Sunday, April 03, 2016

Story that Government has stopped funding War on Want is a lie*

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 that 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.

See also:


6 comments:

JudyK said...

Edgar Davidson, thanks for this great and revealing update. Please as a matter of urgency send all this evidence to the Mail on Sunday team running their "Stop the Foreign Aid madness" campaign.

NB The MoS is a completely different team from the Daily Mail-- they are rivals!

Nick Constable is the journalist who wrote the very good splash of Kay Wilson's story,

Simon Walters wrote up the story about the Tories signing up to the Aid budget to avoid being slagged off by Bob Geldof. And a good overview story of what our Foreign Aid could have paid for at home. He is the MoS political editor, so he is probably the best person to contact on this and other stories.

Confronting antisemitism and Israel hatred said...

Judy: I will do that.

Paul said...

Yes, thank you very much for highlighting this.

I knew there was a reason I never gave to Comic Relief. Thank you for reminding me why that is so.

Mr. Cohen said...

According to a report by the Open Doors organization, the top-ten-worst countries for anti-Christian persecution in year 2015 were: North Korea, Iraq, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Iran and Libya.

All these nations are ruled by Communists or Muslims or both.

Notice that none of those nations are being targeted by the BDS movement.

SOURCE: 2015 Was Not a Good Year For Jews and Christians Living in Muslim Lands, an article by Martin Barillas 2016 January 18, published by Spero News
www.speroforum.com/a/FTVWPWVWSF49/77129-2015-was-not-a-good-year-for-Jews-and-Christians-living-in-Muslim-lands#.VwQPZnktA5s

Mr. Cohen said...

***********************************************
Three Surprising Critics of the
Anti-Israel BDS Movement
***********************************************


[1] Peace Now, one of the Left’s most well-known organizations that never misses an opportunity to harshly criticize the Israeli government, has stated that BDS is tantamount to collective punishment.

[2] Professor Norman Finkelstein, another much-admired voice of the Left, who has made many vicious statements against Israel, has disavowed the BDS campaign and called it: “silliness, childishness, and a lot of leftist posturing.”

[3] Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, has denounced the BDS movement. (Will wonders never cease?)

He said: “No, we do not support the boycott of Israel. We do not ask anyone to boycott Israel itself. We have relations with Israel. We have mutual relations with Israel.”

SOURCE: Unmasking the BDS Movement, by Dave Gordon, found in Community Magazine, April 2016, page 28

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