The keynote speaker at Jewish National Fund Australia’s annual fundraiser describes UN findings on Israel’s Gaza genocide as “modern blood libels”. Stephanie Tran reports.
Natasha Hausdorff, director of UK Lawyers for Israel, told a JNF Australia campaign event in Melbourne that allegations of ethnic cleansing, occupation, apartheid, genocide, starvation and war crimes were part of an international campaign to delegitimise Israel.
“These are the modern blood libels, but so often they are delivered through the use of international legal terms, and that’s not by accident. That is to shut down debate. That is to intimidate you, ladies and gentlemen, people who have come here tonight to support Israel,” Hausdorff said.
“You must have seen allegations that IDF soldiers use Palestinian children as target practice, but they change the body part that they target day to day.”
MWM has obtained a recording of the Melbourne event, held on 3 September as part of JNF Australia’s annual campaign, which also featured the Israeli ambassador, Hillel Newman.
The fundraising events were held in Sydney on 1 September, Melbourne on 3 September and Perth on 6 September, marking the 125th anniversary of the Jewish National Fund.
Send Hillel Newman home: Australia has tolerated his contempt long enough
The “next front to this war”
Hausdorff told the Melbourne audience that international law had become “the eighth front to this war”.
“The eighth front to this war, is the front of international media, international public opinion, international politics and diplomacy … and international law, and we need an army to fight back these fronts and perform miracles in the same way that the IDF have performed miracles on the battle fronts of this war,” describing
international law as the ‘modern ethical face of anti-Semitism’.
“Why is international law at the core of what we are fighting here? Well, it comes down to the modern ethical face of anti-Semitism. It’s not just anti-Zionism, but it is channelled through the abuse, inversion, misrepresentation, and weaponisation of international law.”
“International law and human rights are essentially channelling that acceptable face of anti-Semitism today,” Hausdorff said.
Her comments come after the UN Commission of Inquiry on Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel concluded in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
In June this year, the Commission said Israel was continuing to commit genocide and other atrocity crimes, finding that Palestinian children had been deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli forces.
Since October 2023, more than 64,000 children have been killed or injured in Gaza.
“Hamas propaganda”
Hausdorff specifically attacked Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as the UN Commission of Inquiry, accusing them of promoting what she called “Hamas propaganda”.
She said the organisations did not have sufficient personnel on the ground in Gaza and accused them of taking information from Hamas, passing it through reports and ultimately having it cited by international institutions.
“That is the process that our enemies are relying upon,” she said.
“The answer, ladies and gentlemen, is yes, and they are all wrong for the same reason, because they are all promoting this propaganda of Hamas and other internationally prescribed terrorist organisations.”
Hausdorff said she hoped a proposed “Centre for International Law” would provide infrastructure to challenge the UN and organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
“Through setting up now the Centre for International Law, I really do hope that we can build that infrastructure to take on the UN, and to hold Amnesty and Human Rights Watch to account.”
JNF’s 125-year campaign
Hausdorff was speaking at JNF Australia’s annual campaign events, which this year marked 125 years of the organisation.
Israel’s ambassador, Dr Hillel Newman, praised JNF Australia for its longstanding support of Israel.
“For 125 years, JNF has understood that strengthening the Jewish future means strengthening Israel and the Jewish people,” Newman said.
“JNF has always been there for Israel. JNF chooses the most relevant projects to support. That is more than solidarity; it is Jewish peoplehood. On behalf of the State of Israel, I express appreciation to JNF Australia and the Australian Jewish community for your steadfast friendship and enduring partnership and support.”
A previous MWM investigation found that JNF Australia raised funds for projects linked to Israeli settlements and programs supporting soldiers in the IDF.
Millions in tax-deductible donations to IDF, illegal settlements
JNF Australia has remitted more than $125m to Israel since 2009 and received more than $213m in tax-deductible donations since 2013, according to financial records.
In 2024, the organisation received about $12m in donations and bequests and remitted $10.4m to Israel.
JNF Australia maintains that it operates independently of its Israeli parent, Keren Kayemet LeYisrael. However, financial records show that tax-deductible donations raised by JNF Australia have been directly transferred to its Israeli ‘parent’.
In 2024, the Canada Revenue Agency revoked the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund of Canada over the use of donations for projects linked to settlements and military infrastructure.
Despite the International Court of Justice (ICJ) finding that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful, the Australian government has not barred JNF Australia from receiving tax-deductible donations.
Earlier this week, the government voted down a Greens bill that would have stripped deductible gift recipient status from Australian charities found to be funding illegal settlements.
Labor and Coalition vote down bill to strip tax breaks from charities funding Israel war machine
IDF a “moral army”
Hausdorff also called the IDF a “moral army” and praised them for performing “miracles”.
“We have seen, frankly, miracles over the last two and a half years performed by the valiant brave soldiers in the IDF, the Air Force, Navy, and Army,” she said.
She argued that Israel took greater precautions to protect civilians than “any other army in history”.
“The requirement from an international law perspective is to keep those civilian casualties as low as possible,” she said.
“Israel takes more measures than any other army in history to do exactly that by ensuring warnings, by abandoning strikes when that proportionality analysis is out … the commitment that the IDF has to the preservation of life is at the core of what is driving these initiatives.”
She cited the IDF’s “code of ethics” and the principle of “purity of arms”, saying these were embedded in soldiers from their first week of basic training.
Those claims are in stark contrast with the findings of UN investigators and human rights organisations documenting the conduct of Israeli forces in Gaza.
The UN Commission’s June report found that Israeli forces had deliberately targeted Palestinian children and concluded that the conduct amounted to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
International law “weaponised” against Western civilisation
Hausdorff also criticised the international legal consensus on the unlawfulness of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
She told the audience that she regarded her role as providing a counter-narrative to the allegations against Israel.
“Even if I weren’t able to explain the legal nuances, why settlements are not illegal, why Judea ought not to be ethnically cleansed of its Jews, even so, even though the ICJ has said it,” she said, “the fact that I’m there providing a counter … is the most important part of my mission.”
The International Court of Justice’s July 2024 advisory opinion found that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and ordered it to bring that presence to an end as rapidly as possible and cease all new settlement activity. The Court also reaffirmed its 2004 advisory opinion that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, had been established and were being maintained in violation of international law.
Hausdorff nevertheless described international institutions as being “weaponised” against Western countries.
“We can see this weaponisation of international institutions – the UN, the ICJ, the ICC,” she said.
“We are losing these international courts and tribunals and international institutions to the weaponisation of international law against Western civilisation.”
Despite this, Hausdorff was optimistic.
“In addition to those outside of our bubble understanding that they’ve been lied to, once they internalise that the West is next, that this is not just about Israel, but that these people are coming for their way of life, I foresee that we will have many allies in this fight.”
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.