Former Oxfam chief claims charity is ‘toxic and anti-Semitic’

"Oxfam’s former chief executive has accused the charity of being toxic and anti-Semitic during her tenure.

Halima Begum resigned as chief executive of Oxfam GB in December amid allegations she was bullying staff.

Now she has accused the charity of having a disproportionate focus on Gaza compared with other world crises, and said it was too quick to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide.

Ms Begum, who is taking Oxfam to an employment tribunal over her departure, also accused the charity of racism and sexism from ‘board members’ at ‘two board meetings’. In her tribunal claim she accuses the organisation of having a ‘toxic anti-Semitic culture’.

Ms Begum, who was appointed in 2024, told Channel 4 News: ‘It’s important to work around the rule of law and maintain that the international rule of law must not be compromised. But we have to see consistency with other crises in the world, and it always felt as though we were disproportionately working around the crisis in Gaza.’

Referring to Gaza, she added: ‘But other examples include quite strong pushback when we were not ready yet to use the word ‘genocide’.

‘To use the word ‘genocide’, it has to be something we arrive at with consultation and evidence and good legal advice and to try and use that term before we are ready as an organisation feels quite risky to me.’

The charity has described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a ‘genocide’ in several statements and accused the Israeli government of deliberately blocking aid and destroying vital infrastructure. She added that even ‘as a Muslim woman’ it was difficult to hold onto ‘neutrality and impartiality’ within the organisation.

‘Essentially, it was very hard to hold on to neutrality and impartiality, and I say that as a Muslim woman. So that was very hard to navigate.’..."