Money trail leads to obscure Israel lobby entity, then runs dry

Israel lobby in Australia tops charity mazeThe Executive Council of Australian Jews, ECAJ, cannot yet disclose the use of government grants. Stephanie Tran reports.

The Executive Council of Australian Jews (ECAJ) has received more than $176 million in Commonwealth grant funding through the ACT incorporated association, which is not subject to the same public financial reporting requirements as registered charities or companies.

Of the hundreds of Zionist charities and non-profit organizations in Australia, ECAJ is the Israel lobby’s largest beneficiary of state aid in recent years. Yet the trail of money remains a mystery. The entity does not comply with normal financial reporting requirements and is not available to answer questions regarding this investigation.

Public grant records show that the Department of the Interior awarded the organization a $112.2 million grant on April 22, 2026, to “improve the security of Jewish communities.”

Increase security

The funding comes in addition to an earlier Commonwealth grant awarded in November 2023 under the Program for Enhancing the Security of Jewish Communities. The value of this grant was originally set at $27.5 million, but has since been increased multiple times to now be worth $63.8 million.

When combined with a separate security infrastructure grant of $103,459 awarded by the Department of the Attorney General for the improvement of EJAC offices in 2021, total Commonwealth funding awarded to ECAJ-related organizations since 2021 exceeds $176 million.

The grants were awarded to an ACT-registered incorporated association and not to an ACNC-registered charity or an ASIC-registered company:

Under ACT regulatory requirements, incorporated companies are not required to publicly submit their audited financial statements to the territory government.

Given the size of public funding involved, the structure has raised questions about transparency and oversight.

increasing the mystery

Corporate and charity records show ECAJ operates through at least three different legal structures.

The first of these is the ACT incorporated association, which receives state aid. The association was founded in December 2006 and lists senior figures among its committee members, including ECAJ co-chairman Peter Wertheim, Robert Goot and Peter Wise.

The second organization is the Trustees of the ECAJ Loss Prevention Fund, a discretionary trust registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC). ACNC records show the charity reported receiving $0 in government grant income in the last decade.

The charity’s public financial statements bear the title “ECAJ Public Fund”, which is the name of a charity established by EJAC in November 2013 and deregistered in July 2014.

The third organization is ECAJ Harm Prevention Fund Limited, an ASIC registered public not-for-profit company established in January 2010.

Grants to secret organization

It is not clear why an incorporated association, rather than a registered charity or corporate structure, was nominated as the recipient of Commonwealth grants.

Incorporated associations are widely used by sports clubs and social organizations because they are relatively simple and inexpensive to manage.

Unlike ACNC-registered charities or ASIC-regulated companies, incorporated associations in the ACT are generally not required to make audited financial reports publicly available.

We asked ECAJ detailed questions about the structure of the grants, governance arrangements, financial reporting and oversight mechanisms.

ECAJ did not respond to a request for comment.

Founded in 1944, ECAJ describes itself as the representative peak body of the Australian Jewish community and says it represents more than 200 Jewish organizations across the country.

Former ECAJ president Jillian Segal has been appointed as Australia’s special envoy to combat antisemitism in 2024.

Definitive response from Internal Affairs

The Albanian government has approved additional funding for ECAJ in the 2026-27 Federal Budget.

Budget documents say the government will provide $102 million over four years to 2025-26 to the Executive Council of Australian Jews to “enhance the security of the Jewish community”.

The documents also reveal an additional $22 million over three years, 2026-27, to be funded through the Seized Assets Account established under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The Home Office said the aim of the latest grant was to address “the immediate and ongoing risks facing the Australian Jewish community in light of the rise in antisemitism” and to enable “the rapid introduction of enhanced protective measures”.

The fund is intended to support safety measures “at places of worship, schools and kindergartens, and community events.”

From where?

We asked the Home Office why grants were awarded to an incorporated society rather than an ACNC-registered charity, what due diligence processes were carried out before grants were approved and what reporting and audit conditions applied to the funding.

We also asked whether the Department was considering requiring finance to be managed through an entity subject to greater public financial disclosure obligations.

A Department spokesperson responded: “All Commonwealth grants are managed in accordance with the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines and the Australian Government Grants Framework.

“These include requirements for effective grant management, including assessing whether a project or activity can use funds efficiently, effectively, economically and ethically.”

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Stephanie is a journalist with a background in both law and journalism. He worked at The Guardian and as a paralegal, where he assisted Crikey’s defense team in the high-profile libel case brought by Lachlan Murdoch. His reporting has been recognized nationally, earning him the 2021 Guardians of Democracy Award for Student Investigative Reporting and a nomination for the 2021 Walkley Student Journalist of the Year Award.