London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Jun 09, 2026

Report clears UK’s largest Muslim charity of institutional anti-Semitism despite controversy over hateful posts on social media

Report clears UK’s largest Muslim charity of institutional anti-Semitism despite controversy over hateful posts on social media

An independent review has found that UK’s leading Muslim charity, Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), is not rife with anti-Semitism, despite a string of controversies over comments made by its high-ranking staffers last year.

“We found absolutely no evidence that the reputational issues that have arisen over the conduct of a few individuals has had any link to the way IRW carries out this charitable work,” Dominic Grieve, who led the review, said.

"On the contrary, the charity has made a lot of effort to ensure there isn’t anti-Semitism, and I saw no evidence of it among staff whatsoever."


Grieve said IRW’s work was “marred by the reputational problems generated by the behaviour of a few individuals who have been putting their personal opinions” ahead of the charity’s mission. He acknowledged that the group has since improved its social media and vetting policies.

Ihab Saad, the chair of the IRW’s board of trustees, said the review and recommendations made by the investigators “will help us become an even more effective humanitarian organisation going forward.”

Grieve, a former Tory MP and former attorney general for England and Wales, was appointed as the chief of the commission to investigate the UK’s largest Muslim charity last year after three of its senior staffers resigned due to anti-Semitic comments they had made online.

In 2020, IRW trustees Heshmat Khalifa and Almoutaz Tayara stepped down after the British media unearthed posts they wrote on social media in 2014 and 2015 before taking jobs at the charity. Khalifa had called Jews the “grandchildren of monkeys and pigs.” Tayara posted a cartoon that depicted former US president Barack Obama with a Star of David emblazoned on his necktie. He also referred to Hamas’ military wing, which is listed as a terrorist group by the UK and the EU, as “heroes.”

IRW denounced these remarks as “unacceptable,” and an entirely new board of trustees was appointed.

The third staffer to leave IRW was its network and resource development director Tayeb Abdoun, who resigned in November. He was said to have been making anti-Semitic tweets under a fake name. Abdoun endorsed terrorist attacks against the Israelis, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Separately, the charity’s co-founder Hany El-Banna was heavily criticized for labelling the Yazidis, a religious group in the Middle East, “devil worshippers” in one of his videos. In November, El-Banna apologised on Twitter for the “offence caused by unfortunate use of words when referring to Yazidi people.”

The UK government has suspended its funding of IRW due to the controversy, as did the German government. The US State Department cut ties with the group earlier this month.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Nebius Opens Major Robotics and Physical AI Laboratory in London
Bank of England Data Shows Strong Rise in New Mortgage Approvals
Network Rail Completes Landmark Upgrade of Severn Tunnel Rail Infrastructure
East West Rail Passenger Services Between Oxford and Milton Keynes Set for December Launch
GlaxoSmithKline Reportedly Pursues £7 Billion Acquisition of US Cancer Drug Developer Nuvalent
Bank of England Signals Interest Rates Likely to Remain Unchanged Despite Energy Market Risks
NHS Trusts Launch Job-Cutting Programmes as Financial Pressures Intensify Across England
More Than 130 Labour MPs Urge Ban on Trade With Israeli Settlements
Keir Starmer Orders Technology Firms to Introduce Smartphone Nudity Controls for Under-18s
UK Unveils £400 Million National AI Supercomputer Fund and New Economics Institute
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
Global Critical Mineral Alliances Expand as Western Nations Move to Counter Chinese Supply Dominance
United States Imposes Fifty Percent Tariffs on Mexican Steel and Aluminum Ahead of Trade Pact Review
European Union and China Head Toward Major Trade Conflict Over Clean Technology Exports
United States Economic Growth Severely Downgraded to One Point Six Percent as Stagflation Fears Mount
World Health Organization Warns Central African Ebola Epidemic is Outpacing Containment Efforts
United States Treasury Department Conditions Sanctions Relief on Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz
Iranian Air Defenses Intercept and Destroy United States Military Drone Over Bushehr Province
Iranian Armed Forces Launch Ballistic Missiles Toward Unspecified Targets Prompting Regional Condemnation
United Nations Secretary-General Warns Global Order Facing Highest Level of Conflict Since 1945
Israel Issues Sweeping Evacuation Orders in Southern Lebanon Amid Intensified Hezbollah Conflict
Russia Announces Systemic Military Strikes Targeting Ukrainian Defense and Energy Infrastructure
United States and Iranian Negotiators Reach Draft Agreement to Extend Ceasefire and Resume Nuclear Talks
United Nations Security Council Deeply Divided Over United States Capture of Venezuelan President
US and Iran Exchange Direct Military Strikes Amid Fragile Gulf Ceasefire
World Health Organization Warns of Catastrophic Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo
Russia Threatens New Wave of Strikes on Ukrainian Infrastructure and Embassies
Scientists Warn Atlantic Ocean Currents Could Collapse Faster Than Projected
Anthropic Reaches $900 Billion Valuation in Historic AI Funding Round
Washington Imposes Crippling Sanctions on Iranian Maritime Authority
Japan and the Philippines Initiate Strategic Intelligence-Sharing Pact
Microsoft Deploys Autonomous Computer-Using AI Agents to Global Markets
Anthropic Secures $45 Billion Compute Infrastructure Agreement With SpaceX
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Resigns Amid Administration Shakeup
×