The government body in charge of registered charities in England and Wales on Thursday said it had issued a warning last month to an Islamic charity in London tied to antisemitic sermons.
The Charity Commission’s Oct. 20 warning to the Lewisham Islamic Centre will be in force for a year, the commission said in a statement. It does no entail any sanctions but, if deemed to have been ignored, the warning could lead to imitations and even a seizure by the government.
The warning was “connected, but not limited to, two sermons hosted by the charity that ‘included content that was inflammatory, divisive and not in the charity’s best interests,’” the commission’s statement said, quoting from its audit of the charity following complaints.
A resident imam of the centre, which features a mosque, spoke last year about “suffering at the hands of the oppressors and the Zionists” after the Hamas-led massacres in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Sky News reported.
In August 2024, another one of the Centre’s imams, Ashraf Dabous, alleged that Zionists were manipulating participants in Britain’s Southport riots, The Times of London reported.
In April 2024, the centre hosted American preacher Tom Facchine, who reportedly claimed Zionists controlled British schools and hospitals, The Jewish Chronicle reported. The Charity Commission did not say which sermons triggered the audit.
In August, the commission said it had escalated its investigation of a group allegedly tied to Hamas, and begun probing eight pro-Israel groups said to have collected money for Israelis in Judea and Samaria.
The Muslim group whose investigation was announced in August is the Al-Khair Foundation, following a complaint filed in July by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), that group said. The pro-Israel groups that have reportedly come under investigation were not named.
