Viva Palestina - Aid Recipients and Investigations

Aid Recipients and Investigations

While in Gaza, AFP reported that Viva Palestina donated more than 100 vehicles carrying aid worth more than 1.4 million US dollars to the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip. Financial support for Hamas is unlawful in Canada, the United States and most of the EU, because of Hamas' classification as a terrorist organization. The Anti-Defamation League sent an open letter to the US Department of Justice asking that they open an investigation. Britain's Charity Commission concluded that there was no evidence that the Charity’s property was provided to Hamas.

The Charity Commission's inquiry found that Viva Palestina was a charity because the Founding Trustee’s attempts to amend the purposes of the Charity so that it became a non-charitable organisation were not legally effective. They concluded that there was no evidence that the Charity’s property was provided to Hamas based on the material it examined. They found that the Charity had misled the public by claiming to have raised over £1 million during the first convoy because this amount included the estimated value of the goods raised during the course of the convoy which were donated on arrival in Gaza. They concluded that mismanagement in the administration of a charity had exposed the Charity’s funds to unnecessary risk.