How Labour megadonor won Israeli medal of honour [Labour donor Sir Trevor Chinn. (Photo: Alex Morris / Declassified UK)] A British businessman who funded Keir Starmer and several senior Labour ministers was awarded the Israeli medal of honour for his “dedication” to and “love” for Israel, it can be revealed. The information was obtained via a Freedom of Information request issued to the Israeli president’s office by lawyer Elad Man from NGO Hatzlacha and shared exclusively with *Declassified*. It exposes how Sir Trevor Chinn, an influential entrepreneur and one of Britain’s leading pro-Israel lobbyists, was awarded Israel’s highest civilian honour in November 2024. The medal was granted by Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, whose words were [cited][1] by the International Court of Justice earlier that year as plausible evidence of incitement to genocide. Herzog had said the “entire nation” of Gaza was responsible for the October 7 attacks, adding that Israel would “fight until we’ll break their backbone”. The death toll in Gaza when Chinn received his medal stood conservatively at 43,000 Palestinians, including 13,000 children and 7,200 women. Files seen by *Declassified* now expose how Herzog’s office celebrated Chinn’s “uncompromising commitment to Israel…, especially after October 7”. Alongside seven others, Chinn was celebrated for his “extraordinary contribution” and “skills and work to the benefit of the State of Israel”. Chinn has been approached for comment. ### RELATED [ ## Foreign Office met pro-Israel lobbyist to discuss arms exports ][2] [READ MORE **][3] ## **Friends of Israel** The documents further detail how Chinn, who is 90 years old, was nominated for the prize by several Zionist advocacy organisations in Britain. Those included the United Jewish Israel Appeal, Labour Friends of Israel, the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), and the Board of Deputies. Chinn is directly associated with three of them. He was the chair of the Joint Israel Appeal (now United Jewish Israel Appeal) between 1973 and 1993, has donated to Labour Friends of Israel and joined its delegations to Israel, and is currently vice president of the JLC. The Board of Deputies’ chief executive [attended][4] the award ceremony alongside Chinn’s son, David. Recommending Chinn for the award, one of the groups wrote: “We cannot think of another community leader in Britain who is more deserving of this honour than Sir Trevor, for his dedication, commitment, support, leadership and love for the people and the State of Israel”. “Sir Trevor’s lifelong support of the British Jewish community, the charitable sector and the bilateral relationship between Britain and Israel has been transformative”, said another. It was further noted that Chinn’s “long-standing support of the British Jewish community, the philanthropic sector and the UK-Israeli relationship was a game-changer”. British-Palestinian journalist Hamza Yusuf commented: “It’s astonishing that the president of Israel, who has been singled out for inciting genocide and has signed bombs that rained down on Gaza, is handing out awards to an influential businessman in Britain. Had this involved the president of Russia, it would undoubtedly be front page news. “This is the latest illustration of the extensive and deeply embedded influence of pro-Israel lobbying networks in the UK. It is a matter that should alarm anyone committed to democratic accountability. Instead, it continues to be met with a systemic and thunderous silence, especially from the mainstream media”. ## Labour Together The revelation comes as another organisation linked to Chinn, Labour Together, is in the spotlight over undeclared campaign donations and dirty tricks [campaigns][5] against journalists. In March 2016, Chinn became a director of Labour Together – which claimed its aim was to seek unity within the Labour party – alongside MPs Steve Reed, Lisa Nandy, and John Cruddas. As Paul Holden exposed in his book [*The Fraud*][6], Labour Together’s objective was in fact to destroy the Corbyn movement and propel the Labour Right back to power. It raised start-up funds and provided office space for an organisation called the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which launched a secret campaign against pro-Corbyn media organisations through an initiative called Stop Funding Fake News. On 2 August 2019, Stop Funding Fake News [boasted][7] that, “thanks to our campaign, [The Canary’s] business model ‘no longer works’ & they’re downsizing. We want to spend more time and resources on this campaign & target new sites”. When setting up CCDH, Reed had [engaged][8] “directly with the Community Security Trust (CST) and the Jewish Leadership Council for consultation and advice” – two organisations closely linked to Chinn. The next year, Reed would secretly [pledge][9] to Chinn that Labour would oppose the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign, and promote the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s “[working definition][10]” of anti-semitism. ### RELATED [ ## Morgan McSweeney’s ‘plot without precedent in Labour history’ ][11] [READ MORE **][12] ## Donations Between June 2017 and September 2020, Chinn also donated £175,500 to Labour Together. Those donations formed part of a £739,429 trove which the thinktank failed to properly report to the Electoral Commission, with other key funders including hedge fund manager Martin Taylor. When those unreported donations were exposed, Labour Together paid a public relations firm named APCO Worldwide to investigate the source of the leak in 2023. Under a £36,000 contract, APCO produced a dodgy dossier naming several journalists as “significant persons of interest”, including Holden, Gabriel Pogrund, Harry Yorke, Henry Dyer, Matt Taibbi, Kit Klarenberg, Paul Thacker, and one of the authors of this article. A version of that dossier was then passed to Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre by Josh Simons, then the director of Labour Together, containing false allegations that the information originated with a Russian hack. While there is no evidence that Chinn knew his donations were not being properly declared, it seems clear that the businessmen knew what kind of political project he was sponsoring. Indeed, Chinn’s motivation for funding Labour Together was closely linked to Corbyn’s position on Palestine. He “had great concerns about the election of an outspoken opponent of the Jewish state as Labour leader”, wrote Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick McGuire in their book [*Get In*][13]. In 2020, Chinn also provided £50,000 towards Starmer’s campaign to become Labour leader, a donation which was not declared until after the election was over. Other cabinet members [funded][14] by Chinn include health secretary Wes Streeting, chancellor Rachel Reeves, justice secretary David Lammy, education secretary Bridget Phillipson, and culture secretary Lisa Nandy. Earlier this week, it was further [revealed][15] that Simons, now a Cabinet minister under investigation for his role in the Labour Together scandal, failed to properly declare a recent £1,250 donation from Chinn. In an [interview][16] with *Jewish News* last year, Chinn reportedly said he does not regret his support for individual politicians – or any of his actions behind closed doors – because he “always tried to think through the consequences of what I do”. Paul Holden told *Declassified*: “For years it was considered an antisemitic slur to speculate that Sir Trevor Chinn’s politics were animated by a love for Israel. Now we find out that his life’s contribution to Israel is so profound he is among a handful of people being honoured at the highest level by the Israeli government. “I think many Labour members and voters will find it grotesque that a major funder and supporter of the political project that thought it was a good idea to bring Peter Mandelson back into the centre of political life is being recognised by Isaac Herzog, a man cited by the ICJ for making plausibly genocidal statements. “This must now raise serious questions about whether Chinn’s donations to Labour politicians and organisations like Labour Together were intended to encourage the adoption of pro-Israeli policies”. ### RELATED [ ## David Lammy held off the books meeting with pro-Israel lobbyist ][17] [READ MORE **][18] ## Who is Trevor Chinn? In 2013, Chinn publicly declared: “I’ve spent my entire life working for Israel”. While the businessman has spent decades working in the motor industry, he wasn’t lying about his dedication to Israel. Trevor Chinn’s father, Rosser Chinn, was the [president][19] of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in Britain. The JNF is a quasi-governmental organisation which has supported illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine, and was [described][20] by historian Ilan Pappé as a “colonialist agency of ethnic cleansing”. Chinn first visited Israel in 1958 at the age of 23, after becoming involved in the Charities Aid Committee, which raised money for the JNF. “I have to admit, I was just blown away. What no-one ever tells you is how beautiful the country is… Basically, that was the beginning of my work for Israel”, he [said][21]. During the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he raised millions of pounds for Israel and changed the name of the Joint Palestine Appeal to the Joint Israel Appeal. “We raised £58 million in three weeks”, Chinn said of the funding effort in 1973. “I set out to get million pound gifts, and I think I got 12 [separate] million pound gifts”. Recently declassified files show how Chinn repeatedly [lobbied][22] John Major’s Conservative government regarding its policy towards Israel during the early 1990s. “He can be quite a tough protagonist of the Israeli cause and is by no means a dove”, one Foreign Office official wrote about Chinn in November 1991. “My own feeling is that he is not very subtly tuned into the Israeli political scene, although he meets a number of leaders through his fund-raising activities”, the diplomat continued. Since the 1980s, Chinn has [funded][23] Labour Friends of Israel and Conservative Friends of Israel and played a leading role in the British Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM). The *Guardian* [described][24] BICOM in 2009 as “Britain’s most active pro-Israel lobbying organisation – which flies journalists to Israel on fact-finding trips and organises access to senior government figures”. In 2012, Chinn signed a joint statement defending Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defence, during which over 200 Palestinians were [killed][25] and a further 1,000 injured. “We take pride in the commitment of Israel’s political and military leadership to leave no stone unturned in seeking to avoid civilian casualties”, the letter declared. Amid the Gaza genocide, Chinn [met][26] privately with Foreign Office diplomat Christian Turner to discuss arms export licences to Israel. Chinn even offered “recommendations” on the issue, with Turner enquiring whether other British diplomats might also try “reaching out” to him and “hearing” his views. An additional off-the-books [meeting][27] was held with Britain’s former foreign secretary David Lammy in February 2025. *Declassified* asked Chinn last year why he donates so much money to the Labour party. He ignored our questions. The post [How Labour megadonor won Israeli medal of honour][28] appeared first on [Declassified UK][29]. [1]: https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203447 [2]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/?post_type=post&p=59347 [3]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/?post_type=post&p=59347 [4]: https://x.com/BoardofDeputies/status/1877644860943225252 [5]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/labour-think-tank-paid-pr-firm-to-investigate-declassified-journalist/ [6]: https://orbooks.com/catalog/the-fraud/ [7]: https://x.com/SFMisinfo/status/1157267260970622979 [8]: https://orbooks.com/catalog/the-fraud/ [9]: https://asawinstanley.substack.com/p/secret-document-reveals-israel-lobbys [10]: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/nov/29/palestinian-rights-and-the-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism [11]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/?post_type=post&p=58945 [12]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/?post_type=post&p=58945 [13]: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/463746/get-in-by-pogrund-patrick-maguire-and-gabriel/9781529939446 [14]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/israel-lobby-funded-half-of-keir-starmers-cabinet/ [15]: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/24/minister-under-investigation-over-targeting-of-reporters-makes-late-donation-declaration [16]: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/trevor-chinn-at-90-i-regret-nothing/ [17]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/?post_type=post&p=60214 [18]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/?post_type=post&p=60214 [19]: https://www.jta.org/archive/president-of-j-n-f-in-britain-honored-at-dinner-in-london [20]: https://electronicintifada.net/content/revealed-israel-charity-funded-campaign-against-antisemitism/38351 [21]: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/trevor-chinn-at-90-i-regret-nothing/ [22]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/israel-lobby-funded-half-of-keir-starmers-cabinet/ [23]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/two-fifths-of-keir-starmers-cabinet-have-been-funded-by-pro-israel-lobbyists/ [24]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/two-fifths-of-keir-starmers-cabinet-have-been-funded-by-pro-israel-lobbyists/ [25]: https://mondoweiss.net/2022/01/david-vs-goliath-the-epic-military-mismatch-between-palestine-and-israel/ [26]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/foreign-office-met-pro-israel-lobbyist-to-discuss-arms-exports/ [27]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/david-lammy-held-off-the-books-meeting-with-pro-israel-lobbyist/ [28]: https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-labour-megadonor-won-israeli-medal-of-honour/ [29]: https://www.declassifieduk.org https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-labour-megadonor-won-israeli-medal-of-honour/