The article covers the activities of Ohr Somayach, an ultra-Orthodox network of Jewish schools for men, which has a large campus in Ma'alot Dafna, a settlement in East Jerusalem. This area was previously under UN control and is considered occupied territory under international law, captured by Israel in 1967.
The planned expansion of the institution extends beyond this part of East Jerusalem, where Israel demolished the UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem in January. In 2013, Ohr Somayach began the process of obtaining permits to build a large facility in Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighborhood that has been a target for state-supported Israeli settlers for decades.
After more than 12 years of delays and disputes, in April 2026, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee approved Ohr Somayach's plan to construct an 11-story building (eight above ground and three underground) on a parking lot. This facility, located opposite a mosque originally intended for local community needs, will include classrooms and dormitories for hundreds of students and teachers, as well as an underground basketball court.
Middle East Eye exclusively revealed that since submitting plans for expansion, Ohr Somayach has received funding from two charities registered in the UK, with a third British charity providing donations.
According to tax records from the Israeli Corporations Authority, a London-based company, Achisomoch Aid Company, has donated 2.13 million Israeli shekels ($704,000 USD) to Ohr Somayach since 2013, while another British charity, British Friends of Yehuda Yaale, contributed 1.8 million Israeli shekels ($597,000 USD).
Achisomoch claims to have been established to promote religion in accordance with Orthodox Jewish belief and for purposes recognized as charitable under English law. According to emails seen by MEE, the organization allows for Gift Aid, whereby the UK government adds 25 percent to the donation.
The total donations from Achisomoch and British Friends of Yehuda Yaale over the past 12 years amount to $1.3 million USD, according to Israeli Corporations Authority records. A third charity, UK Toremet, facilitates donations to Ohr Somayach, on which donors can also claim Gift Aid. The British charity participated in an international fundraising campaign that raised over $2 million for the school, promising that 'all donations will receive a tax receipt according to the currency of payment.'
The UK Charity Commission is currently reviewing concerns raised in the media regarding UK Toremet, which is reported to have been used to fund Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and to support Regavim, an organization sanctioned by the EU and Canada for promoting human rights violations.
In a recent Al Jazeera documentary, 'Complicit,' Naomi Linder Kahn, director of Regavim, was secretly filmed saying: 'We work through UK Toremet.' The UK Charity Commission issued guidance and an action plan to UK Toremet's trustees, warning that the charity must comply with the 1957 Geneva Conventions Act.
