BBC Newsnight failed to declare that a military expert it presented as an independent commentator is a director of a charity bankrolled by the Israeli army.

Appearing on the BBC’s flagship daily news and current affairs programme last week to discuss the war in Gaza and pro-Palestine marches in the UK, Colonel Richard Kemp was introduced as “a former army officer and terrorism expert who sat on the government’s Joint Intelligence Committee”.

But what host Kirsty Wark did not mention was that Kemp is also a director and trustee of an organisation that both raises money for and is funded by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

The findings were made by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), a London-based charity that records, investigates and disseminates evidence of armed violence against civilians worldwide.

AOAV has uncovered at least 80 articles in national and international news outlets – from The Telegraph to Newsweek and the Daily Mail – that have cited Kemp’s opinion on the unfurling horror of Gaza and Israel in the past month.

None has mentioned his role as the head of the UK Friends of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers (UK-AWIS), the UK branch of AWIS, an Israeli organisation managed by the IDF and headed by General Yoram Yair.

UK-AWIS, the charity part-run by Kemp, appears to blur the lines between raising money for individual soldiers’ welfare and for the IDF's institutional benefit.

Its mission is to relieve the “need and suffering of serving and discharged Israeli soldiers and their families”, as well as supporting their education and providing recreation facilities, according to documents filed to the Charity Commission, which regulates charities in England and Wales.

People visiting the UK-AWIS website can make donations for various ‘welfare’ items for current and former combat soldiers, including the construction of gyms and the provision of scholarships.

But potential donors are also given the option to contribute to an IDF “wish list” of core medical equipment, including ventilators, ambulances, field hospital tents and machines to monitor the heart.

Other donation options include “Adopt an IDF combat unit” (£75,000) or contribute to the “IDF Enlistment Festival” (£140,000).

UK-AWIS accounts state that its income comes from “donations, legacies and grants”. But the Israeli branch of AWIS confirmed to AOAV that Israel’s Ministry of Defense pays for all its overheads, including those of UK-AWIS, “as they are basically our fellow organization”.

This means that UK-AWIS receives more money from the IDF than it gives back in donations.

A spokesperson for the BBC told AOAV: “Colonel Richard Kemp was invited to talk on Newsnight about security concerns in the UK. Although the discussion wasn’t directly about conflict in Israel and Gaza, it took place within that context and as such we should have made his connections with Israel clear in the interview.”

The BBC did not wish to comment on whether its booking processes would be reviewed in light of the revelations, or whether it would issue a correction.

A closer look at UK-AWIS’s accounts

Just 47% (£138,752) of UK-AWIS expenditure went towards its stated charitable purposes in the year to 31 March 2022, with the remaining 53% being spent on governance and fundraising.

For comparison, in the same year, the British Red Cross spent 27% of its expenditure on equivalent fundraising and governance costs, and Cancer Research UK spent 28.5%. Many smaller charities spend much less. The Friends of Alyn Orthopaedic Hospital for Children, Jerusalem – another UK-based charity raising funds for partner charities in Israel – spent 1.5% of its total expenditure on governance and support costs.

Of the money UK-AWIS did spend on charitable activities in the year to March 2022, £110,202 was given directly to AWIS in Israel, £11,620 to scholarships for former IDF combat soldiers, and £16,930 on unspecified “consultancy fees”.

A further £33,859 was spent on “consultancy” as part of its expenditure on fundraising activities. There is also no information identifying the consultancies paid, nor who benefited from the £8,974 that UK-AWIS spent on “hotels and travel”.

The organisation’s annual trustee report and financial statements declare that the directors and trustees did not receive any financial remuneration for their time. More than £50,000 (17% of the annual expenditure) was paid to an “honorary president”.

There is also no information identifying the ‘consultancies’ benefiting from £33,859 of UK-AWIS governance funds or who benefited from £8,974 spent on ‘hotels and travel’.

UK-AWIS ended the year with £464,942 unrestricted funds in the bank. The Charity Commission previously recommended that UK charities have between three to six months’ running costs in their reserves, though this is not a legal requirement. Based on its governance and support costs last year, UK-AWIS holds five years’ worth of reserves.

There is no suggestion that Kemp, UK-AWIS or AWIS have done anything illegal. None has responded to requests for comment.