A globally coordinated network of Islamist organizations, terrorist groups, and left-wing charities is receiving millions of pounds in foreign funding to organize destabilizing anti-Israel protests in Britain following Hamas’s massacre on October 7, 2023, an investigative report reveals.
At least 11 of the 40 organizations involved in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations have links to extremist entities and benefit from the regulatory chaos and secrecy surrounding cash flow, according to NGO Monitor’s report titled Imported Influence: Foreign Funding, Regulatory Black Holes and Extremist Connections of the Post-October 7 UK Protest Infrastructure.
Today’s anti-Western influence networks are global, coordinated, top-down, well-funded and sanitised.
Published on July 8, the 129-page dossier names Islamist groups such as the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), CAGE International, the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA), and Islamic Relief UK.
Nexus Between Hostile States, Terrorists, and Islamists
The report traces a series of concentric circles with hostile state actors such as Iran, China, Russia, and Qatar at the centre, operating with terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, and Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood. Leftist charities, campaign and protest groups, and advocacy organizations, some funded by hostile actors, operate around this hub.
“The image of modern extremism as a handful of isolated radicals, confined to cells or obscure, shunned corners of society, is dangerously outdated. “Today’s anti-Western influence networks are global, coordinated, top-down, well-funded and sanitised,” the report warns.
While many assume that the protests are “spontaneous, grassroots expressions of public opinion,” they are part of a “global, coordinated, top-down, well-funded and sanitized” ecosystem, it adds, with CAGE and Palestine Action raising funds via cryptocurrency.
While 19 of the 40 organizations receive UK state funding via the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office or by Gift Aid, 11 get taxpayer funding from countries such as the United States, Belgium, the European Commission, Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, and Switzerland.
U.S.-based foundations and far-left activist groups, such as the Open Society Foundations, Action Network, Cultures of Resistance, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, are providing significant funding and organising support, facilitating donations and participating in the protests.
Islamist Organizations Named in Report
The report identifies MAB as one of the six core organizations coordinating the post-October 7 demonstrations, noting its reported ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. In March 2024, former Communities Secretary Michael Gove identified MAB as the “British affiliate” of the Muslim Brotherhood, while a 2015 UK government review stated that MAB was “dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood” during earlier periods of its development. The United Arab Emirates designated the MAB as a terrorist organisation in 2014.
NGO Monitor also names CAGE as an endorsing organisation featuring in one out of 40 monitored protests. CAGE has attracted attention in multiple European countries for Islamist links. In July 2023, the French government detained CAGE director Muhammad Rabbani in Paris for almost 24 hours and deported him to London for being part of a “radical Islamist movement.”
CAGE promotes “problematic or extreme views” and “condemns Muslim organizations that work with the UK government,” a dossier titled Narratives of Division: The Spectrum of Islamist Worldviews in the UK reported. Britain’s Home Secretary Suella Braverman said on July 18, 2023, “CAGE’s leaders have excused and legitimized violence by Islamist terrorists.”
The Henry Jackson Society’s Centre for the Response to Radicalization and Terrorism report titled Understanding CAGE: A Public Information Dossier warned that “the group has campaigned on behalf of convicted terrorists and supported prominent jihadist ideologues.”
FWI earlier asked CAGE how it would respond to those who describe Hamas as a terrorist organization. The spokesperson replied: “These are politically motivated categorizations. In contrast, as a fact, the Zionist entity is an apartheid settler colony that is engaged in a live-streamed genocide.”
[M]oney from Islamist-leaning donors and international actors has been funding this agitation into the U.K. for the last 30 years.
Islamism and Antisemitism: A Toxic Mix
Beyond the regular anti-Israel protests, the IHRC organises annually the Al-Quds Day event and related public demonstrations, which include antisemitic rhetoric as well as support for extremist actors, the report noted.
A 2019 report by the Henry Jackson Society’s Centre on Radicalisation and Terrorism on the IHRC found that it is “an institutionally pro-terrorist and anti-Semitic organization” where “senior figures have espoused support for violent jihad” and “expressed sympathy for convicted terrorists.”
IHRC sells literature authored by Islamist and Salafi-Jihadist ideologues, including books that have inspired violent Islamist movements across the globe, such as Sayyid Qutb’s Milestones. “IHRC’s radical anti-West, anti-Israel and Islamist worldview has found favor among certain left-wing politicians and academics, who have used their platforms to promote the organization and endorse its work,” the report noted.
In its section on the FOA, NGO Monitor explained how the organization’s leadership blamed the October 7, 2023, atrocities on Israeli policy just a few hours into the massacre, with Director Ismail Patel describing the attacks in a Facebook Reel as “a direct result of the Israeli occupation that started back in 1947” and called for protests, including a demonstration outside the Israeli Embassy in London.
The Amit Terrorism and Intelligence Research Institute found that the FOA, which also has links to the Muslim Brotherhood, is a pro-Hamas organization that advocates for Israel’s elimination. Its founder, Ismail Adam Patel, is also a consultant on Muslim community affairs for the Conflicts Forum, a British organization that supports radical Islam.
NGO Monitor also identified Islamic Relief UK as being featured as an endorsing organisation in 1 out of 40 protests, specifically the “Red Line for Palestine.” In 2014, both Islamic Relief Worldwide and Islamic Relief UK were included on the United Arab Emirates’ list of designated terrorist entities, it noted.
Islamic Relief Palestine (IRPAL) has additionally maintained relationships with organizations and individuals identified by researchers and governments as linked to Hamas, the report found.
“This report confirms what many of us know, that nefarious groups and actors have been funneling resources raised nationally and internationally into the UK to create agitation and to foment division,” Fiyaz Mughal OBE, founder of Tell MAMA, told Focus on Western Islamism. “In particular, money from Islamist-leaning donors and international actors has been funding this agitation into the U.K. for the last 30 years.”
FWI has contacted the Muslim Association of Britain, CAGE International, the Islamic Human Rights Commission, Friends of Al-Aqsa, and Islamic Relief UK seeking responses to the allegations in NGO Monitor’s report.
In response to FWI’s request for comment, the Islamic Human Rights Commission dismissed the NGO Monitor report and accused both NGO Monitor and the Middle East Forum of acting as pro-Israel propaganda outlets whose work aims to “silence those who criticise Israel.” The organization denied any links to or funding from foreign entities, stating that “neither you nor NGO Monitor have provided a shred of evidence that our organisation is linked to or funded by any foreign entity.” IHRC added that it publishes all media correspondence in full as a matter of policy “to ensure there is an accurate public record of the exchange.” (The text of IHRC’s response, sent on July 17, 2026, is appended below.)
In 2019, Sam Westrop, director of MEF’s Islamist Watch program, reported that “Among British Muslims, the IHRC is best known for organizing the annual ‘Al Quds Day’ march in London, in which crowds chant, ‘We are all Hezbollah ... with blood, with guns, we will free Palestine.’”
Appendix—Text of Islamic Human Rights Commission’s Response to FWI
Thanks for your email.
You cite NGO Monitor, a belligerently pro-Israel organisation, while writing for MEF, a publication whose pro-Israel cheerleading and apologetics is hardly concealed, yet you wish to discuss “imported influence.”
Ordinarily, this would be humorous, however we know from experience that the kind of blatant propaganda embodied in the article you propose serves only to silence those who criticise Israel.
To be clear, neither you nor NGO monitor have provided a shred of evidence that our organisation is linked to or funded by any foreign entity.
Nothing MEF say[s] on the subject of foreign influence has credibility. It serves only those who seek to silence the critics of Israel.
As a matter of policy, IHRC publishes all media correspondence in full. This ensures there is an accurate public record of the exchange, should our comments be misquoted or omitted entirely.
Regards
IHRC Media
