Activists from the pro-Palestinian charity, The Friends of Al Aqsa, have been holding demonstrations all across the country protesting against The Co-operative bank’s decision to close their account.
Friends of Al Aqsa says the decision was a political one taken to silence them. Their supporters say it was also an act of Islamophobia.
In the past, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has had its bank account closed down by the Cooperative. And HSBC bank has terminated its accounts with an array of UK Islamic charitable organizations.
In a statement, a Co-operative Bank spokesman said advanced “due-diligence checks” were required by all banks for customers who operated in, or sent money to, any high-risk locations throughout the world to ensure that “funds did not inadvertently fund illegal or other proscribed activities.”
The spokesman said that after quite extensive research, the charities involved did not “meet the bank’s requirements” but added that the decision “was not about any form of discrimination or inequality.”
But because of the non-specific nature of the Co-Op’s statement many will speculate that they’ve taken this decision because of political pressure or because of pressure applied by the Zionist lobby.
Jewish charities that support Israel do not seem to be held to the same standards as Muslim ones which support Palestine. The result being that the confidence of Muslim and pro Palestinian charities in British banks is at an all-time low.
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