A leading Scottish university has requested payment before releasing details of its communications with a pro-Israel lobbying organisation, The Herald can reveal.
The University of Edinburgh was the only organisation out of dozens that were contacted to ask for a fee to publish the data in response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request.
The institution has not sought payment in response to previous requests from The Herald, and has confirmed that it has applied fees to a tiny number of the requests it has recently received.
The Herald asked the university to provide details of all communication with UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) following a number of high-profile interventions from the lobbying group.
UKLFI describes itself as an “association of lawyers who support Israel and seek to ensure that the rights of Israel and Israelis are respected.” Its patrons include a former President of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the first female Sheriff of Glasgow and Strathkelvin, a previous Governor of the BBC, and a former Conservative MP.
The organisation lists a series of objectives on its website, the first of which is “to provide, assist in providing, procure or promote the provision of legal support including advocacy, research, advice and campaigning in combating attempts to undermine, attack and/or delegitimise Israel, Israeli organisations, Israelis and / or supporters of Israel.”
Objective number six commits the group to “contribute generally as lawyers to creating a supportive climate of opinion in the United Kingdom towards Israel.”
Members of UKLFI are the focus of an ongoing investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). The Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) and the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) have filed a formal complaint with the regulator alleging “serious breaches of the SRA’s Principles and Code of Conduct, including the use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) to intimidate and silence Palestine solidarity work.”
In 2023, UKLFI successfully pressured Chelsea and Westminster Hospital to remove artwork by Palestinian children, arguing that the display of decorated plates made Jewish individuals feel “victimised” when entering and that the local NHS Trust “may be in breach of the Equality Act 2010.”
A midwife working for the Trust took it to an employment tribunal in 2025 after her employer referred her to Prevent following letters of complaint from UKLFI about her online support for Palestine and criticism of Zionism.
The lobbying group failed in an attempt to have the Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) censured over its decision to remove items listed by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against products produced in or linked to Israel. The charities regulator rejected claims that the GFT had broken charity law by supporting the BDS aims. Members of the local Jewish community also signed an open letter in support of the cinema.
Earlier this month, UKLFI also called for an “urgent review of the continued participation” of a Love Island contestant over social media posts “denying Israel’s legitimacy and expressing hostility towards its supporters.”
Of dozens of authorities approached by The Herald about contact with UKLFI, the University of Edinburgh was the only one to require payment before releasing the information.
The University of Aberdeen also refused to release this information, claiming that retrieving it from staff would be too expensive.
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A University of Edinburgh spokesperson said that it is “committed to responding to Freedom of Information requests in line with its obligations”, and that the legislation “allows public authorities to charge a fee in certain circumstances where the cost of locating, retrieving and providing the requested information exceeds the statutory threshold.”
They continued: “Any fee charged is calculated in accordance with the relevant regulations and our published guidance. In instances where a request is likely to incur a cost, as in this case, the University provides advice to help requesters refine the scope of their request, which can reduce or remove an applicable fee.”
They added that the decision on whether to charge fees “depends on the scope and complexity of the request.”
Asked to confirm the regularity with which the university applies fees for FOI responses, a spokesperson advised that this was the case for just 0.7 percent of cases dealt with between April 2025 and March 2026.
Advice from the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC), which operates as the national watchdog for FOI, states that while organisations are “allowed to charge in certain circumstances”, specifically where the cost of compliance is thought to lie between £100 and £600, with requests costing more than this amount able to be rejected entirely. Authorities may charge ten percent of the cost of compliance, but in practice this very rarely happens.
In response to The Herald challenging the University of Edinburgh’s decision, officials did disclose some communication with UKLFI, but only because this material “was disclosed by the University in response to a previous information request.”
The emails in question show UKLFI pressuring the university to cancel specific events, monitor student protests, prevent staff from discussing the Israel-Palestine conflict during teaching, alter investment policies, and refer “particularly radicalised individuals” to the Prevent programme.
UKLFI received several responses to its communications from or on behalf of Professor Peter Mathieson, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the university. In one reply, which responded to calls to cancel an event for teachers exploring the Israel-Palestine conflict, the lobbying group is told that the University of Edinburgh has “followed our relevant policies and procedures in relation to this event, in line with our standard approaches and with due regard to the University’s wide-ranging obligations.”
Regarding its contact with UKLFI, a university spokesperson said: “The University has been clear that there is no place for antisemitism on campus or within our community. We take any allegations of this kind extremely seriously and have robust policies and procedures in place to address these. We are wholly committed to ensuring that any forms of discrimination, incitement or harassment are not tolerated and uphold an inclusive culture that seeks to support everyone in our community.”
UK Lawyers for Israel was approached for comment.
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