A self-proclaimed “leading civil rights organisation” has fed false and inflammatory information about Muslims to the media, while receiving large federal grants designed to “build harmonious and socially cohesive communities.” Zach Szumer reports.
The chairperson of the Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), Dr Dvir Abramovich, has been left with egg on his face by an ABC Media Watch expose that showed Abramovich fed false information to Melbourne media outlets.
As Media Watch’s Paul Barry explained this week, in mid-July, Abramovich sent a photo to radio station 3AW and then gave an interview in which he claimed the photo showed a Hamas flag being flown in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens.
“Antisemitism and the glorification of terrorism have gone mainstream in Melbourne”, he told 3AW host Tom Elliott. “Hamas terrorist supporters have hijacked the public space.”
A day later, the Herald Sun ran an article based on the false information, leading its headline with another Abramovich quote – that the flag was a “declaration of war.”
The problem? It wasn’t a Hamas flag, as Media Watch confirmed with several experts fluent in Arabic. One told Media Watch the flag was one often carried during commemorations of the Shi’a Muslim holy day of Ashura. An Ashura event was taking place in Fitzroy Gardens on the day the photo was taken.
Who is the ADC?
Dvir Abramovich
What the Media Watch report didn’t mention was that Abramovich’s organisation – the Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) – is currently the beneficiary of $6 million dollars in federal grant money, dispensed as part of intercultural and religious harmony programs.
It also seems possible that, upon receiving this money, Abramovich gave himself a $200,000 pay rise – although this isn’t confirmed and Abramovich didn’t respond to requests for clarification from MWM.
The stated objective of the ADC, which Abramovich took the helm of in 2012, is to “ensure a safe and fair society for Australians of all faiths and cultures by combating antisemitism and all forms of hatred.”
It “works tirelessly … to build a diverse, mutually respectful, tolerant society, where people, irrespective of their faith, creed, national origin, gender and ethnicity, live together harmoniously,” according to its Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) profile.
It also claims to be “Australia’s leading civil rights organisation” – a line that has been parroted by the ABC and SBS on several occasions (exhibit A, exhibit B, exhibit C, exhibit D).
ADC Funding
According to the ACNC, about 65 per cent of the ADC’s funding is from the government, and nearly all of this is from two non-competitive grants disbursed when Josh Frydenberg was treasurer. While Abramovich refers to Frydenberg as a “friend”, he didn’t make an appearance in Frydenberg’s recent Sky News documentary on antisemitism.
MWM has seen no evidence of Frydenberg or Abramovich breaking any rules in relation to these two grants.
Between 2020 and 2021, the ADC received two $3 million dollar grants from the Department of Education, Skills and Employment.
Both grants were awarded through closed non-competitive grant selection process – essentially, the ADC didn’t beat out other applicants; it was hand-picked.
The first was for the expansion of an online educational resource called Click Against Hate, designed to “assist primary and secondary school students to develop interfaith understanding, an appreciation of diversity, and provide them with strategies to respond to incidences of intolerance online,” according to grant documents.
The second grant was for the development of a Holocaust Education Digital Platform, which would “enable students to learn about the Holocaust and its relevance to modern-day issues, including moral decision making, civic duty and responsible citizenship.”
According to grant documents, the disbursement period for the grants is from the financial years 2020 to 2023 and 2021 to 2024, respectively.
ADC Expenses
In bequeathing the money to the ADC’s Click against Hate program, the department said the program would serve the objective of “continuing to build harmonious and socially cohesive communities”.
MWM has viewed the Click Against Hate teaching materials and didn’t see anything that goes against this ethos. We understand that the online Holocaust Education Digital Platform is still under development.
According to the most recent ACNC filings (up to FY2023), ADC’s expenses over this same period have been roughly $2.6m – less than half of the $6m allocated in these two grants.
Source: ADC reports
The department said it could not provide an on-the-record response when asked whether there had been an extension or change to the grant terms that would explain the discrepancy between disbursed grant money and expenses.
It also didn’t respond to questions about whether unspent money would be reclaimed.
Financial statements uploaded to the ACNC show that between 2019 and 2021, employee expenses at the ADC rose from $79,247 to $317,435. Since 2023, these expenses have settled at around $275,000.
In all but one of the last five financial years, the ADC has only reported one full-time employee to the ACNC.
Source: ADC reports
There is no clarity on whether this one employee is Abramovich, but in a March 20 Jewish Independent article, former ADC executive director Deborah Stone writes that the organisation is “primarily a platform for Chairman Dvir Abramovich”.
Abramovich didn’t respond to multiple requests for clarification on this issue.
One rule for me, but another for thee?
While some of Abramovich’s regular Facebook posts denounce undeniable incidents of antisemitism, he has previously displayed a disregard for both freedom of speech and other people’s personal safety.
He has also arguably doxed pro-Palestinian activists, despite being highly critical of doxing when details of the ‘Jewish Australian creatives and academics’ WhatsApp group were leaked earlier this year.
On March 18, he shared a screenshot from a private Deakin University Facebook group showing the name of a pro-Palestinian student activist.
On May 13, ahead of the Israeli military’s assault on Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, he shared via his public Facebook page an image of a young retail worker with “All Eyes on Rafah” written on their cheeks.
While he didn’t share this person’s name with his thousands of followers, he did share their work location.
On May 28, he did the same to an Apple store worker wearing a red and white keffiyeh.
In mid-May, he referred to Pro-Palestine protesters at Labor’s national conference as “Pro-Hamas”.
Many of his Facebook posts are simply pictures of Palestinian flags, seemingly implying that any display of Palestinian nationalism is an act worthy of condemnation.
Abramovich did not respond to questions from MWM on these issues.
The University of Melbourne – where Abramovich is employed as a senior lecturer in Hebrew studies – told MWM that “freedom of speech is respected and supported at the University of Melbourne and is central to our values and identity.”
“Our freedom of expression policy supports the right of all scholars at the university [to] hold and express diverse opinions within the limits of the law,” a university spokesperson said.
From community to one-man show?
MWM understands that the ADC was once run in a more communal fashion but that Abramovich tightened his personal control over the organisation around 2019.
Before that, the ADC was administered by the Australian arm of the international Jewish community service organisation B’nai B’rith and was based at Melbourne’s Beth Weizmann Jewish Community Centre.
ACNC filings show that the organisation’s governing principles were amended by a “Special Resolution of Members” in May 2019.
Unlike other Jewish organisations – such as the Zionist Federation of Australia, the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia and the Rabbinical Council of Victoria – the ACNC website lists no information about the board or committee members of the ADC.
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Zacharias Szumer is a freelance writer from Melbourne. In addition to Michael West Media, he has written for The Monthly, Overland, Jacobin, The Quietus, The South China Morning Post and other outlets.
He was also responsible for our War Power Reforms series.