Anne Herzberg is a leading legal expert on NGO accountability, foreign influence and the misuse of charitable and activist structures by extremist networks.
The chief executive of the Muslim Charities Forum, Fadi Itani, stated this week that “unclear or overly broad powers” on the charity sector are harmful and serve to “risk deepening the chilling effect across civil society, silencing legitimate advocacy at the very moment it is needed most.”
The Government, these charities think, is overstepping its mark.
In truth, it is not going far enough.
Charities are the ones which possess “unclear or overly broad powers.” They now play a major role in the more sinister, dangerous forces threatening the UK, with many charities possessing links to foreign state actors and terror networks. The Government itself revealed last month that since October 2023 the Charity Commission has opened more than 400 regulatory cases involving hate speech and extremism concerns, with around 70 referrals to police where criminal offences may have been committed, evidence of a serious and growing problem.
Think of it like this. There exists a series of concentric circles: foreign states, like the Islamic Republic of Iran and China; then fundamentalist and extremist organisations; then NGOs; then protest movements; then the media; then general society, you and me, and we all get influenced. Tighter regulation is needed to stop these destructive circles breaking British society, shattering our safe and secure country.
Harmful forces threaten the UK.
Terror groups linked to NGOs in Gaza, protest movements that are often top-down organised, and political campaigns dressed up as humanitarianism have all exploited Western openness. A Palestinian NGO with links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist organisation proscribed in the United States, Canada and the European Union, has used the British courts to try to block the United Kingdom’s role in the F-35 fighter jet programme, showing how “lawfare” can tamper with UK defence policy.
Hind Rajab Foundation, a Belgian NGO, whose leader reportedly received military training from Hezbollah, claimed that it influenced the West Midlands police to impose a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv FC fans in the November 2025 Aston Villa controversy. Earlier, in a January 2024 tribunal hearing, the Foreign Office admitted that Gaza aid sub-grantees were not being properly vetted, raising critical questions over where British taxpayers’ money may ultimately have gone. Meanwhile, United Kingdom-funded aid channels, operated inside Hamas-dominated structures in Gaza, where internal documents from a Hamas cache suggest the terror group controlled NGO personnel and programming.
The UK’s Jewish community is now receiving millions of pounds of funding for fences and guards outside synagogues and community centres. British soil is now stained with murderous attacks against its Jewish citizens: the shooting at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, where worshippers were targeted on Yom Kippur; the violent arson of Hatzola NW ambulances outside a synagogue in Golders Green last month; and the fresh firebombing of Finchley Reform Synagogue this week. The Government has allocated a record £73.4 million in protective security funding for faith communities in 2026-27, including £28.4 million for Jewish sites, all because it has failed to exercise regulation in other areas.
The USA has far better regulation in place. American tax-exempt organisations must publicly file annual Form 990 returns detailing revenues, grants, salaries, trustees and expenditure. The United States also operates the Foreign Agents Registration Act, requiring those acting politically for foreign principals to disclose funding, relationships and activities on a searchable public register. The USA also has robust vetting and enforcement mechanisms in place to safeguard foreign aid assistance.
The UK needs to go far further to improve its transparency and oversight. Lord Walney’s March report only highlighted ten charities linked to Iranian regime networks or concerning associations. There are far more. Britain’s own Foreign Influence Registration Scheme entered into force in July 2025, yet by March this year there were only 12 registrations on the public register. That is plainly inadequate for a country facing hostile state interference.
The circles are real.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the statements of charity chiefs being reluctant for increased regulation, the UK Government, if it cares about the people, must bring it in.
Anne Herzberg is a leading legal expert on NGO accountability, foreign influence and the misuse of charitable and activist structures by extremist networks.
The chief executive of the Muslim Charities Forum, Fadi Itani, stated this week that “unclear or overly broad powers” on the charity sector are harmful and serve to “risk deepening the chilling effect across civil society, silencing legitimate advocacy at the very moment it is needed most.”
The Government, these charities think, is overstepping its mark.
In truth, it is not going far enough.
Charities are the ones which possess “unclear or overly broad powers.” They now play a major role in the more sinister, dangerous forces threatening the UK, with many charities possessing links to foreign state actors and terror networks. The Government itself revealed last month that since October 2023 the Charity Commission has opened more than 400 regulatory cases involving hate speech and extremism concerns, with around 70 referrals to police where criminal offences may have been committed, evidence of a serious and growing problem.
Think of it like this. There exists a series of concentric circles: foreign states, like the Islamic Republic of Iran and China; then fundamentalist and extremist organisations; then NGOs; then protest movements; then the media; then general society, you and me, and we all get influenced. Tighter regulation is needed to stop these destructive circles breaking British society, shattering our safe and secure country.
Harmful forces threaten the UK.
Terror groups linked to NGOs in Gaza, protest movements that are often top-down organised, and political campaigns dressed up as humanitarianism have all exploited Western openness. A Palestinian NGO with links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist organisation proscribed in the United States, Canada and the European Union, has used the British courts to try to block the United Kingdom’s role in the F-35 fighter jet programme, showing how “lawfare” can tamper with UK defence policy.
Hind Rajab Foundation, a Belgian NGO, whose leader reportedly received military training from Hezbollah, claimed that it influenced the West Midlands police to impose a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv FC fans in the November 2025 Aston Villa controversy. Earlier, in a January 2024 tribunal hearing, the Foreign Office admitted that Gaza aid sub-grantees were not being properly vetted, raising critical questions over where British taxpayers’ money may ultimately have gone. Meanwhile, United Kingdom-funded aid channels, operated inside Hamas-dominated structures in Gaza, where internal documents from a Hamas cache suggest the terror group controlled NGO personnel and programming.
The UK’s Jewish community is now receiving millions of pounds of funding for fences and guards outside synagogues and community centres. British soil is now stained with murderous attacks against its Jewish citizens: the shooting at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, where worshippers were targeted on Yom Kippur; the violent arson of Hatzola NW ambulances outside a synagogue in Golders Green last month; and the fresh firebombing of Finchley Reform Synagogue this week. The Government has allocated a record £73.4 million in protective security funding for faith communities in 2026-27, including £28.4 million for Jewish sites, all because it has failed to exercise regulation in other areas.
The USA has far better regulation in place. American tax-exempt organisations must publicly file annual Form 990 returns detailing revenues, grants, salaries, trustees and expenditure. The United States also operates the Foreign Agents Registration Act, requiring those acting politically for foreign principals to disclose funding, relationships and activities on a searchable public register. The USA also has robust vetting and enforcement mechanisms in place to safeguard foreign aid assistance.
The UK needs to go far further to improve its transparency and oversight. Lord Walney’s March report only highlighted ten charities linked to Iranian regime networks or concerning associations. There are far more. Britain’s own Foreign Influence Registration Scheme entered into force in July 2025, yet by March this year there were only 12 registrations on the public register. That is plainly inadequate for a country facing hostile state interference.
The circles are real.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the statements of charity chiefs being reluctant for increased regulation, the UK Government, if it cares about the people, must bring it in.