London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Feb 25, 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
Lord Mandelson Condemns Arrest as Driven by ‘Baseless Suggestion’ He Would Flee Abroad
Former UK Ambassador Released on Bail Following Arrest in Epstein-Linked Investigation
UK Parliament Orders Release of Former Prince Andrew’s Government Vetting Files
Reddit Fined £14 Million by UK Regulator Over Failures in Age Verification Controls
UK Moves to Tighten Regulation of Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video Under New Media Rules
British Woman Who Reported Rape in Hong Kong Faces Possible Prosecution
'Christianity is the religion that has made this country great.'
Man Receives Parking Ticket 38 Years After Offense: ‘City Officials Said It’s Legitimate’
Woman Receives Gift Card for Christmas – Discovers It Is ‘Worth’ 63,000,000,000,000,000 Pounds
UK Sanctions New Zealand Insurer Maritime Mutual Following Allegations Over Russian Oil Cover
Reform MP Danny Kruger Condemns UK’s ‘Unregulated Sexual Economy’ in Call for Tougher Controls
The Show Must Go On: Prince William and Kate Middleton Shine at the BAFTAs Amid Andrew’s Arrest
UK Sanctions Russian ‘Illicit Oil Traders’ After Email Blunder Exposes Sanctions Evasion Network
Russia Amplifies Baseless Claims That UK and France Plan to Arm Ukraine with Nuclear Weapons
UK Imposes Sanctions on Two Georgian Television Channels Over Alleged Russian Disinformation
United States National Parks See Noticeable Drop in Visitors from Canada, U.K. and Australia
UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand Escalate Sanctions on Russia as Ukraine War Marks Four Years
I Gave Andrew a Nude Massage Inside Buckingham Palace
UK Economy Faces Acute Strain as Trump’s Global Tariff Reshapes Trade Landscape
UK Signals Retaliation Is Possible as New US Tariff Policy Threatens Trade Stability
British Police Arrest Former Ambassador Peter Mandelson in Epstein-Related Misconduct Probe
Australia Officially Supports Proposal to Remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from Royal Succession
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan remains silent on ISIS brides' resettlement plans in Melbourne
Former UK Ambassador Peter Mandelson Arrested in Connection with Jeffrey Epstein
Jacob Rees Mogg afraid to talk about Peter Mandelson arrest on “suspicion of misconduct in a public office” (Pedophilia, corruption, etc.)
United Nations Calls for Global Action Against Disinformation and Hate Speech Online
Tucker Carlson warns of an inevitable clash in Western societies over mass migration
President Trump warns countries against abandoning recent trade deals with the US
Diverging Polls Show Mixed Signals on UK Economic Revival as Confidence Remains Fragile
Spotify Expands AI-Driven ‘Prompted Playlists’ Feature to the United Kingdom and Other Markets
Greens and Reform UK Surge in Manchester By-Election, Threatening Labour’s Historic Stronghold
UK Businesses Push for Closer European Trade Links Amid Renewed US Tariff Uncertainty
Deloitte Global Overhaul Sparks Leadership Contest in the United Kingdom
University of Kentucky and Microsoft to Showcase Campus-Wide AI Innovation
UK Food System Faces Acute Vulnerability to Shocks, Experts Warn
Reform UK’s Proposed ICE-Style Deportation Scheme Triggers Sharp Backlash
U.S. Global Tariff Push Leaves Britain, Australia and Others Facing Higher Costs and Trade Strain
UK Police Officers Guarded 2010 Epstein Dinner Attended by Prince Andrew, Reports Say
US Trade Representative Affirms Commitment to Existing Tariff Agreements with UK and Other Partners
Activists at the Louvre hung a framed Reuters photograph of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor slumped in the back of a car leaving a police station on the day of his arrest
The royal biographer said that he expected the police to 'look at the money trail' - including Sarah Ferguson borrowing money from Epstein
A Protestor screams in NYC: “Bill Gates is on the Epstein’s List…”
FBI and Secret Service Hold Press Conference After Shooting Incident at Mar-a-Lago
Mark Zuckerberg Testifies in Trial Over Social Media's Impact on Children's Mental Health
Maggie Oliver exposes Keir Starmer using letters to close child rapists investigations
Kouri Richie's wrote a children’s book to help her sons grieve the death of their father. Now she’ll stand trial for his murder
New York Braces for Major Snowstorm With Up to 18 Inches Forecast and Blizzard Warnings Issued
Mexican Military Kills CJNG Leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes as Violence Erupts Across Jalisco
Metropolitan Police Deploys Palantir-Powered AI to Flag Potential Officer Misconduct
UK Parliament Rebukes Police Over Ban on Israeli Football Fans
×