UK Charity Commission Warns Cardiff Charity Over Pro-Hamas Video

The Charity Commission has issued a formal warning to the Al-Manar Centre Trust, a Cardiff-based Islamic charity operating a mosque, after it shared a video on social media in November 2023 that was found to support the proscribed terrorist organisation Hamas. The video presented a positive image of Hamas and attempted to justify its October 2023 terrorist attack on Israel, which the Commission concluded could lead the public to infer that the charity was endorsing or glorifying terrorism. The inquiry revealed that the charity's chair, who was solely responsible for managing social media content, shared the video after listening only to its audio, without reviewing the visual elements, a decision deemed wholly inadequate by the regulator. Trustees were also criticized for failing to properly oversee and monitor social media activities despite previous advice from 2014 on preventing extremist abuse. As a result of the misconduct and mismanagement, the Commission issued an official warning and a legal order requiring the charity to review and strengthen its social media controls and content monitoring, actions with which the charity complied fully. The regulator emphasized that inadequate controls and failure to review content before sharing posed serious risks and fell below the standards expected of charity trustees.