British Friends of the Diaspora Yeshiva Toras Yisrael Trust
London trust that passed on £95,440 in 2025; its three-page filing names no grantee
| British Friends of the Diaspora Yeshiva Toras Yisrael Trust
| |
|---|---|
| Logo | 
|
| Type | Trust |
| Founded | 1979-07-10 (registered) |
| Registration ID | Registered charity 277919 |
| Headquarters | London N20 |
| Area served | Israel |
| Key people | Edward Barnett (chair) |
The British Friends of the Diaspora Yeshiva Toras Yisrael Trust (also registered as "Diaspora Yeshiva") is a trust established by a deed of 24 April 1979 and registered on 10 July 1979; Israel is its only register area, and its contact address is a home address in London N20.[1] The trustees are Pesach Black and Edward Barnett (chair), both appointed on 27 June 2016.[1] Its 2025 filing has three pages: a one-paragraph trustee's report by Pesach Black dated 8 October 2026, which says the trust is "functioning according to the original deed"; a statement showing donations of £95,543 and grants of £95,440, leaving £4,311 in hand; and an "Indepent Examiner's report" by Beryl Glaser of the same date (PDF p.1–3).[2] The filing does not say who received the grants. The Diaspora Yeshiva describes its campus as being on Mount Zion, Jerusalem.[3]
Objects and activities
The charity's registered objects read: "TOWARDS OR IN FURTHERANCE OR FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE ORTHODOX JEWISH RELIGION AND ORTHODOX RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD IN SUCH SHARES AND IN SUCH MANNER AS THE TRUSTEES IN THEIR ABSOLUTE DISCRETION MAY FROM TIME TO TIME DETERMINE."[1]
The register describes its activities as: "Collection of funds in order to provide grants according to the trust document of the charity"[1]
Register classifications: Education/training, Religious Activities.[1]
Areas of operation recorded on the register: Israel.[1]
Trustees
Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]
| Trustee | Appointed | Chair | Other trusteeships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pesach Black | 2016-06-27 | — | |
| Edward Barnett | 2016-06-27 | Yes | — |
Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)
| Capture date | Trustees listed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-01-11 | Pesach Black (from 27 June 2016); Edward Barnett (chair) (from 27 June 2016) | [4] |
Archived register pages from 2021 list the same two trustees.[1]
Finances
| Financial year end | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-12-31 | £7,556 | £955 |
| 2022-12-31 | £21,627 | £21,611 |
| 2023-12-31 | £19,132 | £18,790 |
| 2024-12-31 | £25,461 | £20,850 |
| 2025-12-31 | £95,543 | £95,440 |
Source: register annual-return history.[1]
Funding in Israel
- 2025 grants £95,440 (donations received £95,543); the recipient is not named (PDF p.2).[2]
Israeli partners
No grantee is named in the accounts.[2] The charity's name and register entry refer to the Diaspora Yeshiva Toras Yisrael;[1] the yeshiva's website places its campus on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, with its main study hall beside the Tomb of King David.[3]
Activity beyond the Green Line and support for the IDF
Findings are graded by confidence. "Partner" findings concern the Israeli recipient organisation, not proven use of UK funds.
| Finding | Confidence |
|---|---|
| The Diaspora Yeshiva says its campus is on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, and that during the 1948 war "Mount Zion nevertheless remained in Jewish hands"; its main study hall was established after 1967. The UK accounts do not name the grant recipient.[3][2] | Medium (partner) |
Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated.[2]
Controversies and regulatory action
- No Charity Commission inquiry, Official Warning or Gazette insolvency notice naming this charity was found, and its register entry shows no regulatory alert;[5] it is not among the charities named in the Commission's cheque-cashing class-inquiry announcements (May, September and December 2025) or in the September 2026 statement of results.[6][7][8][9] The charities in the Commission's settlements class inquiry (opened August 2026) have not been named, so it is not known whether this charity is among them.[10]
- Minimal accounts and examination. The examiner's report says only that she "reviewed the accounts and find them to truly and accurately represent the finances"; it gives no qualification, address or statement of the work done. The accounts name no grantee and give no notes (PDF p.2–3).[2]
Other registers and records
Scotland and Northern Ireland
No entry was found on the Scottish Charity Register for this charity (register export dated 14 October 2026, searched by name).[11] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[12]
The Gazette
Searches of The Gazette notice feeds (all notices, insolvency and company) for the charity's name found no insolvency, winding-up or strike-off notice.[13]
Grants recorded by 360Giving
No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[14]
Sanctions screening
The charity's name, its current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees and officers named in the accounts read for this profile and (for charitable companies) its Companies House officers were screened against the UK Sanctions List and the OFSI Consolidated List. No match was found. Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor (UK sanctions ID RUS1127) does not appear among this charity's trustees or officers.[15]
Land and property
The register records that the charity does not own or lease land or property.[1] No title registers were purchased; the HM Land Registry interactive search blocked automated access.[16]
Parliament
Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Diaspora Yeshiva", "Toras Yisrael" returned 0 contributions in total.[17]
Web archive
The UK Government Web Archive holds 2 archived Charity Commission register pages used in this profile (cited in the sections above). The 2021 archived full print showed the status "Charity reporting is up to date" and "Other regulators: No information available".[4]
External links
- No current official website.
Notes
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Register of Charities public extract (tables charity, charity_trustee, charity_annual_return_history, charity_area_of_operation, charity_classification, charity_other_names), extract dated 14 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Charity Commission, British Friends of the Diaspora Yeshiva Toras Yisrael Trust (277919): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Diaspora Yeshiva, Our Campus on Mount Zion, Jerusalem diasporayeshiva.com, viewed 16 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Register entry 277919, full print (capture of 20210111) UK Government Web Archive.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Register of Charities, charity overview page (register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/ followed by the organisation number) for each of the 25 batch-18 charities, all retrieved successfully on 16 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section; none was shown for any of them. Sixteen registered charities showed "Charity reporting is up to date (on time)"; the Porter Foundation showed "up to date (1 day late)", The Persian Hebrew Community "up to date (48 days late)", Bernard Kahn Charitable Trust "up to date (33 days late)" and the Rabbi Yisroel Yehudah Peritz Charitable Trust "up to date (3 days late)"; Jassiane Limited showed "Charity reporting is overdue by 623 days"; The Friends of Birzeit University, The Friends of the Or Hachaim Educational Centre for Girls and John Hagee Ministries showed "Removed charity".
- ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator concludes investigation into 4 charities as class inquiry continues GOV.UK, 9 September 2026, with Statement of the results of a class inquiry (same date).
- ↑ Charity Commission, Charity regulator opens inquiry into charities working in illegal Israeli settlements GOV.UK, 5 August 2026 (a fact-finding statutory class inquiry initially involving 8 charities which "are not being publicly named at this time").
- ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-18 charity names found no matching Scottish registration.
- ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-18 charity names returned no matching charity).
- ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Diaspora Yeshiva' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
- ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-277919 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
- ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-18 screening covered 285 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, Companies House officers of the seven charitable companies, and trustees, examiners, grantees, subsidiaries and other people and bodies named in the accounts and sources read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person was found; token matches were surname-only coincidences (for example Weiss, Cohen, Salem and Tauber) or generic words such as "Foundation", "Aid" and "People"; lists downloaded October 2026.
- ↑ HM Land Registry, Search for land and property information GOV.UK – the service returned HTTP 403 (bot protection) to automated access in October 2026; no titles were looked up or purchased. Candidate title numbers below come from the free CCOD / OCOD datasets (October 2026 release), not from paid title registers.
- ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Diaspora Yeshiva" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).