The UK has spent around £9 million over the past three years funding an aid organisation accused of waging “proxy war” against Israel, according to an Israeli research institute. 

NGO Monitor says that the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has subsidised hundreds of cases brought annually on behalf of Palestinians that challenge Israeli policy with the help of UK money. 

NGO Monitor also says the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has shown a “deliberate lack of transparency” over its funding of the council. 

A spokesman for the institute said, “I am sure the British taxpayer would be interested in why their money is funding an organisation which actively works against one of the UK’s major allies in the Middle East, and why there is a complete lack of transparency in a UK ministry.”  

Three years ago NGO Monitor issued a report into the council, entitled Flooding the Courts: the Norwegian Refugee Council’s European-Funded Proxy War. 

It accused the council of “massive and unprecedented political campaigns exploiting the Israeli legal system”, adding that if the council’s involvement had been carried out directly by donor governments, this would be regarded as “an unacceptable violation of international norms, including the principle of national sovereignty”. 

The report said that many of the NRC’s partners promoted boycott of Israel and that overall the council’s “politicised activities and partnerships violate the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, independence, and humanity.” 

Through its International, Counselling and Legal Assistance programme, the NRC has supported 600 to 800 cases a year brought by Israeli and Palestinian organisations or private lawyers. 

Between 2016-17, the council received nearly $16 million from the European and Norway for its legal activity, plus $5 million (£3.6 million) from the UK. 

According to the NGO Monitor report, the UK’s Department for International Development contributed £1.4 million between 2013 and 2016 for cases that “challenged demolitions or evictions”. 

But NGO Monitor now says it has been obstructed from obtaining further detail about UK funding because the FCDO has argued exemption from responding to its Freedom of Information enquiries. 

Other publicly available sources, including the United Nations and the NRC itself, indicate that the UK has given around $13 million (£9 million) from 2018. 

According to the FCDO’s own devtracker website, which lists aid contributions, around £17million was allocated to the “Middle East Peace Process” over two years from 2018 to 2020.  

Just over £3.3 million was earmarked for “information, counselling and legal assistance”.  

But the site withholds information about partner organisations to implement the programme on “security grounds”. 

In a statement this week, the FCDO said, “The UK is a strong friend of Israel but our concerns about demolitions and evictions of Palestinians from their homes are long-standing and well-known. 

  “Our funding to the Norwegian Refugee Council is part of a programme to provide legal aid for Palestinians facing demolitions and evictions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This programme has been outlined by the FCDO to Parliament.” 

NRC did not respond to a request for comment.