Community
UJIA doubles income in year after October 7
Emergency appeal for Israel has so far raised £8 million, showing the community’s ‘deep and ongoing generosity'
July 24, 2025 16:35
Emergency appeal for Israel has so far raised £8 million, showing the community’s ‘deep and ongoing generosity'
July 24, 2025 16:35UJIA (the United Jewish Israel Appeal) doubled its income last year from £6.4 million in 2023 to £12.8 million as British Jews rallied in support of Israel after the Hamas attack on October 7.
The charity, whose financial year ends in September, had been on the verge of implementing its new strategy in autumn 2023 with an anticipated greater focus on programmes in the UK before the Gaza war broke out.
The emergency appeal for Israel it initiated in response has to date raised £8 million.
UJIA chief executive Mandie Winston said, “Responding to crises in Israel is a key part of UJIA’s work, sitting alongside our regular work of facilitating meaningful Israel experiences, empowering our young people, and creating opportunities to deepen our ongoing connection to Israel.|
Thanks to the support of British Jews post October 7, she said: “We were able to keep young people in schooling, provide therapy to survivors and their families, help communities and employers get back on their feet, provide food, water and other essential supplies for over 100,000 Israelis evacuated from their homes in the south and north and much more.
“We were reminded of just how committed the community is to support those suffering in Israel during the June Iran War, when we were able to raise a generous six figure sum in only 10 days.
“These vital funds have gone to ensuring the viability of public shelters used by the most vulnerable in Israeli society, getting supplies to those made homeless, and bolstering the provision of trauma therapy.”
While she hoped that “this kind of work will never again be needed, we are ready in case it is, and we know that the Jewish community will stand with us.”
The community, she said, had “shown deep and ongoing generosity for the people of Israel in the last 21 months, as they have through their support for UJIA’s work for over 100 years”.
According to the charity’s annual report for 2023/4, the response to the crisis led to “a new type of experience – volunteering trips” with many young people “searching for meaningful ways to support the people in Israel”. Through Birthright, 355 volunteers contributed 516 weeks of volunteering, which included help with agricultural harvests.
Despite the conflict in the Middle East which reduced participation in Israel summer experience tours, 489 16-year-olds went on them last year.
The UJIA’s 2023 return of £6.4 million had been its lowest for 25 years when it combined accounts of related charities. Over that period, competition on the Israel charity front had increased with the presence of newer organisations such as Beit Halochem UK, which supports rehabilitation for injured Israeli soldiers and raised £4.2 million in the year ending February 2024; or the New Israel Fund UK, which raised £4 million in the year ending December 2023 for social justice and equality projects.
In the wake of October 7, another longstanding Israel charity, Magen David Adom UK, which supports the country’s medical emergency services, increased its income from £14.2 million in 2022 to £17 million the following year.
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