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LONDON: Two charities in the UK sent millions of pounds to a school in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, .

Kasner Charitable Trust sent around £5.7 million ($7.66 million) to Bnei Akiva Yeshiva high school in Susya via another charity, UK Toremet.

The Susya settlement was established around 1983 south of the city of Hebron. It was founded next to the Palestinian village of Khirbet Susiya, which was declared an archaeological site by Israel three years later and had all its residents evicted.

Settlement expert Dror Etkes told The Guardian: “The school is likely the largest single source of employment in the settlement, and constitutes one of the main elements of the entire settlement’s existence.”

Baroness Warsi, the former Conservative chair, told The Guardian: “It’s appalling that any British national should be engaged in funding illegal settlements on occupied land — and it’s even more disturbing that this is being subsidised by all of us taxpayers.”

She added: “Serious action must be taken so that settlements which are illegal under international law, and at the heart of a regime of discrimination and displacement, cannot benefit from charitable donations.”

Labour MP Andy McDonald said: “The government must urgently take the steps necessary to ban the use of funds originating from the UK being used to support any aspect of the illegal occupation.”

He added: “Donations to illegal settlements should invalidate charitable status and result in individual prosecutions. If legislation is needed, we must do it.”

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: Hundreds of Argentines gathered Friday to commemorate the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center that killed dozens, demanding justice for a crime for which there has not yet been a trial.

In the worst such attack in Argentina’s history, a car bomb on July 18, 1994, killed 85 people and injured more than 300 at the seven-story Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires.

Two years earlier, an explosion at the Israeli embassy killed 29 and wounded 200.

“Impunity persists, terrorism too” was the slogan for Friday’s 31st commemoration of the AMIA attack — the second such event attended by President Javier Milei, a staunch defender of Israel.

Survivors and victims’ relatives hope there will be movement under Catholic-born Milei, who has already visited Israel twice since taking office in December 2023, and has professed a deep interest in Judaism.

In April 2024, an Argentine court found Iran and Hezbollah were responsible for what it called a crime against humanity.

It ruled the likely motive for the attacks was the cancelation by the Argentine government under then-president Carlos Menem of three contracts with Iran for the supply of nuclear equipment and technology.

In June, a judge authorized a trial in absentia against ten Iranian and Lebanese defendants — former ministers and diplomats.

No date has been set.

Iran has always denied any involvement and has refused to hand over any suspects.

The Memoria Activa organization, which represents victims’ families, rejects a trial in absentia as it believes it “essential for the accused to participate” for the whole truth to come out.

The AMIA itself is in favor, but has cautioned that “holding a trial only for it to end... in some sort of nullity or a declaration of unconstitutionality would once again be very painful for everyone.”

Both organizations have been highly critical of the Argentine state’s handling of the case.

Last year, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San Jose, Costa Rica, found the state responsible for not preventing, or properly investigating, the AMIA attack.

It also blamed the state for efforts to “cover up and obstruct the investigation.”

Prosecutor Alberto Nisman, investigating accusations of a cover-up against former president Cristina Kirchner, was later found murdered.

No one was ever charged over his death.

Argentina is host to the largest Jewish community in Latin America, with nearly 300,000 people living mostly in Buenos Aires.