In 2025, 742 Britons migrated to Israel, the highest number since the 1980s. They haven’t been making the move without help.
Charities and other organisations registered in the UK are advertising to them through gap-year programmes, subsidised “birthright” trips and migration assistance.
These programmes offer participants the chance to go to occupied Palestinian territory, train with the Israeli army or live in an illegal settlement, Middle East Eye can reveal.
The most prominent charity linking Britons to Israel is the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA), which manages significant funds, reporting an income of £12.8m ($17m) in 2024. Its stated mission is to “inspire young Jews” to forge a “relationship with Israel” by supporting organisations that run trips and gap year programmes.
UJIA’s origins date back over 100 years to its founding as Keren Hayesod, a global fundraising organisation for the Zionist project and then Israel that continues to exist to this day, maintaining strong ties with the Israeli government.
In 2010, as prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu signed a formal statement of cooperation with Keren Hayesod.
Today, UJIA is a separate organisation, but it is still listed as Keren Hayesod’s affiliate. The scope of their collaboration remains unclear – neither organisation responded to MEE’s requests for comment.
Like UJIA, Keren Hayesod is a registered UK charity. It currently has no British online presence. Internationally, it assists with Aliyah, which describes Jewish migration to Israel under its birthright citizenship (under Israeli law, every Jew has the unrestricted right to immigrate to Israel and become an Israeli citizen).
In collaboration with Israel’s government, Keren Hayesod has helped over three million Jews migrate to Israel since its founding in 1920.
UJIA, on the other hand, doesn’t publicly assist Aliyah. Instead, it plants the seeds for migration, for example, by advertising birthright trips, which are subsidised tours of Israel.
Trips to occupied territory
While promoting migration to Israel is legal, MEE found that some of the programmes UJIA promotes on its website include excursions that take participants into illegally occupied territories.
An example is the Israel Classic Track gap year programme, which is run by Israeli organisation Aardvark and advertised on UJIA’s website. The programme, which lasts between five and 10 months, takes participants on weekly trips, with destinations including Ein Mabua Natural Spring and the “Judean Desert”, both of which are located in the occupied West Bank.
Aardvark’s UJIA-promoted Tech Track and Culinary Track gap year programmes also include excursions. According to Aardvark’s website, participants visit Hebron, a Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank where Israeli settlers live illegally under the protection of the Israeli military.
Participants also visit Herodian, an old fortress in the West Bank, and take part in overnight trips to the Golan Heights, which is occupied Syrian territory.
Likewise, UJIA promotes a gap year programme run by the Israeli organisation Bina, which also includes excursions “throughout Israel” and takes participants to Hebron and the Golan Heights.
Live on an Israeli army base
Aardvark also connects participants to the Israeli army through a voluntary course called Marva.
The army simulation programme is run by the Israeli military and the Jewish Agency for Israel. Participants can sign up for it as part of the UJIA-promoted Israel Classic Track.
The promotional text reads: “If you’ve ever wondered… How would it feel to wear the uniform of the Israel Defence Forces? What do Israelis go through when they enlist? Could I really do it? Then Marva might be for you.”
Aardvark says Marva participants live on an army base for six to eight weeks and get to “meet with soldiers, wear an Israeli army uniform, carry a gun, and learn survival skills, field training, self-defence, topography, navigation, and more.”
According to the Israeli army, Marva’s goal is to give participants “a taste of army life”. “After serving alongside fellow Jewish youth from countries around the world, you’ll know more about the inner workings of the IDF than you ever dreamed, and you’ll have experienced it firsthand.”
Zionist education
UJIA also promotes gap-year programmes run by Bnei Akiva, the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world.
According to documents filed with the Charity Commission, it awarded grants worth £194,000 ($260,000) to the organisation in 2023 and £214,000 ($287,000) in 2022.
The youth organisation operates in over 37 countries and has 20 Svivot (local branches) in the UK, as well as offices in London and Manchester.
It runs weekly activities, tours, camps and gap-year programmes in Israel that aim to “inspire and empower young Jews with a sense of commitment to the Jewish people, the Land of Israel and the Torah.”
While no charity is registered under the name Bnei Akiva UK, there is a charity called “Friends of Bnei Akiva (Bachad)”. In 2025, it registered an income of £141,735 ($189,000) and expenditure of £390,347 ($522,000). Its financial reserves were approximately £1.86m ($2.5m).
Bnei Akiva UK encourages donations to Friends of Bnei Akiva on its website and says the charity works “closely, in a spirit of friendship and co-operation” with it.
The charity’s latest annual report confirms strong ties, stating that its main charitable activities include providing grants to Bnei Akiva, organising events and maintaining youth centres in London and Manchester.
Friends of Bnei Akiva does not have an independent online presence. Its registered address is identical to Bnei Akiva UK’s London office.
Live in a settlement
While Bnei Akiva presents itself as a harmless youth organisation online, its activities take place in illegally occupied territories.
Pictures posted on one of its international Instagram accounts show participants on an excursion to Wadi Qelt, in the occupied West Bank, “exploring the beauty of Israel”.
But Bnei Akiva doesn’t just organise trips to occupied territories – it also houses gap-year participants in an illegal settlement.
A video posted on its international Instagram account shows participants of the Mechina Olamit gap-year programme giving a room tour of their accommodation in Migdal Oz.
Bnei Akiva writes that the house is “home” to its participants “for the duration of their gap year”. Migdal Oz is an illegal settlement located in the West Bank.
Until recently, both Bnei Akiva’s UK and international websites confirmed that Mechina Olamit participants live in the settlement. But after MEE contacted the organisation, this information was changed on the international website, which now says participants live in Jerusalem.
Nevertheless, the site’s FAQ section still states that “Mechina Olamit is based in Migdal Oz”, where “participants from overseas live alongside their Israeli peers”.
MEE was unable to clarify whether the location had changed. Migdal Oz also doesn’t appear to be Bnei Akiva’s only presence in the occupied territories. According to Google Maps, it is also located in the illegal settlements Giv’at Ze’ev, Ofra, Hasmona’im, Gilo and Sha’arei Tikva.
A ‘truly inspiring’ pre-army programme
While Bnei Akiva says Mechina Olamit students aren’t encouraged to join the army, it does “ensure” that those who want to join are “prepared as well as possible”.
The programme thus offers classes and activities covering a “wide range of subjects concerning army service”. Participants also take part in physical training classes three times a week.
“We engaged in many different physical exercises such as running, crawling and walking with stretchers, as well as getting to know more about the IDF,” a British Mechina Olamit graduate says in a Bnei Akiva International post from February.
In January, another Briton said: “One of my favourite moments of the year so far was the last day of IDF week… This pre-army program is truly inspiring in every way possible.”
Bnei Akiva UK also runs a Kadima gap-year programme, regularly posting pictures of Marva participants on its global Instagram accounts. Wearing Israeli military uniforms, they look indistinguishable from soldiers. In some pictures, they pose with guns.
According to Bnei Akiva, the army-run “experience” includes “hiking the land in uniform, living in field conditions, navigating deserts and participating in seminars and lectures.”
Move to Israel
Beyond gap years, Bnei Akiva also encourages foreigners to stay permanently in Israel.
The organisation’s stated mission is to “instil a love for Israel through Zionist education” – and the “ultimate expression” of its ideology is making Aliyah.
To “encourage” migration, the youth organisation collaborates with the Israeli Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption. Since its founding in 1929, Bnei Akiva claims to have helped over 100,000 foreigners immigrate.
Whether funds raised in the UK go toward activities related to the Israeli army or settlements remains unclear. MEE’s questions were left unanswered.
It is also unclear whether UJIA funds projects that link Britons to the Israeli military or to the occupied territories. Publicly, it does not advertise for Bnei Akiva’s settlement-based Mechina Olamit programme.
In its latest annual report, the charity says its expenditures in Israel are “restricted to projects within its internationally recognised borders.”
Legal ramifications
The activities of Bnei Akiva and UJIA raise serious legal questions, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) told MEE.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end.
“The UK government cannot simply disregard that legal position; it is the authoritative statement of international law on the issue,” the ICJP said. “The UK is under an obligation to ensure it does not recognise or assist the unlawful situation, including through the activities of organisations operating within its jurisdiction.
“You cannot promote settlements or take participants there, because settlements themselves are illegal,” the ICJP said.
By sending people on trips in occupied territories and housing them in Migdal Oz, Bnei Akiva is, contrary to international law, “treating Israeli settlements as an integral part of Israel’s territory”.
The same applies to UJIA. According to the ICJP, charities have legal obligations to ensure they are not facilitating unlawful activities abroad, including the funding and advertising of programmes or organisations that are violating international law.
The Marva programme raises separate legal questions. “It seems like these programmes may not merely be educational or observational,” the ICJP told MEE. “Carrying guns, wearing uniforms and staying on an army base resemble pre-enlistment military training rather than cultural exchange.”
Source: MEE
