Campaign Against Antisemitism to request judicial review after Charity Commission alleges ‘mismanagement’

It contended that the article’s content was equivalent to similar statements made by other Jewish charities, such as the Board of Deputies saying that the arms suspension sent “a dangerous message” and the Jewish Leadership Council claiming it could “place in jeopardy…the UK’s own security”.

It also said its statement echoed the concerns of the government’s own solicitor-general, Sarah Sackman MP, who raised concerns at the time that the decision could “adversely affect the security and safety of Israel and its people”.

As a result of the probe, the CAA was given a “Regulatory Action Plan” in September, when it was informed of the outcome of the commission’s investigation, detailing several actions its trustees must take to ensure compliance with the Commission’s rules.

A spokesperson for CAA said: “The Charity Commission has taken a year to come to a decision that we regard as seriously flawed.

“We are now preparing to challenge on judicial review the Commission’s unfounded claim that CAA has committed ‘mismanagement’ simply because a single routine conversation involving trustees was not formally minuted. These conversations take place multiple times a day in a fast-moving environment.

"We will also challenge the claim that a media statement we issued a year ago in the same terms as statements by the Chief Rabbi and representatives of other leading Jewish charities, did not further our charitable objects.

“The Commission has abjectly failed to tackle extremist mosques, incitement in students' unions and abuse of charitable status across the sector, yet it has seen fit to demean our charity by causing this unfounded criticism of our charity to be published through the website of CAGE. We intend to argue in court that this constitutes utterly improper action by the statutory regulator against CAA, a charity striving to defend British Jews at a time when they are under the gravest threat in living memory.”

A spokesperson for the Charity Commission said: “We thoroughly examined concerns raised about Campaign Against Antisemitism, which included, among other issues, concerns about an article published by the charity, as part of a regulatory compliance case. We reviewed all available evidence and engaged with the charity’s trustees.

"We have concluded that not all of the content within the article was capable of furthering the charity’s objects. The trustees were also unable to provide sufficient documentation about the decision to publish the article and the decision-making process around its publication. This failure to keep adequate records amounts to mismanagement.

“We have issued the charity’s trustees with a Regulatory Action Plan requiring them to make improvements to how it operates. Charities are required to follow remedial steps set out in an Action Plan, and we will be contacting this charity’s trustees to monitor compliance in due course. In the meantime, we have closed our regulatory compliance case into these concerns.”