British Friends of Neve Shalom

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Removed UK trust (working name Oasis of Peace UK) that funded the binational Jewish–Palestinian village's School for Peace and primary school

British Friends of Neve Shalom

Logo Neve Shalom Wahat al-Salam 2013.jpg
Type Trust (removed)
Founded 1984-08-29 (registered)
Dissolved 2020-01-11 (removed from the register)
Registration ID Registered charity 290062
Area served Throughout England And Wales, Israel


British Friends of Neve Shalom (also British Friends of Neve Shalom – Wahat al-Salam and British Friends of NSWAS) was registered on 29 August 1984 and removed from the register on 11 January 2020; register areas were England and Wales and Israel.[1][2] It operated as "Oasis of Peace UK" and supported the schools and educational work of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam (NSWaS), a village of Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel (PDF p.5, 7).[3][4][5] Trustees in its 2017 accounts were Judge Laurence Brass, Sir Andrew Burns KCMG, Lady Burns, Tony Hyams (honorary treasurer), Rev'd Keith McNicol, Michael Mitzman, Jenny Nemko, Ghanem Nuseibeh and Anthony Warshaw; patrons included Louise Ellman MP, Michael Morpurgo, Terry Waite, Lord Woolf, Baroness Perry of Southwark, Rabbi Helen Freeman and Bruce Kent (PDF p.3).[3] In 2017 income was £176,141, grants to NSWaS £57,584 and funds £136,703; it employed 3 staff (PDF p.14, 19–20).[3]

Objects and activities

The charity's registered objects read: "THE PROVISION OF ACCOMMODATION AND FACILITIES AT THE NEVE SHALOM SCHOOL FOR PEACE AT NEVE SHALOM IN ISRAEL IN PROVIDING EDUCATION IN JEWISH/ARAB CO-EXISTENCE. (FOR FURTHER DETAILS SEE CLAUSE 4 DEED OF TRUST DATED 9TH AUGUST 1984)."[1]

The register describes its activities as: "Activities support the programmes of the School for Peace, Primary School & Spiritual Centre of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam in Israel, promoting equality, respect & shared citizenship through binational peace education & dialogue. Recognition of the civil & human rights of all Israeli citizens, both Jewish & Palestinian, underpins every project undertaken at these institutions."[1]

Register classifications: Education/training, Overseas Aid/famine Relief, Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity.[1]

Areas of operation recorded on the register: Throughout England And Wales, Israel.[1]

Trustees

The register extract holds no trustee records for removed charities.

The register extract holds no trustees for this removed charity; trustees above are from the 2017 accounts, where Laurence Brass, Andrew Burns, Keith McNicol, Ghanem Nuseibeh and Anthony Warshaw are shown as appointed in 2017 (PDF p.3).[3]

Finances

Income and expenditure, five most recent reported years
Financial year end Income Expenditure
2016-12-31 £214,826 £205,337
2017-12-31 £176,141 £116,931

Source: register annual-return history.[1]

Archived accounts

Accounts no longer on the live register were found in the UK Government Web Archive:

  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2014[6]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2015[7]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2016[8]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2017[9]

Funding in Israel

  • 2017 grants to NSWaS £57,584 (2016: £120,745): School for Peace youth encounter workshops £16,801 and environmental justice course £13,125; primary school teachers' salaries £22,159, curriculum £3,000 and library £2,499 (PDF p.14, 19).[3]
  • Restricted grants came from trusts including the A&B Sainsbury Charitable Fund, the Tolkien Trust and The Sobell Foundation; the charity held a joint event with the New Israel Fund UK (PDF p.9–10).[3]

Israeli partners

Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, founded in 1970 by Fr Bruno Hussar on land of the Latrun Monastery, "equidistant from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Jaffa".[4] Its American Friends describe the village as "Located midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on the Green Line"; besides the schools it runs a Humanitarian Aid Program giving free medical care "to those in Gaza and the West Bank" – a programme the UK grants in 2017 did not fund (PDF p.19).[10][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.

Evidence of activity beyond the 1949 armistice line
Finding Confidence
The village is described as being "on the Green Line" near Latrun; the UK grants paid for its schools there.[10][4][3] Medium
Partner: the village's Humanitarian Aid Program provides medical care to people from Gaza and the West Bank; no UK funding of it is recorded.[10] Medium

Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated; the grants paid for peace-education workshops and school costs.[3]

Controversies and regulatory action

  • No Charity Commission inquiry naming this charity was found; it is not named in the 2025–2026 cheque-cashing class-inquiry announcements or statement of results, and the charities in the August 2026 settlements class inquiry have not been named.[11][12][13][14][15] The register shows it as "Removed charity" without giving a reason.[2]
  • Successor CIO. A charitable incorporated organisation with the same name, British Friends of Neve Shalom – Wahat al-Salam (1171524), also working as Oasis of Peace UK, was registered on 8 February 2017; its latest reported income is £171,656 (2024).[1] No statement transferring the old trust's funds to it was seen in the sources read for this profile; see Oasis of Peace UK.

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).[16] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[17]

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.[18]

Grants recorded by 360Giving

No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[19]

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.[20]

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.[21]

US counterparts (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer)

Organisation EIN Latest filing year Revenue (US$) Expenses (US$)
American Friends Of Neve Shalom-wahat Al-salam[22] 133441742 2024 995,227 914,514

These US organisations share the name or beneficiary of the UK charity; no financial flows between them and the UK charity were established.

Parliament

Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Friends of Neve Shalom", "Neve Shalom", "Wahat al-Salam" returned 6 contributions in total; those not listed above were not established to concern this charity.[23]

Web archive

  • nswas.org: 10 yearly captures, first 2003-07-15, last 2019-09-16.[24]
  • oasisofpeace.org.uk: 14 yearly captures, first 2013-05-16, last 2026-01-01.[25]

The UK Government Web Archive holds 1 archived Charity Commission register page used in this profile (cited in the sections above). The 2021 archived full print showed the status "Removed charity" and "Other regulators: not shown".[26]

See also

External links

  • No current official website.

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 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. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Charity Commission, Register of Charities, overview pages for the removed charities 290062 (organisation 290062), 1114573 (organisation 4023776), 328504 (organisation 328504) and 1101688 (organisation 4005492), retrieved 16 October 2026 (each marked "Removed charity", with activities and the last income and expenditure figures; no removal reason is shown).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Charity Commission, British Friends of Neve Shalom – Wahat al Salam: financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2017 UK Government Web Archive, capture of 05/01/2020 (the charity was removed in 2020 and no accounts are downloadable from the live register; this is the latest accounts file found; scanned, "PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Wahat al-Salam – Neve Shalom, About us wasns.org, retrieved 16 October 2026 ("a village of Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel ... Situated equidistant from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Jaffa, the community was established in 1970 by Fr. Bruno Hussar on land of the Latrun Monastery").
  5. ↑ Oasis of Peace UK, oasisofpeace.org.uk home page Wayback Machine, capture of 16 May 2013 ("Oasis of Peace UK - British Friends of Neve Shalom / Wahat al-Salam Registered Charity No. 290062 ... supports Jewish and Palestinian Israeli citizens living together in peace").
  6. ↑ British Friends of Neve Shalom accounts, year ended 2014-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  7. ↑ British Friends of Neve Shalom accounts, year ended 2015-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  8. ↑ British Friends of Neve Shalom accounts, year ended 2016-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  9. ↑ British Friends of Neve Shalom accounts, year ended 2017-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, The Village oasisofpeace.org, retrieved 16 October 2026 ("Located midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on the Green Line"; the village runs a Primary School, the School for Peace, a Pluralistic Spiritual Center and a "Humanitarian Aid Program" that "enables the village to provide free medical care to those in Gaza and the West Bank who have limited access to resources").
  11. ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
  12. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
  13. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
  14. ↑ 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).
  15. ↑ 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").
  16. ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-14 charity names found no matching Scottish registration.
  17. ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-14 charity names returned zero results).
  18. ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Neve Shalom' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
  19. ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-290062 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
  20. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-14 screening covered 282 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, Companies House officers of the eight charitable companies, directors of the dissolved Etz Chaim Foundation company and of Mesila UK Limited, related companies and charities named in the accounts (including Bestgreat Ltd, Jonvan Properties, One Shakespeare Limited, Beauland Limited, Tifereth Benevolent Fund Limited and Torah Temimah Trust) and trustees, examiners and donors named in the accounts read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person or company was found; the only token matches were surname-only coincidences (for example Cohen and Jones); lists downloaded October 2026.
  21. ↑ 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.
  22. ↑ American Friends Of Neve Shalom-wahat Al-salam – Nonprofit Explorer ProPublica, viewed 16 October 2026.
  23. ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Neve Shalom" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).
  24. ↑ Internet Archive CDX index for nswas.org Wayback Machine, queried 16 October 2026.
  25. ↑ Internet Archive CDX index for oasisofpeace.org.uk Wayback Machine, queried 16 October 2026.
  26. ↑ Register entry 290062, full print (capture of 20210115) UK Government Web Archive.
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