UK Dept Ed. reviewing Muslim schools run by Al-Khair Foundation following reports of Hamas ties

This examination follows the arrest of an individual employed by Al-Khair Foundation, who was extradited to the US and charged with conspiring to provide material support to Hamas.Follow us on GoogleThe Department for Education sign is seen outside their building in Whitehall on October 15, 2024 in London, United Kingdom.(photo credit: Peter Dazeley via Getty Images)ByMATHILDA HELLERAUGUST 16, 2026 15:36The UK's Department of Education (DfE) is assessing information regarding four Muslim independent schools after the Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry into the Al-Khair Foundation, the organization that runs the schools.As reported by the The Jerusalem Post on August 9, the UK Charity Commission is investigating the prominent Muslim-registered charity Al-Khair Foundation following reports of alleged Hamas connections.Al-Khair was set up to advance religion, promote education, support social welfare, build religious harmony, and offer relief to victims of disasters.However, the Commission said it received a complaint alleging the charity and its partners had connections to Hamas and had also funded Hamas.The regulator immediately started examining the serious concerns raised and gathered more information to inform its assessment. The Commission has now escalated its engagement to a statutory inquiry.Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard at a site as Hamas says it continues to search for the bodies of deceased hostages, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip December 3, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/STRINGER)Al-Khair employee charged with conspiring to provide material support to HamasThis follows the arrest of Mohammad Yousef Hasna, an individual employed by Al-Khair Foundation, in the UK last week. Hasna was extradited to the US and charged with conspiring to provide material support to Hamas.This prompted UK Lawyers for Israel (UKFLI) to send a report to the DfE's Counter-Extremism Division on 10 July 2026, detailing Al-Khair’s links to the Hamas terrorist group and raising concerns about safeguarding, extremism, and compliance with the Prevent duty at schools operated by the charity.The Post viewed correspondence between UKFLI and the DfE regarding the Al Khair Foundation. DfE said it is "continuing to work with other government departments and agencies to assess all the information that has been provided to us and determine next steps"The four schools run by Al Khair Foundation are Al-Khair Preparatory School in Croydon; Al-Khair Preparatory School in Oldbury, Birmingham; and Al-Khair Secondary Schools for Boys and Girls in Croydon. Over 550 children attend the four schools. The annual school fees are £5468 for the Croydon schools and £3600 for the Birmingham school.UKLFI's letter to the DfE warned that the schools could be exposed to safeguarding and Prevent-related risks arising from Al-Khair’s employment of individuals allegedly linked to proscribed terrorist organizations. UKLFI's investigation found that at least two people employed by Al-Khair Foundation had been identified as Hamas operatives, while another employee had significant links with Hamas figures.UK schools required to assess risk of pupils being drawn into extremismSchools are subject to the statutory Prevent duty, requiring them to assess the risk of pupils being drawn into terrorism, challenge extremist narratives and manage potentially harmful external influences. UKLFI said the evidence it had gathered justified examination of whether those safeguards were operating effectively at the Al-Khair schools.A UKLFI spokesperson said, "The allegations concerning Al-Khair Foundation are extremely serious in themselves, but they become still more concerning when an organization facing such allegations is also responsible for the education and safeguarding of children.""UKLFI alerted the Department to these concerns because schools must have robust procedures to protect pupils from extremist influence and from being drawn into support for terrorism. We hope the Department will now examine carefully the governance of all four schools, their relationships with the Foundation and its personnel, and whether their safeguarding and Prevent obligations have been properly discharged."The Charity Commission's statutory inquiry and the separate criminal allegations now being pursued by the US authorities underline why these concerns required urgent investigation."Follow us on Google