Steele, the Charity Commission's barrister, successfully urged the First-tier Tribunal not to get involved, arguing that it would be "drawn into matters of intense political controversy, for no obvious benefit to anyone".
Surely, Ajarma and many millions more Palestinians would strenuously dispute that assessment. They would have much to gain should Britain finally demonstrate a willingness to confront its continuing role in aiding and comforting groups such as the JNF, accused of complicity in crimes against international law in historic Palestine.
As Stop the JNF organisers wrote in their own letter to the attorney-general: "These people [Palestinian refugees such as the Ajarma family] are not defined by the JNF as recipients of their charity, but they have human and legal rights which the actions of this charity unacceptably violate."
Reminiscent of dark regimesThe campaign has not only focused on JNF UK's historic role in dispossessing Palestinians. It points out that the JNF is still actively contributing to Israel's own grossly discriminatory and racist policies another reason it should be barred from being considered a charity.
JNF UK's accounts from 2016 show that it has funded the OR Movement, an Israeli organisation that assists in the development of Jewish-only communities in Israel and the occupied territories.
One such Jewish community, Hiran, is being established on the ruins of homes that belonged to Bedouin families. They were recently forced out of their village of Umm al-Hiran a move the legal rights group Adalah has described as "reminiscent of the darkest of regimes such as apartheid-era South Africa".
On its website, JNF-KKL congratulates "Friends of JNF UK" for supporting the establishment of nearby Hiran Forest. The JNF claims the forest will "help mitigate climate change" once again disguising ethnic cleansing of Palestinians as a form of environmentalism.
Funding the Israeli armyJNF UK's annual accounts in 2015 also revealed that it contributed money to the Israeli army under the title "Tzuk Eitan 9 Gaza war effort" a reference to Israel's attack on Gaza in late 2014, whose death toll included some 550 Palestinian children.
A United Nations commission of inquiry found evidence that Israel had committed war crimes by indiscriminately targeting civilians a conclusion confirmed by the testimonies of Israeli soldiers to Breaking the Silence, an Israeli whistle-blowing group.
Equally troubling, an investigation last month by Haaretz reported that, under Israeli government pressure, the KKL-JNF has been secretly directing vast sums of money into buying and developing land in the occupied West Bank to aid Jewish settlers, again in violation of international law.
The funds were allegedly channeled to Himnuta Jerusalem, effectively the JNF's subsidiary in the occupied territories, disguised as funds for projects in Jerusalem.
Veteran Israeli journalist Raviv Drucker observed that KKL-JNF was rapidly converting itself into a banking fund for the settlers. He added that its "coffers are bursting with billions of shekels [and] the settlers' appetite for land is at a peak".
Given the lack of transparency in KKL-JNF's accounts, it is difficult to know precisely where the funds have come from. But as more than $70m has been spent by KKL-JNF over the past two years in the occupied West Bank, according to Haaretz, the funds likely include money raised by JNF UK.
In any case, research by Stop the JNF suggests JNF UK has no objections to making "charitable" donations to settlements in the West Bank. Its accounts record contributions to Sansana, a community of religious settlers close to Hebron.
Settlements are considered a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
No 'duty' towards equalityAs the JNF UK states on its website, every penny raised in Britain is "sent to a project in Israel" much of it via the JNF in Israel.
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