London Synagogue's Fundraising Page Lists Appeals That Route Money to IDF Soldiers

Westminster Synagogue, a registered UK charity in Knightsbridge with reported 2024 income of £1.31 million, still runs two fundraising appeals on its "Ways to Support" page that say, in their own words, where the money goes: to Israeli soldiers.

The first, Temple Sinai Operation Tourniquet, is reprinted on the synagogue's site from a campaign run through the ShulCloud donation form of Temple Sinai of North Dade, a Reform congregation in North Miami Beach. The text the synagogue publishes states the campaign is "in direct contact with the IDF to find the supply gaps" and has "handed thousands of tourniquets directly to soldiers throughout Israel," with a stated price of $20 per unit for a batch of 3,000 new tourniquets, according to MintPress News, which captured the page through the Internet Archive on July 12, 2025.

The second appeal, for Kibbutz Magen, is more direct about who benefits. The synagogue's own posted text reads: "The army evacuated all the members of the kibbutz to the Dead Sea. Now, only 17 Magen members are left to guard the kibbutz and take care of 200 elite unit soldiers, including their food, showers, and laundry." It asks donors to "financially support these brave IDF soldiers."

What the charity's own filings say

Westminster Synagogue's entry on the UK Charity Commission register states its objectives as being "to provide a centre for Jewish worship and study and to further religious and charitable undertakings appropriate to this." Its 2024 trustees' report describes its work as religious activity benefiting children, older people and other charities in Westminster. Neither document mentions tourniquets, soldier billeting, or support for a foreign military. Donors to the synagogue are eligible for Gift Aid, letting the charity reclaim 25 pence for every pound given.

A precedent already on the books

The Charity Commission has already ruled on a near-identical case. In January 2025 it issued an official warning to Chabad Lubavitch Centres North East London and Essex Limited after the group raised roughly £2,280 for "Aron Dov Sufrin's reserve unit," the IDF unit of a rabbi's son. Trustees sent £937 to the soldier and could not account for the remainder, which the Commission found had gone toward "non-lethal military equipment" shipped to him.

Helen Earner, then the Commission's director for regulatory services, set out the governing principle in the Chabad decision:

"It is not lawful, or acceptable, for a charity to raise funds to support a soldier of a foreign military."

The Commission's broader guidance, cited in the same ruling, goes further: "Providing aid or military supplies to any foreign armed force is not a charitable purpose, and no charity can legally undertake such activity." More than 180 complaints triggered the Chabad investigation, according to the Commission's own record of the case.

MintPress News reports that Westminster Synagogue's appeal pages predate that ruling by months and remain live well after it. Occupation Watch has not independently verified whether the Charity Commission has opened or is considering a case against Westminster Synagogue; no such action is documented in the public record reviewed for this story.