Is it appropriate for an Israel lobby group, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, to be given $198m in government grants during a genocide? Stephanie Tran, Part 3, ECAJ investigation.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws reveal that the Executive Council of Australian Jewry was the only organisation eligible to apply for the federal government’s initial $25 million security funding package announced in the wake of the 7 October attacks.
There was no tender.
The revelations come amid growing scrutiny of the government’s decision to channel hundreds of millions of dollars in security funding through ECAJ, an organisation that has a strong history of political advocacy in the interests of Israel.
Since November 2023, ECAJ has received $198 million in security grants from the federal government.
Sole eligible applicant
Internal Home Affairs documents show that Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus approved grant guidelines on 27 October 2023 establishing the framework for the Enhancing Security for Jewish Communities Program.
The documents state that ECAJ was provided with the grant guidelines and application form on 30 October 2023 and submitted an application for the full $25 million allocation on 6 November 2023.
Where’s the money? Government and Israel lobby coy on big grants
The grant guidelines made clear that no other organisation could apply.
“The Executive Council of Australian Jewry Inc, ABN 17 162 489 951, is the only eligible entity able to apply under this grant opportunity,” the guidelines state.
According to the recommendations package prepared for Dreyfus, ECAJ’s application received an overall merit score of 65 out of 100 and was assessed as “representing value for money and a proper use of Commonwealth resources”.
Department officials recommended that the entire amount be awarded to ECAJ. Dreyfus subsequently approved the $25 million grant ($27.5 million including GST) on 13 November 2023.
“Valuable relationships”
Officials justified the arrangement on the basis that ECAJ was the recognised peak body for Australia’s Jewish community and “has valuable relationships with Australia’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies”.
“The ECAJ has been identified as the appropriate recipient as it is the recognised peak body for the Jewish community in Australia and is in a unique position to coordinate the delivery of security-related services to the Jewish community nationally,” the guidelines state.
The value of the grant was subsequently increased on multiple occasions and is now worth $63.8 million.
The Department awarded ECAJ a $112.2 million grant under the same program on 22 April 2026.
A further $22 million in funding has been “committed but not yet awarded”, bringing the total security grants awarded to ECAJ to $198 million.
Loading...
Reload document 
Open in new tab Denying genocide
Since the start of the genocide, ECAJ has engaged in extensive political advocacy on behalf of Israel.
ECAJ describes its work as “encouraging support for Zionism in Australia” and states that one of its objects is to “strengthen the connection of Australian Jewry with the State of Israel”.
According to ECAJ’s constitution, the organisation’s objectives include “seek[ing] and coordinat[ing] funding from Federal, State and Local Government”, as well as “establish[ing] and maintain[ing] relationships and close communications” with government bodies to achieve its objectives.
In September 2025, ECAJ condemned a report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry which concluded that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
“The ECAJ has strongly condemned the report of the so-called ‘Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel’, dismissing it as lacking any semblance of legal rigour or moral authority,” the organisation wrote.
Critics of UN and ICJ
ECAJ also criticised the 2024 ruling of the International Court of Justice that found it was “plausible” that Israel’s acts could amount to genocide. ECAJ said the court’s decision would “incentivise terrorism”.
In an op-ed published by the Sydney Morning Herald this month, ECAJ co-CEO Alex Rvychin lamented the “false accusations of genocide by Israel that are used to incite violence against all Jews”.
In April 2026, ECAJ honoured an IDF sniper as a “hero”.
Dozens of children in Gaza have been deliberately murdered by IDF sniper shots.
An investigation by the BBC World Service identified at least 95 cases where children were shot in the head or chest by Israeli forces. The majority of the victims were under 12 years old and frequently sustained no other injuries, suggesting deliberate targeting.
“Zero accountability or transparency”
A president of a Melbourne synagogue, who requested anonymity because of concerns about repercussions within the community, described a frustrating experience attempting to access the funding.
“We applied for security funding during the first round of grants in 2023. We missed out and we were not told why,” they said.
Since October 2023, the congregation has funded security guards itself at a cost of about $20,000 per year.
The synagogue applied again in 2025 seeking assistance for security guards and additional security infrastructure.
“After not hearing anything for months, we sent an email telling them we desperately needed these upgrades and that our premises were not secure.”
The synagogue eventually received funding for some of the security upgrades but was denied funding for security guards.
“These grants are never publicised.
There’s zero accountability or transparency.
We don’t know how much other community groups have received,” the president said.
“We’re grateful that the government has provided this funding. However, we’re really frustrated about the lack of transparency and what we had to go through to access funding.”
The Bondi Royal Commission. Truth telling and uncontested falsehoods
Advisen Consulting
The president said all communications regarding the grants application were conducted through Advisen Consulting.
“No one from ECAJ has spoken to us. We’ve only spoken with representatives from consultancy group Advisen.”
Advisen Consulting was founded in 2019 by Michael Eisman, who also serves as president of the Australian Jewish Historical Society.
The company describes itself as a “building services consultant”. It has worked with the NSW Government and Community Security Group.
There is no public information disclosing that the consultancy firm was engaged to administer the security grants or how much the company has been paid in fees.
“Hostile environment” for non-Zionist Jewish organisations
During Senate Estimates, Greens senator David Shoebridge questioned the Department about whether Jewish organisations that disagree with ECAJ’s political positions were effectively required to seek funding from an organisation with which they have significant ideological differences.
“Some of those organisations have a very fractious relationship with ECAJ,” Shoebridge said.
“You’ll see them putting directly contrary positions in the public domain, representing very distinct parts of the Jewish community.”
“When I speak with representatives from those organisations, they don’t in any way pretend that they’re represented by ECAJ. Are you saying those organisations have to go to ECAJ to apply for any funding?”
Department official Amy Dyde responded that “ECAJ have a grants administrator that runs the application process and a board that considers all applications”.
A nod and a wink
After Shoebridge described the arrangement as a potentially “hostile environment” for some applicants, Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster stated that requiring organisations to apply through ECAJ was a deliberate government decision.
“ECAJ is recognised as a peak Jewish organisation; and yes, that is the decision that was made by the government to set up the grants in that way,” Foster said.
The Jewish Council of Australia has criticised the government’s characterisation of ECAJ as a peak body.
In their submission to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, the organisation wrote:
“Government consultation on antisemitism has been conducted overwhelmingly through legacy pro-Israel organisations — principally ECAJ, which has made clear it does not represent Israel-critical Jews — while progressive Jewish organisations receive no government funding and are routinely excluded from policy processes.”
Unanswered questions
MWM asked the Department of Home Affairs and ECAJ whether its political advocacy activities created any actual or perceived conflict with its role as administrator of a publicly funded grants program, what safeguards existed to ensure funding decisions were made independently, and how much public money had been spent on administration and consulting fees.
They declined to comment.
NSW antisemitism hearings drowned in the Bondi Royal Commission
Stephanie is a journalist with a background in both law and journalism. She has worked at The Guardian and as a paralegal, where she assisted Crikey’s defence team in the high-profile defamation case brought by Lachlan Murdoch. Her reporting has been recognised nationally, earning her the 2021 Democracy’s Watchdogs Award for Student Investigative Reporting and a nomination for the 2021 Walkley Student Journalist of the Year Award.