criticised by the government for standing up for the rights of the Palestinian people is equally bogus. We will be contacting the Telegraph to help it set the record straight."
*I've had a lot correspondence since I posted this. The point is that the story is not what it seems to be and there has been no change in Government policy
because of Gilligan's 'revelations' (which some of us have been writing to our MPs and the Charities Commission about for years). It is true that the Government - through the Dept of International Development (DfID) has stopped funding new War on Want projects. But my understanding is that WoW's claim that they stopped asking for DFID grants a while back is also true. That is why
this whole story is a facade. WoW weren't going to get any new DFID
funding anyway, but they will continue to get mega funding from the EU and Comic Relief which are indirectly funded by the Government and directly funded by UK taxpayers. I did NOT base my article above on the WoW denial. I based it on my
previous correspondence with the Charities Commission, WoW themselves,
my MP and Comic Relief. The
fact that the Comic Relief grants will continue is especially depressing since I
was given a little bit of hope two years ago t
hat they might stop funding them but then - bang - they recently
gave them their biggest grant ever. The acid test will be if the
Government stop their funding via the EU. Given Cameron's record I would
say you need to be a deranged optimist to think that he would, even if
he could, but we can all hope I suppose.
** I understand the amounts which are shown from the DfID on their recent accounts are for projects that started a few years ago.
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