on July 28, 2025, 12:31 pm
Dear Editor
The bank account of Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine (GMFP) still remains "frozen" and inaccessible to our members [Haroon Siddique, 21st July 2025]. Our funds are entirely derived from local individuals, through membership subscriptions, collections at demonstrations and some welcome trade union donations. Payments have been made, through our members who have visited and made personal contact, to small ngos working on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank - such as the Middle East Childrens Alliance and the Palestinian Amputee Football Association; PAFA continues to provide activities and sustenance to youngsters whose limbs have been shot off by the Israeli snipers.
The bank refuses to give reasons why or any route of representations. We assume that it is simply because the bank (Virgin Money, taken over by Nationwide) has reacted to the word "Palestine". The timing was just after the ban on an organisation whose name it seems we dare not say. The (?) "unintended" consequences of this shameful government over-reaction are the generation of a climate of terror, threatening all pro-Palestine supporters, activists and indeed our organisations. For us, this means that we can no longer play our small part in sending aid to people in need. This is just the same as Israel keeping the UN aid trucks out of Gaza. It is complicity with the genocide and fuelling the starvation that everyone can see.
We have sought to identify and communicate with the senior managers of the bank. One Debbie Crosbie, CEO of Nationwide, responded "not me gov", and sent us back to Virgin Money. Curiously, it is now evident that she has gained a £7 million bonus - due to the "new demands" after the takeover of Virgin Money [Kalyeena Makortoff and Nils Pratley, Business pages 26th July 2025]. Part of that bonus is directly at the expense of people in Gaza.
Norma Turner
Chair, Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine
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