The Faith and Belief Forum

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British interfaith organisation accused of normalising Zionism

Faith and Belief Forum

Logo FBF Sec-logo-AUB-BG.png
Logo of The Faith and Belief Forum
Type Charitable incorporated organisation
Founded 1997
Founder(s) Sir Sigmund Sternberg, Revd Dr Marcus Braybrooke, Sheikh Zaki Badawi
Registration ID 1173369
Location London, England
Area served United Kingdom
Services Workshops, school linking, restorative justice, Interfaith dialogue, community cohesion, normalising Zionism
Key people Carrie Alderton (CEO), Michael Anthony Ziff (Chair)
Website faithbeliefforum.org


Faith and Belief Forum, formerly known as the Three Faiths Forum (3FF), is a British interfaith organisation founded in 1997 to promote dialogue between faith communities while serving as a mechanism to normalise Zionism within Muslim and Christian groups.[1] Established by Zionist philanthropist Sir Sigmund Sternberg, Revd Dr Marcus Braybrooke, and Sheikh Zaki Badawi, with Sidney Shipton as coordinator, the forum operates as a charitable incorporated organisation (number 1173369) registered in 2017.[2][3] It rebranded in 2018 to broaden its scope beyond Abrahamic faiths, but critics argue its activities mask Zionist lobbying and align with government counter-extremism agendas that suppress anti-Zionist voices.[1]

The organisation's programmes, including school linking and restorative justice initiatives, are framed as fostering cohesion but often function to undermine criticism of the Zionist entity by building alliances that prioritise personal friendships over addressing settler-colonial violence in Palestine.[1] Funding from Zionist-linked foundations and government grants ties it to broader efforts to combat perceived "extremism," including Palestinian advocacy, consistent with strategies outlined in Israeli government forums.[1] This approach exemplifies how interfaith dialogue can serve as a Trojan horse for normalising the Zionist regime, as protected anti-Zionist beliefs under Miller v University of Bristol (2024) highlight the discriminatory impact of such suppression.

History

Founded in 1997 as the Three Faiths Forum in London, the organisation initially focused on dialogue between Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities.[3] Sir Sigmund Sternberg, a prominent Zionist and founder of the Sigmund Sternberg Charitable Foundation, played a central role, alongside Revd Dr Marcus Braybrooke and Sheikh Zaki Badawi.[4] It registered as a charity in 2017 and rebranded to Faith and Belief Forum in 2018 to include diverse beliefs.[2]

The forum's evolution reflects ties to Zionist networks, with early coordinators like Sidney Shipton and ongoing involvement from figures linked to pro-Zionist entities.[4] Its expansion into restorative justice and community projects has been critiqued for aligning with state counter-terrorism policies that target Muslim communities while shielding Zionist narratives.[1]

Activities

The forum runs programmes such as school linking, youth leadership, and the Interfaith Restorative Justice Project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.[5] These initiatives aim to build bridges but are accused of muting discussions on Palestine to maintain "friendships," effectively normalising the Zionist colony.[1]

Partnerships with local forums, like Solihull Faiths Forum, involve community organising that critics say advances counter-extremism agendas by co-opting faith groups.[6]

Criticisms

The Faith and Belief Forum has been criticised for its Zionist connections and role in suppressing anti-Zionist discourse under the guise of interfaith harmony.[1] Related groups like Nisa-Nashim, incubated by the Board of Deputies of British Jews—a pro-Zionist lobby with ties to the Zionist entity's embassy—exemplify this, with founders such as Laura Marks denying links while promoting alliances that hinder criticism of settler colonialism.[1]

As Electronic Intifada reports, such organisations leverage interfaith dialogue to counter "anti-Semitic" narratives from Muslim communities, aligning with Israeli strategies to combat global anti-Zionism.[1] Laura Marks' involvement in smears against Palestinian advocates further illustrates how these forums serve government counter-extremism, framing dissent as extremism.[7]

Charity Commission register

  • No Charity Commission inquiry, Official Warning or Gazette insolvency notice naming this charity was found, and its register entry shows no regulatory alert;[8] 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.[9][10][11][12] 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.[13]
  • Shared address. The register gives the same address, 5 Brayford Square, London E1 0SG, for the Sam and Bella Sebba Charitable Foundation.[14]
  • Weak reserves. Free reserves of about £39,000 were below the policy range, and the trustees planned a restructure.[15]

Funding

Funding sources for Faith and Belief Forum
Funder/Donor Type Amount Year/Notes
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) Government grant £184,000 Funding for established community groups and civil society organisations across England to tackle religious and racial discrimination and hate crime, and champion social cohesion.2020[16]
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) Government grant £11,450 2022–23[17]
National Lottery Community Fund Government-linked grant £500,000 For Interfaith Restorative Justice Project, January 2024[18]
Faith New Deal Fund (MHCLG) Government grant £41,049 2022, for Multi-Faith Action Hub[19]
Sigmund Sternberg Charitable Foundation Core donor Not specified Ongoing[17]
Dangoor Education Core donor Not specified Ongoing[17]
Exilarch’s Foundation Core donor Not specified Ongoing[17]
Arts Council England Grant Not specified Project funding[17]
City Bridge Trust Grant Not specified Project funding[17]
Culham St Gabriel’s Trust Grant Not specified Project funding[17]
Dulverton Trust Grant Not specified Project funding[17]
Garfield Weston Foundation Grant Not specified Project funding[17]
John Lyon’s Charity Grant Not specified Project funding[17]
The Linking Network Grant Not specified Project funding[17]
OVO Energy Grant Not specified Project funding[17]
Porticus Grant Not specified Project funding[17]
The Tamir-Sternberg Foundation Grant Not specified Project funding[17]
Westhill Endowment Grant Not specified Project funding[17]

[20]

Multi year compilation

The Faith and Belief Forum - donations received (£)
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Total (£)
Exilarch's Foundation 67,000 121,000 169,500 106,000 127,527 158,270 749,297
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government 184,000 41,000 225,000
National Lottery Community Fund 500,000 500,000
The Sir Sigmund Sternberg Charitable Foundation £165,264 £145,228 £135,228 £135,728 £581,448
The Sir Sigmund Sternberg Charitable Foundation – donation towards office costs £20,260 £33,330 £22,648 £22,196 £98,434

People

Trustees

Current trustees of Faith and Belief Forum (as of 2026)
Name Role Date appointed Other trusteeships
Michael Anthony Ziff Chair 17 June 2024 The Marjorie & Arnold Ziff Charitable Foundation, London Jewish Forum
Marie Sarah van der Zyl Trustee 02 February 2026 None
Bibi Rabbiyah Khan Trustee 12 January 2026 London Islamic Cultural Society
Mohammed Ali Amla Trustee 20 December 2022 None
Noam Tamir Trustee 09 February 2016 The Sir Sigmund Sternberg Charitable Foundation, The Tamir-Sternberg Foundation

[21]

Staff

Current staff of Faith and Belief Forum (as of 2026)
Name Role
Carrie Alderton CEO
Amy Ark Programmes Lead, Education & Learning
Rebecca Collins Programme Lead, Communities
Rachel Cohen Programmes Lead, Youth & Universities
Sara Aresco Senior People & Operations Coordinator
Sophie Mitchell Senior Programmes Coordinator, Communities
Mahmooda Qureshi Programmes Co-ordinator, West Midlands
Matthew Gold Programmes Co-ordinator, Communities

[22] [23]

Patrons

Patrons include HE Cardinal Arinze, David Dangoor DL, Professor David Ford, His Royal Highness The Duke of Bragança, Lord Hameed of Hampstead CBE DL, Rt Hon Baroness Hayman PC GBE, Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet, Prof Klaus Schwab KCMG, and Baroness Scotland of Asthal PC QC.[4]

Current trustees (Charity Commission register, October 2026)

Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[14]

Trustees of The Faith & Belief Forum (register, October 2026)
Trustee Appointed Chair Other trusteeships
Noam Tamir 2016-02-09 The Sir Sigmund Sternberg Charitable Foundation (257950); The Tamir-sternberg Foundation (1180786)
Mohammed Ali Amla 2022-12-20 —
Michael Anthony Ziff 2024-06-17 Yes London Jewish Forum (1119590); The Marjorie & Arnold Ziff Charitable Foundation (249368)
Bibi Rabbiyah Khan 2026-01-12 London Islamic Cultural Society (1093884)
Marie Sarah van der Zyl 2026-02-02 Windrush Anchor Memorial Foundation (1217093)
Dalvinder Darroch 2026-06-23 —
James Lloyd Baxendale 2026-06-24 The British School of Paris Trust (1165454)

Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)

Trustees shown in archived register pages
Capture date Trustees listed Source
2018-01-04 Michael V Sternberg; Dilwar Hussain; Noam Tamir; Farmida Bi; Barbara Mills; Hannah Wallace; Michael Hardy; Mohsin Baluch [24]
2021-01-14 Michael V Sternberg Qcfrsakcfo (chair) – also trustee of The Sir Sigmund Sternberg Charitable Foundation; Noam Tamir (from 09 February 2016) – also trustee of The Sir Sigmund Sternberg Charitable Foundation, New Israel Fund, The Tamir-sternberg Foundation; Dilwar Hussain (from 23 December 2013) – also trustee of New Horizons in British Islam; Mohsin Baluch MBA (from 22 November 2016); Hannah Wallace (from 09 February 2016); Gurinder Singh Jhans (from 11 March 2020); Michael Fenwick Anderson (from 02 November 2020); Professor MIKE HARDY CMGOBEFRSA (from 28 August 2013); Barbara Mills (from 23 December 2013) [25]
2021-07-03 Michael V Sternberg Qcfrsakcfo (chair) – also trustee of The Sir Sigmund Sternberg Charitable Foundation; Noam Tamir (from 09 February 2016) – also trustee of The Sir Sigmund Sternberg Charitable Foundation, New Israel Fund, The Tamir-sternberg Foundation; Dilwar Hussain (from 23 December 2013) – also trustee of New Horizons in British Islam; Mohsin Baluch MBA (from 22 November 2016); Hannah Wallace (from 09 February 2016); Michael Fenwick Anderson (from 02 November 2020); Gurinder Singh Jhans (from 11 March 2020); Professor MIKE HARDY CMGOBEFRSA (from 28 August 2013); Barbara Mills (from 23 December 2013) [26]

Finances

Income and expenditure, five most recent reported years
Financial year end Income Expenditure
2021-03-31 £1,028,241 £878,330
2022-03-31 £884,335 £820,468
2023-03-31 £902,930 £983,426
2024-03-31 £810,498 £929,158
2025-03-31 £920,891 £953,729

Source: register annual-return history.[14]

Archived accounts

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

  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2018[27]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2019[28]

Funding in Israel

  • No spending in Israel is reported in the FY2025 accounts. Restricted funds include Dangoor Online, National Lottery, National Citizen Service, Sternberg (ParliaMentors) and Culham.[15]
  • A 2009 capture of the Three Faiths Forum website lists "Three Faiths Forum Middle East" in its menu.[29]

Israeli partners

The accounts name no partner organisations.[15]

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
No activity in Israel or the occupied territories is described in the FY2025 accounts.[15] Not established

Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated. The FY2025 accounts do not mention Israel; the trustees' report refers to teachers' difficulty after "events like October 7th and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East".[15]

Other registers and records

Scotland and Northern Ireland

No entry was found on the Scottish Charity Register for this charity (full register download of 14 October 2026 searched by name).[30] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[31]

The Gazette

The Gazette records two honours connected with the charity: in the 2024 Birthday Honours Vivian Michael Sternberg K.C., "President and lately Chair, The Faith and Belief Forum", was appointed O.B.E. "For services to Faith and Integration";[32] in the 2025 New Year Honours John Philip Bateman-Champain, "Director, The Faith and Belief Forum", was appointed O.B.E. for the same services.[33] No insolvency, winding-up or strike-off notice was found.[34]

Grants recorded by 360Giving

Grants received (360Giving data)
Date Funder Amount (£) Purpose
2015-02-04 The Dulverton Trust 25,000 ParliaMentors Leadership Programme
2017-02-15 The Dulverton Trust 25,000 ParliaMentors Leadership Programme
2018-02-14 The Dulverton Trust 25,000 ParliaMentors Leadership Programme 2018-19
2020-06-10 The Dulverton Trust 50,000 ParliaMentors
2020-07-17 Garfield Weston Foundation 30,000 Create, Update, Evolve: Supporting the next phase of the Faith and Belief Forum's development
2020-09-04 LGBT Consortium 2,700 Grant to establish a new solidarity network with and for LGBT people of faith (LGBT PoF) in London.
2020-10-28 LGBT Consortium 8,899 Awarded from Consortium through core funds repurposed for essential grants. A national online support network for LGBT+ People of Faith reac
2020-12-17 Culham St Gabriel's Trust 51,480 The target groups include headteachers, school governors, CEOs of MATS as well as civil servants at both local and national levels who have
2021-02-18 City Bridge Foundation 208,710 £208,710 over 5 years (£34,760; £36,820; £42,960; £45,650; £48,520) towards a 0.4 FTE Co-ordinator and associated running costs.
2021-04-19 The Tudor Trust 2,000 as an additional grant to support staff, volunteer and trustee wellbeing, to assist the organisation to deliver its charitable purpose more
2021-06-16 John Lyon's Charity 72,000 Dialogue and Identity Workshops for Students
2021-11-05 Garfield Weston Foundation 25,000 Core Funding for the Faith and Belief Forum
2022-05-01 London Marathon Foundation 20,000 towards a collaborative walking project bringing together community groups of diverse faiths and religions to make connections through organ
2024-12-19 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government 30,000 The scheme will cover two separate but connected objectives and aims.*To facilitate and coordinate Inter Faith Week to by maximizing partici
2025-01-24 The National Lottery Community Fund 20,000 The funding will be used to to bring together people who follow any faith and are LGBTQ+ or profess to be allies. The project aims to share
2025-03-05 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government 29,662 The scheme will cover two separate but connected objectives and aims.*To facilitate and coordinate Inter Faith Week to by maximizing partici
2025-12-18 The National Lottery Community Fund 1,452,709 The Faith & Belief Forum - Environment - Climate Action Fund Round 5 – Our Shared Future

No grants made by the charity are published in 360Giving data, so flows between linked charities could not be traced there.[35]

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.[36]

Land and property

The register records that the charity does not own or lease land or property.[14] No title registers were purchased.[37]

Parliament

Selected Hansard references
Date House Member Debate
1999-10-15 Lords Lord Weatherill Religions And International Order[38]
1999-10-15 Lords Lord Ahmed Religions And International Order[38]
2008-05-01 Lords Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Interfaith Dialogue[38]
2011-09-08 Lords Lord Mitchell Multiculturalism: Interfaith Dialogue[38]

Hansard searches for 'Faith & Belief Forum', 'Faith and Belief Forum', 'Three Faiths Forum' returned 20 contributions in total; those not listed above were not established to concern this charity.[38]

Web archive

  • faithbeliefforum.org: 9 yearly captures, first 2018-05-28, last 2026-01-03.[39]
  • threefaithsforum.org.uk: 14 yearly captures, first 2002-10-15, last 2025-09-25.[40]

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".[25]

See also

Three Faiths Forum Nisa-Nashim Board of Deputies of British Jews Inter Faith Network for the UK

External links

Official website Charity Commission entry

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Electronic Intifada, Interfaith group lies about Israel lobby connections Electronic Intifada, 16 June 2022 (critical source).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Charity Commission, THE FAITH & BELIEF FORUM Charity Commission, accessed 15 February 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Faith and Belief Forum, History Faith and Belief Forum, accessed 15 February 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Faith and Belief Forum, Founders, Trustees and Patrons Faith and Belief Forum, archived 27 March 2020, accessed 15 February 2026.
  5. ↑ Faith and Belief Forum, Interfaith Restorative Justice Project Faith and Belief Forum, accessed 15 February 2026.
  6. ↑ Faith and Belief Forum, Solihull Faith Action Project Faith and Belief Forum, accessed 15 February 2026.
  7. ↑ Al Mayadeen, Laura Marks' smears and misinformation about Zionist interfaith Al Mayadeen, accessed 15 February 2026 (critical source).
  8. ↑ 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 every charity in batches 1–7 (175 pages, all retrieved successfully on 15 October 2026) and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section. Alerts appeared only for Mifal Hachesed Vehatzedokoh (1139320), Ezer Viznitz Foundation (1161881), BC Trust (1155555), Vyoel Moshe Charitable Trust (327054) – all named in the cheque-cashing class inquiry – and The Gevurath Ari Torah Academy Trust (1003102).
  9. ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
  10. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025 (re-fetched 14 October 2026).
  11. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
  12. ↑ 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), both retrieved 15 October 2026.
  13. ↑ Charity Commission, Charity regulator opens inquiry into charities working in illegal Israeli settlements GOV.UK, 5 August 2026, retrieved 15 October 2026 (a fact-finding statutory class inquiry initially involving 8 charities which "are not being publicly named at this time").
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 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), extract dated 14 October 2026.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Charity Commission, The Faith & Belief Forum (1173369): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 14 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
  16. ↑ Annual Report 2020-21
  17. ↑ 17.00 17.01 17.02 17.03 17.04 17.05 17.06 17.07 17.08 17.09 17.10 17.11 17.12 17.13 17.14 Faith and Belief Forum, Annual report and accounts 2022-23 Faith and Belief Forum, June 2024.
  18. ↑ Faith and Belief Forum, F&BF awarded £500000 to tackle faith-based hate through Restorative Justice Faith and Belief Forum, accessed 15 February 2026.
  19. ↑ GOV.UK, 16 faith groups to share £1.3 million 'New Deal' fund GOV.UK, 29 July 2022.
  20. ↑ Charity Commission, THE FAITH & BELIEF FORUM - Financial history Charity Commission, accessed 15 February 2026.
  21. ↑ Charity Commission, Trustees - THE FAITH & BELIEF FORUM Charity Commission, accessed 15 February 2026.
  22. ↑ History The Faith & Belief Forum.
  23. ↑ Faith and Belief Forum, Meet the team Faith and Belief Forum, accessed 15 February 2026.
  24. ↑ Register entry 1173369, contact and trustees (capture of 20180104) UK Government Web Archive.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Register entry 1173369, full print (capture of 20210114) UK Government Web Archive.
  26. ↑ Register entry 1173369, full print (capture of 20210703) UK Government Web Archive.
  27. ↑ The Faith & Belief Forum accounts, year ended 2018-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200104).
  28. ↑ The Faith & Belief Forum accounts, year ended 2019-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200104).
  29. ↑ Three Faiths Forum, Home page (capture of 4 April 2009) Wayback Machine (menu items include "Three Faiths Forum Middle East" and "Three Faiths Forum Europe"; "Peace Dances – Approaching Middle East peace through dance").
  30. ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, CharityExport-14-Oct-2026.csv, downloaded 14 October 2026; keyword search of charity names for the batch-5 charities found no matching Scottish registration.
  31. ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 14 October 2026 (keyword searches for each batch-5 charity name returned zero results).
  32. ↑ The London Gazette, Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood – Birthday Honours, notice 4645074 15 June 2024 (O.B.E.: Vivian Michael Sternberg K.C., "President and lately Chair, The Faith and Belief Forum", "For services to Faith and Integration").
  33. ↑ The London Gazette, Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood – New Year Honours, notice 4782849 31 December 2024 (O.B.E.: John Philip Bateman-Champain, "Director, The Faith and Belief Forum").
  34. ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Three Faiths Forum' The Gazette, searched 14 October 2026.
  35. ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1173369 360Giving, queried 14 October 2026.
  36. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-5 screening covered 345 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages and archived full-print register pages (UK Government Web Archive), Companies House officers of the charitable companies, and trustees, officers and related persons named in the accounts read for this batch (including archived accounts) and on the Companies House pages for Brightness Ltd; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually (all candidate hits were surname-only coincidences or generic word overlaps); lists downloaded October 2026.
  37. ↑ HM Land Registry, Search for land and property information GOV.UK, accessed 14 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.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 38.4 UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching 'Three Faiths Forum' Hansard, queried 14 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints).
  39. ↑ Internet Archive CDX index for faithbeliefforum.org Wayback Machine, queried 14 October 2026.
  40. ↑ Internet Archive CDX index for threefaithsforum.org.uk Wayback Machine, queried 14 October 2026.
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