A simple charity dinner has just become a pressure test for Singapore’s civic culture. Keren Hayesod Friends of Israel in Singapore, planned its long‑running Friends of Israel Annual Aliyah Gala Dinner for 18 Nov 2025. This year’s venue listed in promotional posts, was The Fullerton Hotel Singapore.
Keren Hayesod, Hebrew for “The Foundation Fund,” is Israel’s official global fundraising organisation. It has supported humanitarian, educational, and social projects in Israel.
Its work spans Aliyah and immigrant support, education and training, community resilience, and help for vulnerable groups such as Holocaust survivors, new immigrants, and disadvantaged families.
Its Singapore arm, established in 2016, has for almost a decade now, worked quietly with donors, hosting annual dinners without controversy or incident.
Harassment and Online Reputational Harm
On account of the erstwhile Israeli-Hamas war, within hours of the 2025 event announcement, a cluster of accounts circulated Instagram carousels (1)(2)(3)(4) urging Fullerton Hotel to drop the booking.
Their complaints? The same tired laundry list of high-crimes: genocide, apartheid, illegal settler-colonisation… The Jewish right of return itself was labelled a racist conspiracy. The irony, of course, is that in condemning the Jewish right of return, they undermine the very principle they claim for the Palestinians they seem to care so much for.
Hosting a charity dinner, they claimed, somehow ‘endorsed’ war crimes and betrayed Singapore’s human rights record and undermined our neutrality. (Once again, the irony went unnoticed.)
The Playbook
The playbook was familiar. Every charge imaginable was thrown, just to see which one would stick.
Posts conflated Aliyah with war crimes, arguing that venues must not host anything linked to Israel. They referenced “international law” as if that obliged a hotel to act like a foreign ministry.
Then came the swarm.
They mobilised followers to bombard Fullerton’s social media and Google reviews, leading to a mass pile-on of critical and abusive comments on the hotel’s Instagram page and several one‑star Google reviews.
One instagram user Shilpa Vijayasrinivasan organised signatures for an open letter and asked the public to post online reviews which would have unfairly tarnished the business’ reputation 
The Fullerton was forced to hide these comments because of the harassment 
Comment bombing The Fullerton’s Instagram Page 
Comment bombing The Fullerton’s Instagram Page 
A slew of 1-star reviews attempting to damage the hotel’s rating 
A slew of 1-star reviews attempting to damage the hotel’s rating 
A slew of 1-star reviews attempting to damage the hotel’s rating 
A slew of 1-star reviews attempting to damage the hotel’s rating
Coordinated reviews, negative comments, and a name‑and‑shame loop designed to overwhelm and make hotel management panic. None of this was based in fact. It was just a pressure campaign; pure coercion aimed at forcing a commercial actor to adopt their activist politics.
Hosting a charity dinner, they claimed, somehow ‘endorsed’ war crimes, betrayed Singapore’s values of neutrality and human rights, and opened the hotel to devastating reputational risk.
Every charge imaginable was tossed about just to see which one would stick.
When Fullerton Caved
By 14 Oct 2025, Mothership reported that Fullerton had confirmed the gala “won’t be held” there, citing the online backlash. The hotel quickly issued a statement worthy of a hostage note:
“We wish to clarify that The Fullerton Hotel Singapore is not a sponsor, organiser, or partner of the upcoming Friends of Israel Annual Aliyah Gala Dinner. We do not endorse, support, or take a position on the views or objectives of independent organisers or their guests. Our priority remains to maintain a respectful, inclusive, and safe environment for all guests, partners, and members of the public.”
It was corporate doublespeak in full bloom, anxious moral distancing dressed as virtue. Fullerton insisted it took no position on guests’ views, yet took a very clear one by dropping them. And that line about maintaining an inclusive environment? Apparently, that “inclusion” now excludes anyone who cares about Israel.
Activists celebrated
The hotel then faced cross‑pressure from customers and citizens who oppose moral gatekeeping by venue operators.
What should have been a simple booking became a public brawl because they caved.
The Global Pattern
In truth, this phenomenon isn’t new.
Through institutional capture, self‑styled “progressives” have learned to debank, deplatform, and demonise their opponents, outsourcing censorship to the private sector.
In the UK, the Coutts–Nigel Farage scandal showed how a bank could shut accounts over politics until public backlash forced apologies, resignations, and new rules.
A Glasgow court later ruled that cancelling a Christian event over its speaker’s views was unlawful discrimination.
Across Western campuses, FIRE’s data shows an explosion of cancellations and speaker bans.
Consequences for Singapore and The Fullerton
Keren Hayesod has operated openly for nearly a decade, engaging with government agencies for fund-raising licenses and speaker passes. The police and ISD have long known of its activities. On what principled grounds, then, should the event be cancelled?
None.
After years of lawful engagement, to cave now would be arbitrary and unjustified.
Don’t Feed The Trolls
Cancel culture may start with a few loud agitators, but once the shouting works, it builds momentum and spreads like wildfire. A hotel or business that folds under pressure teaches activists that volume and anger beats calm and principled reason.
Weakness in the face of a cancel-mob invites repetition of the censorious behaviour but make no mistake, consumers punish cowardice too.
Have A Spine, And A Mind
Capitulating is a lose-lose situation because no one respects a business that lets the mob write its policies.
As Calvin Cheng put it, hotels are service providers, not moral tribunals. When venues begin screening beliefs instead of safety, access to the public square becomes rationed by ideology and outrage.
This dinner had run for years without incident. Nothing changed about its purpose. What changed was fashion. Attacking Israel became trendy. Punishing lawful activity because the online mood shifted isn’t good governance.
The Wider Context
Refusing a booking linked to Israel or its supporters looks a lot like discrimination. That path breeds tit-for-tat boycotts and fractures civic trust. So capitalism robs us of that too.
But ultimately, it was never about one hotel. If Fullerton hadn’t caved, the mob would have gone after the next. The point was dominance – deciding who Singaporeans may support and teaching businesses to exclude the “wrong” causes.
Singapore’s rice bowl is credibility. We’re trusted as a neutral, rules-first place to meet, trade, and host. Once ideology replaces neutrality, that trust erodes. In a region already thick with prejudice, importing Western moral theatrics is a luxury we can’t afford. If politics starts deciding room bookings, the world will find somewhere else to gather.
A Path Forward
I do not think Fullerton’s leaders woke up wanting to be speech police. This looks like a general manager baulking under pressure, with a social‑media firestorm making the safe choice look like cancellation.
But that choice reshapes norms. It signals to the market that venues in Singapore can be bullied into moral arbitration.
Fullerton should reconsider this bad decision and make amends with Keren Hayesod. Publish neutral booking standards. Make it clear that the hotel hosts lawful, peaceful events without fear or favour, and that it will cancel only for safety, legal, or contractual breaches, with reasons given.
That stance protects staff, protects Singapore’s reputation, and protects everyone’s right to gather peaceably, even when others vehemently disagree.
If this is not corrected, we will teach the worst possible civics lesson: shout hard enough and you can close a room.
If it is corrected, we will teach a better one: in Singapore, law and fairness—not outrage—decide who gets a hall.
