in recognition of response to 2005 earthquake, 2006 Sakakawa Award for Disaster Risk Reduction in Bangladesh, won as part of the National Alliance for Risk Reduction and Response Initiative, 2013 British Muslim Awards ‘Charity of the Year’, 2013 Third Sector Awards ‘Marketing Campaign of the Year’ for 2018 Ramadan Campaign Special Commendation in the ‘Digital Innovation’ category for Virtue Reality digital game, 2018 Bond International Development Award for "Eliminating Extreme Poverty through Alternative Livelihoods for Orphaned Families", 2019 Third Sector Award, Charity of the Year, 2022 Controversies Alleged links to Hamas In June 2014, Israel added Islamic Relief to a list of organisations banned from operating in the country, alleging that the charity was funding Hamas. The charity’s West Bank offices were raided, during which time computers were destroyed, files were confiscated, and an office safe was forcibly opened. Islamic Relief denied the allegations and, in late 2014, said that an audit carried out by an unnamed “leading global audit firm” found no evidence of any link to terrorism. The Israeli government responded by stating its decision to declare Islamic Relief illegal was “based on information that has been accumulated over years” and claimed that Islamic Relief was “a central player in the financing of Hamas.” Islamic Relief denies this allegation and continues to challenge the decision in Israeli courts. Alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood On 15 November 2014, the United Arab Emirates placed Islamic Relief on a list of proscribed organisations due to alleged links between the charity and the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2019, the German government alleged Islamic Relief had “significant personal ties” with the Muslim Brotherhood. In November 2021, the Dutch government announced it would not initiate a new funding partnership with Islamic Relief for an international interfaith project involving multiple NGOs following Dutch media allegations of connections between the charity and the Muslim Brotherhood. Islamic Relief denies any links to the Muslim brotherhood, stating that the charity is a “purely humanitarian aid organisation”. Antisemitism In July 2020, one of several directors at Islamic Relief, Heshmat Khalifa, resigned after The Times discovered he had made antisemitic remarks on his Facebook page in 2014 and 2015. In an interview with The Guardian, then-CEO Naser Haghamed said he was “appalled” by the “unacceptable posts,” which included labelling Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi a “pimp son of the Jews” and calling the Israeli government the “grandchildren of monkeys and