In Part 1 of this article, we revealed that as early as the 1950s, Celtic met with representatives from the Jewish National Fund (JNF) — a key player in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine — and the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council (GJRC), Scotland’s oldest Zionist lobbying group. By 1962, the Club held a fundraiser in Celtic Park for the JNF’s settlement projects in occupied Palestine. These Zionist connections, we showed, remained active up to the 1990s.
In this companion piece, we trace Celtic’s ongoing ties with the JNF’s Scottish branch and explore GJRC’s role in shaping the Celtic Board’s position on Palestine to the present day. A critical point in Celtic’s history was when it was handed over from the Kelly Family, which had been in charge since its inception, to Fergus McCann in 1994. Helping to rescue the Club from the brink of administration, this was also when Dermot Desmond, the Club’s current largest shareholder, was brought in as an investor.
Enter the Mysterious Charles Barnett — 1994
Appointed in 1994, as the Club changed hands, was a new interim financial director. This was a man called Charles Barnett. Barnett stayed in his role as financial director of Celtic until the new management was in place, and then went back to his day job as a partner at Glasgow audit firm PKF. PKF was immediately awarded a contract to audit Celtic’s annual reports, which was a lucrative role, spanning from 1994 until PKF was swallowed by BDO in 2013. BDO remains in charge of Celtic’s audits today. Barnett not only moved to BDO with the takeover, but was personally selected as the so-called “independent” auditor for Celtic both before and after the merger. The problem for both Celtic and Barnett was that he was not independent; he was one of the leading fundraisers in the Celtic Charity Fund (later replaced by the Celtic Foundation) from at least 1997-2014.
This represents a troubling overlap that very likely breaches the principles of independence and objectivity outlined in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland’s Code of Ethics. Further complicating matters, while PKF and BDO had policies requiring partner rotation, many audit reports during this period were signed only by the firm, not by individuals, making it unclear whether Barnett served multiple terms. What is clear is that from at least 2012-2014, a senior fundraiser was dually responsible for verifying Celtic’s financial integrity and helping to direct its charitable activities — a clear conflict of interest. This occurred with the knowledge of Director Ian Livingston, a Chartered Accountant who chaired the Audit Committee, then-Secretary (now CEO) Michael Nicholson, and largest shareholder, Dermot Desmond, who was also on the Committee.
Charles Barnett — Part of the Zionist Caledonian Cousinhood
But these conflicts are nothing compared to the extraordinary reality that Barnett is a genocidal Zionist and has likely been for most of his life. He is a key member of the Caledonian Cousinhood, a term we use to denote the interlocked nature of the most important Zionist families in Scotland. He remains today the Treasurer of the JNF Scotland, a position he appears to have held continuously since at least 1980.
Considering Barnett's longstanding political affiliations with Zionism, it is perhaps unsurprising that, during his tenure, some of Celtic’s charitable initiatives supported organisations implicated in ethnic cleansing in Palestine.
Celtic’s Charitable Support for Zionism: Maccabi Sports Club
In 1999, ahead of its UEFA Cup game against Hapoel Tel Aviv, Celtic decided to restore its “long-standing bond with the country’s Jewish community” by sponsoring Glasgow Maccabi, the Zionist sports organisation, according to the Aberdeen Evening Express on 14 September 1999. This is based at the Maccabi Centre in Giffnock, Glasgow. Maccabi serves to sportswash Zionism and indoctrinate young athletes — including, latterly, Barnett’s own son, who played football there in 2011, according to the Jewish Telegraph on 27 May 2011. The Glasgow Maccabi branch has been devoted to genocidal ideas about “strong and virile” Jews for decades. The Club enthusiastically stated back in 1949 that ten of its members had travelled to Palestine to participate in the Nakba.
Given Barnett’s deep involvement with both Celtic and the JNF, it seems implausible that he would have been unaware of the 1962 Celtic v. Real Madrid fixture in aid of the JNF that we explored in Part 1 of this article. Yet the Celtic Charity Fund, where he was a leading fundraiser, claimed to have backed the Club’s decision to sponsor Glasgow Maccabi only after ‘being told’ about the match, framing it as the revival of a forgotten legacy, rather than a deliberate and concerted effort to deepen the Club’s institutional ties with Zionist groups (see above image).
Celtic’s then-Chief Executive, Allan MacDonald, called the transaction “a very clear reminder of the reason why Celtic was founded and continues to flourish”. The Club’s Israeli midfielder Eyal Berkovic also backed the decision, noting the 1962 JNF 'fundraiser' was mentioned to him right before he signed for the club. This admission also raises questions about the circumstances leading to five Israeli players signing since then — more than any other Scottish Club. Berkovic would later launch a “scathing attack” on Scottish supporters of Celtic and the Irish for their pro-Palestinian advocacy. Yet he appeared less troubled about politicising football when it aligned with his own goals. He reportedly arranged free tickets for Scotland’s only Jewish school, Calderwood Lodge Primary School, to attend a 1999 Celtic v. Hapoel Tel Aviv game. Calderwood was set up in 1962 by the Zionist Federation, and though it subsequently came under Local Authority control, it has remained a Zionist school, actively indoctrinating children into the racist ideology of Zionism.
Charles Barnett with key luminaries of the Caledonian Cousinhood: Delia Berkley and David Links and other members of the JNF committee. Note the presence of Stanley Lovatt who remains involved with JNF Scotland, and, since 2011, has been the official representative in Scotland for the genocidal Zionist regime, via an appointment as Honorary Consul; from the Jewish Chronicle, 4 July 2008
A 2011 article about Charles Barnett’s son Michael and his bar mitzvah, the first at Celtic Park, was celebrated as a cross-cultural milestone but neglected to mention Barnett’s role helping to bankroll Palestinian ethnic cleansing at Celtic through the JNF; from the Jewish Telegraph, 27 May 2011
Another JNF Fundraiser — 2009
In December 2009, while Barnett was Treasurer of JNF Scotland, Celtic hosted another JNF Scotland fundraiser before another Europa League tie with Hapoel Tel Aviv. Attendees included JNF Scotland chairman, Stanley Lovatt, and many of the Cousinhood of Scottish Zionism, including members of the Sellyn, Cohen, Caplan and Levy Families. In a fitting tribute to the generational Zionist ties between these families and the Club, ‘life-long’ Celtic fan and trustee of JNF Scotland up until his death this year, David Links, was also in attendance. Links was the son of Maurice Benzion Links, who, as reported in our first article, met with Celtic representatives for a remarkably similar evening of entertainment before a ‘charity’ fixture with Hapoel Tel Aviv in 1957.
David Links, Lewis Geneen and Marc Sellyn at the JNF event; from the Jewish Chronicle, 11 December 2009
Also, at the 2009 event was Marc Sellyn, son of the Celtic Patron David Sellyn, from the prominent Glasgow Zionist Sellyn Family, which as we saw in part one of the article placed an advertisement in the match programme of the 1962 Celtic v. Real Madrid JNF ‘fundraiser’. Former Celtic captain, Tom Boyd, who has maintained a close relationship with the Celtic Fund/Foundation since retiring, also attended. Curiously, despite naming Barnett among its fundraisers for almost 17 years in a row, Celtic chose to omit any fundraisers’ names in its 2009 report — the very year it hosted his charity at its headquarters.
Former Celtic captain, Tom Boyd, poses with Israeli ambassador, Ron Prosor, at the JNF Scotland fundraiser at Celtic Park in 2009. Boyd worked with Barnett for years in Celtic’s Fund Raising Action Group; from the Jewish Chronicle, 11 December 2009
The 2009 match against Hapoel Tel Aviv marked one year on from Israel’s Operation Cast Lead assault on Gaza. The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Scottish Trade Union Congress protested outside the game, handing out 10,000 flags in solidarity with the 1,400 Palestinians killed in the attacks. After a hard evening securing funds for the continuation of Israel’s campaign of ethnic cleansing in Palestine, Celtic responded by releasing a statement to condemn the activists for politicising football.
Support for Palestine at Parkhead: Formation of the Green Brigade
By 2006, support for Palestine was growing on Celtic’s stands, particularly among the Green Brigade ultras, formed that very year. This would bring Celtic into regular conflict with UEFA, who had relegated Palestinian flags to ‘illicit banners’, forbidden under its rules to ensure European Clubs tow a Zionist line.
In 2014, Celtic was fined £15,900 when Palestinian flags were raised in a tie against KR Reykjavik, just weeks after Israel launched a military assault on Gaza. In 2016, Celtic was fined £8,616 for crowd protests against Israeli side Hapoel Be’er Sheva, the same week the IDF shot 88 Palestinians in the West Bank. Fans responded with their ‘Match The Fine for Palestine’ campaign, raising £176,000 for Medical Aid for Palestinians and the Lajee Centre, a creative cultural space in Bethlehem. Out of this they founded a football academy, Lajee Celtic, and, in doing so, laid roots in the West Bank.
Ian Livingston: Background Check
One person who had a complex relationship with the Green Brigade and Palestine, was Ian Livingston, who sat on the Board from 2007-2017. Ian came from a large Jewish family, the Levinsons, which immigrated to Glasgow from the Russian Empire in the late 1800s. They worked as tailors and seamstresses, before operating a factory: JM Levenson, which, according to Livingston himself, produced “flying jackets and police uniforms” and was owned by his great uncle.
Former Celtic director Ian Livingston is pictured (right) with current chairman Peter Lawwell (left). Ian would become a notorious figure among fans, many of whom believed he clashed with the Club ethos, from the SNS Group, 2017
Ian’s grandfather, William Livingston (born Wolfe Levinson) in Glasgow in 1899 was one of 12, including what were described as the first Jewish triplets to be born in Scotland; this is a small detail that underlines the family’s long-standing visibility within Glasgow’s Jewish community.
He also later worked in the family business. Interestingly, contrary to Ian’s brag about flying jackets and police uniforms, the production of women’s wear would appear to have been the main business of the firm. This was confirmed in the Jewish Chronicle on 22 December 1939, and in a study of the role of women in the West of Scotland Textile Industry since 1970. When it went into liquidation in 1987, the petition to wind up the firm was presented by Arnold Livingston, Ian’s uncle, and Arnold’s agent was Derek D. Livingston, Ian’s younger brother, according to the Glasgow Herald on 31 October 1986.
Ian Livingston’s grandfather William was born into a large family
A staunch Zionist, William “served with distinction in almost every important office” of the Garnethill Synagogue, the oldest in the city. He represented the synagogue on the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, Glasgow’s oldest Zionist lobby group. He also gave “many years of dedicated service” as Treasurer of Lodge Montefiore no. 753, one of two Jewish Masonic lodges in the city, according to the Jewish Chronicle on 22 March 1974. The Livingstons quickly became more established, moving to the affluent West End.
W ‘Livingstone’ gave £6 to the JNF in 1929 (25th name in column two) along with many other key names in the Caledonian Cousinhood including Goldberg, Wolfson, Woolfson, Golombok, Furst, Gerber and many others; from the Jewish Echo, 11 January 1929
Records listing William’s West End address reveal he was a supporter of the JNF (although his name is given incorrectly as Livingstone in the above image). Along with other members of the Caledonian Cousinhood, he contributed to the funding of the ‘Glasgow Grove’ of the Balfour Forest, named after Arthur Balfour, the Scottish architect of the Balfour Declaration, which led to Israel’s formation. The forest was built on the lands of the ethnically cleansed al-Mujaydil village, and was used to shield military training of Zionist groups. The head of the Balfour Forest Commission, Major George Nathan, had been in the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary (ADRIC), which was closely linked with the Black and Tans, and associated with the 1921 Curfew murders in Limerick.
William Livingston’s address is given as Blytheswood Drive. This is a street name that no longer exists in Glasgow. It was changed to Woodlands Drive around the time Ian’s father Vivian was born, as recorded in the announcement of his birth here, according to the Jewish Echo, 12 June 1931
The Balfour Forest today; from Scottish PSC — Stop the JNF (2022)
Ian’s father Vivian was the first to attend university, marking a move away from the family trade while keeping their Zionist ties alive. He was Treasurer of the Glasgow University Jewish Society, according to the Jewish Echo on 27 October 1950. The Society’s events were hosted in the JNF rooms of the Glasgow Zionist Centre on Dixon Street, as well as in the family home, according to the Jewish Echo on 17 June 1949.
After graduating, Vivian worked as a doctor in Parkhead, just streets from Celtic Park, where his son Ian would return decades later as a non-executive director. Ian’s brother Derek, born in 1958, would go on to be a sheriff, lawyer, and a prominent Zionist activist in Glasgow, serving on the Scottish programmes committee of the United Jewish Israel Appeal in 2016.
In 2024, Derek was elected to the council of the Giffnock Newton Mearns Synagogue, which is Zionist and provides the base at 222 Fenwick Road, Giffnock, in Glasgow’s South Side for tens of Glaswegian and Scottish Zionist groups. These include the Glasgow Zionist Organisation, JNF Scotland, the United Jewish Israel appeal, the office of the Israeli Embassy in Scotland, and a base and restaurant run by the genocidal Chabad cult.
Ian would leave Glasgow to follow a career in business in which he was taken under the wing of several prominent Zionist businessmen including, notably, Stanley Kalms, from a prominent family of supporters of the genocidal ideology of Zionism, who has even supported the Islamophobic Henry Jackson Society. At Kalms’ firm, Dixons, Livingston rose to become, as a UK Government profile breathlessly notes, “Group Finance Director at Dixons Group plc from the age of 32 making him the youngest FTSE 100 CFO by some distance”. After that, he assumed senior leadership roles at BT and, eventually, Celtic.
Livingston’s Zionist Reign at Parkhead
Like Barnett before him, Ian joined the Celtic Board as an established accountant, and chaired Celtic’s audit committee during his tenure, where he was responsible for selecting and monitoring its ‘independent’ auditors. He routinely chose Barnett, despite his roles as treasurer for a genocidal Zionist group and one of the Celtic Foundation’s leading ‘fundraisers’ — a clear conflict of interest.
Perhaps helping to fraternalise the links between these two families, during this time, Charles’ cousin Gregory Barnett was appointed Master of Lodge Montefiore, the Masonic lodge in which Ian’s grandfather served for many years.
Ian’s relationship with fans, however, was less harmonious. In 2010, he clashed with them by publicly backing George Osborne’s austerity measures, a move which likely earnt him a peerage and a ministerial role from David Cameron. He entered the House of Lords as Baron Livingston of Parkhead, an ironic nod to his childhood football club (founded as a charity to feed the poor) and the working-class area where his father had served as a GP for decades. The tipping point came in October 2015 when he voted to cut tax credits for low-income families. Over 10,000 Celtic fans, many of whom would be affected, signed a petition calling for his removal.
At the same time, Ian was cultivating a very public image as a fervent Zionist. The Times of Israel described Livingston as the UK Government’s “most outspoken supporter of Israel”, which he had called “the most amazing state in the world”. He was linked to multiple pro-Israel organisations, including Yavneh College — a school accused of indoctrinating children with Zionist ideology — and the United Jewish Israel Appeal, which has funded Zionist projects for over a century. He was also director of Zionist-funded and affiliated Jewish Care. Several of his family members have been on the Board of Jewish Care Scotland, the Glasgow-based sister organisation.
In late 2015, Ian took to a Celtic supporters’ page to name and shame fans who he said had posted antisemitic abuse about him online. For two more years, he remained on the Board — a Tory peer and outspoken supporter of Zionist causes — before dismissing objections to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine as irrelevant to football. Xenophobia, it seems, could be protested on fan forums, but not by Celtic fans on the terraces. Despite the Club’s soaring finances, Ian resigned from the Board in 2017. In 2022, when discussing the Palestinian flag displays of the Green Brigade, he told the Times of Israel, “It is a small group, but I don’t like it. It makes me uncomfortable, and it shouldn’t be there”.
Nicola Livingston and the Zionist Lobby
But Zionist influence on the Celtic Board didn’t leave with Ian Livingston. It has remained firmly in place through his sister-in-law, Nicola Livingston, who is married to Ian’s brother Derek and sits as Chair of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council (GJRC). The GJRC is “the oldest body of its kind in Britain” with a long history of anti-Palestinian “civic engagement”. It has met with, and complained to, the Celtic Board about matters relating to Palestine on several occasions.
The GJRC has played a key role spreading propaganda in support of Zionism, as was proclaimed by the Jewish press in the 1940s; from the Jewish Echo, 21 January 1944
Celtic fans say: “End Genocide, End Zionism”, 18 May 2018, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba
In May 2018, there was suspected GJRC involvement when members of Glasgow’s Jewish community complained about the Green Brigade’s “End Genocide, End Zionism” banner, unfurled at the Scottish Cup Final. The protest marked the anniversary of the Nakba and was just days after sixty Palestinians were killed by the Occupation during unarmed demonstrations for their right to freedom of movement. The call to end Zionism was repeated in February 2024, which drew a riposte from another member of the Livingston family.
Keeping it in the family: The Livingstons’ ‘feelings’ are clearly more important than genocide
Nicola Livingston’s son Marc, a self-confessed Zionist who was a settler colonist in Occupied Palestine for a year, later complained about the exclusionary nature of the Green Brigade’s “End Zionism” banner on the social media platform Bluesky (see above image). Marc Livingston is now a London-based lawyer but claims still to be conducting a “love affair” with Glasgow Celtic.
In January 2021, there was confirmed GJRC involvement when Celtic’s Israeli player, Nir Bitton, allegedly received antisemitic abuse from fans online. The situation was swiftly seized upon by Action Against Discrimination, which is a Zionist lobbying group led by Jonathan Metliss, a prominent member of Conservative Friends of Israel. Metliss publicly urged both the SFA and Celtic to issue condemnations. Danielle Bett of the Jewish Council of Scotland (formed by the merger of the GJRC and the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, of which Nicola Livingston is also Chair) staged an intervention prompting then-Justice Minister and Celtic fan Humza Yousaf to state that “antisemitism deserves the same contempt as Islamophobia and any other prejudice”. Evidently, there should be no place for prejudice in football, but one might be forgiven for thinking: does Islamophobia ever get this attention?
The following week, Celtic’s then-Chief Executive, Peter Lawwell, met with GJRC and Community Security Trust (which has a Scottish office) — the hardline Zionist group weaponising their definition of ‘antisemitism’ in the UK — to confirm that the incident was being investigated. Both groups are based in the Zionist HQ in Giffnock, Glasgow. The GJRC confirmed they met with Celtic Football Club’s Chief Executive, Peter Lawwell, in January 2021 to ensure antisemitism against Nir Bitton was thoroughly investigated. At the time, Nicola Livingston was Chair of the GJRC, a position she still holds today.
Bitton, one of several players brought to Celtic by Israeli football agent Dudu Dahan in deals worth millions for their former Israeli clubs, later called fans “brainwashed” for believing Israel killed children.
GJRC statement, confirming they met with Celtic’s then-Chief Executive, Peter Lawwell, in January 2021 while Nicola Livingston was Chair of GJRC
In May 2021, protests continued when Celtic fans left tributes to 35 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes alongside those which had been left for outgoing captain Scott Brown. Within hours, GJRC once again complained to the Club. Celtic swiftly condemned the resulting Palestinian flag display as “unacceptable”, confirming that it “was immediately taken down by the Club.”
Marc Livingston, reportedly a season ticket holder for almost thirty years, posted in 2023 a picture of himself on X with his brother, Paul and Ian Livingston’s son, Alastair, in Turin in 2013
The Red Cross
On 25 October 2023, a day after Israeli air attacks on Gaza had killed 704 people, Celtic took drastic, preemptive measures. The Club released an official statement, appealing to fans to not bring Palestinian flags to its Champions League tie against Atlético de Madrid, a request which fans defied. The Club announced players would be wearing black armbands, and revealed it had donated to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In Celtic’s 2024 annual report, this was linked to “the crisis in Gaza”, but the ICRC’s Israel-Gaza Emergency Appeal makes it explicitly clear that all funds will go to both countries until December 2025. In other words, the generosity of Celtic fans is being exploited to siphon cash into supporting the Zionist entity.
Celtic fans’ Palestinian flag display on 25th of October 2023 garnered global praise for Celtic supporters — and, by unfair extension, the Club — for their pro-Palestinian stance. Since then, the Club has likely benefited from this reputation, while all the time maintaining a pro-Zionist posture internally and in dealings with UEFA
Charles Barnett and the SPFL
This move by the Club, intended to pacify fans, came from the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). On the Board of the SPFL Trust (the charity arm of the SPFL) was Charles Barnett, who has thus maintained a position of power over Celtic since he ostensibly cut ties with it in 2016 to assume a role which should require neutrality.
Ensuring football can “make a positive difference to society”, Charles Barnett now sits on the Board of the SPFL Trust
SPFL bosses may, however, struggle to explain to Scottish football fans why Charles Barnett served on the Celtic Foundation’s Sporting Dinner Committee as recently as 2018, and appears to have co-presented at these dinners alongside Tom Boyd as recently as 2022, as photos from its sporting dinner reveal. This begs the question: did he ever really leave Celtic?
Charles Barnett presenting at the 2022 Celtic Foundation Sporting Dinner with Tom Boyd, while on the Board of the SPFL Trust; from Patrick McGuire on Flickr
Even more troubling is the way the SPFL appears to be policing Celtic fans in recent months. On 5 March 2025, the SPFL introduced measures to collectively punish Clubs for fan misconduct. Then, two weeks later, in what was to be the first league meeting between Celtic and Rangers fans since a 2023 ban, a group of Celtic fans, which included the Green Brigade and young children, were cordoned in a police kettle for five hours and prevented from entering the stadium. This occurred in the midst of the ‘Show Israel the Red Card’ campaign, officially launched in February 2025, which the Green Brigade had been invited to support by Scottish Sport for Palestine. At the time of the police kettling incident, protests against Israel’s continued participation in football had already taken place in more than 30 countries.
Almost immediately after, the SPFL updated its ‘Unacceptable Conduct’ rules, expanding their scope and introducing firm obligations that Clubs actively monitor and report incidents relating to “hate speech” and “discriminatory displays” of banners and flags. Given his unchallenged politics at the top of Scottish football, as well as — we can reveal — his familial links with the police, one might reasonably suspect Barnett had a hand in the matter.
David Barnett states he policed Old Firm (Celtic v Rangers) matches between 1976 and 1981
Charles Barnett’s other cousin, David, is a former Glasgow police officer who policed Old Firm games between 1976 and 1981. He has posted pictures of himself on his social media visiting his former police station in Pollok and attending games at Celtic Park since retiring to set up a business selling police merchandise. David is the son of Charles’ uncle Harold, who was also a police officer in the city.
Fan Resistance against Zionism at Celtic Park Today
Evidently, the Celtic Board is under increasing pressure over its stance on Palestine. The Club is, perhaps unsurprisingly, widely believed to follow a policy of non-engagement when approached about Palestine-related matters, even by Palestinians. At its 2024 AGM, a fan asked why the Board ignored letters from Lajee Celtic, which included reports that the IDF had recently attacked a Celtic Supporters’ Club and the surrounding area in Khan Younis. The question was met with strong support from attending shareholders. The Board was told that due to the devastation of the assaults, it was impossible to verify if any of the Celtic fans had even survived. While Club representatives stressed a need for action, the Board privately refused to even meet with Lajee Celtic representatives just a week later to receive a gift of thanks for the solidarity shown by Celtic supporters.
An IDF soldier parading the Celtic flag in the razed municipal stadium in Khan Younis in 2024 in an attempt to humiliate the Club, received no response from the Celtic Board; from Quds News Network, 23 February 2024
Today, as the world confronts Israel’s genocide — now declared apartheid by the International Court of Justice — the Celtic Board stands at a crossroads. Its fans have arguably transformed Celtic into a global symbol of Palestinian solidarity, earning the Club international praise. But inside the boardroom, behind the gestures of charity and slogans of inclusion for which the Club is so well-known, lies another story. Zionist financial experts may well have played a role in rescuing Celtic from its near-demise in 1994, and engineering its rise as ‘the best run Club’ in the UK, but at what cost to Palestinians, at what cost to Celtic’s reputation, and at what cost now to the Board’s relationship with its fans?
Current Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson, who refuses to discuss Palestine with fans, would have met with “independent auditor” Barnett “routinely” when he was Company Secretary, according to its annual reports; from the SNS Group
As Israel’s campaign of genocide in Palestine continues, the question now is whether the Celtic Board will acknowledge the Club’s complicity through its own fundraising channels, take responsibility for its ethical and governance failures, and make the necessary reparations — financially and otherwise — to Palestinians. Without this reckoning, Celtic risks being seen as capitalising on the pro-Palestinian image cultivated by its fan base, led by a Board whose continued presence undermines the values those fans so visibly represent.
The Institute of Chartered Accounts of Scotland’s (ICAS) Code of Ethics requires auditors to adhere to strict principles regarding independence and objectivity. We asked ICAS if Zionist Charles Barnett’s dual appointment as Celtic’s fundraiser and its “independent” external auditor constituted a clear breach of these principles. Though we did receive a general reply asking for further information, we have not received a substantive reply at the time of publication.
This article is part of a series on the rise and fall of Scottish Zionism. Previous articles have been:
‘The Rise and Fall of Zionism in Scotland, Part 1’, Al Mayadeen English, 23 February 2025
‘The Caledonian Cousinhood: How the Zionist Movement Embedded Itself in Scottish Life’, Mintpress, 18 June 2025
‘Scottish Zionism’s Inner Circle: The Caledonian Cousinhood That Bankrolls Occupation and Genocide’, Mintpress, 21 July 2025
‘Neighbours: Inside the Tight-knit Caledonian Cousinhood of Scottish Zionism’, PressTV, 19 July 2025
‘The Day that Celtic Football Club Played To Raise Money for Land Theft in Palestine’, UK Column, 30 September 2025
