Australian charity funneling millions in donations directly to Israeli soldiers: Report

An Australian charity has made a significant contribution of nearly $29 million in 2024 to Keren Hayesod, a fundraising organization that identifies itself as a fundamental support for Israel, with the tax-deductible donations flowing directly to Israeli soldiers during the peak of the Gaza genocide, a report says.

Financial disclosures released by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission showed that United Israel Appeal (UIA) Australia has been sending the bulk of its tax-free donations and sponsorships collected from Australians to Israel via its global partner Keren Hayesod since it began reporting its financial status in 2013. That remittance amounted to $376 million altogether. 

In 2024 alone, UIA Australia received $50.9 million in tax-deductible donations and sponsorships.

Financial statements from Keren Hayesod show the Australian charity received AU$323 million in global donations in 2024, with 98.5% originating overseas.

On that basis, Australian fundraising accounted for roughly 13% of Keren Hayesod’s worldwide donation base last year.

UIA's self-described mission in the short-term is “to provide immediate support and assistance to individuals facing persecution, famine, or significant hardships in various countries, ensuring their welfare, education, and transportation to Israel.”

UIA emphasized that its long-term goal is to facilitate “integration into Israeli society” and provide vocational training for individuals impacted by the aforementioned challenges.

It is difficult to determine how diaspora Jews, who are choosing to travel to the Israeli-occupied territories to join the military after the genocidal war in Gaza, fit into the broader narrative.

Among the programs UIA promotes in Australia is assistance for “lone immigrant soldiers”, individuals who migrate to the occupied lands and serve in the Israeli military.

UIA states that it supported 2,200 lone immigrant soldiers in 2024. According to its impact report, an impressive 65 percent decided to stay in the Israeli-occupied lands.

The revelations come as UIA’s fundraising expansion has occurred during the Gaza genocide and escalating violence across the occupied West Bank.

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A January 2026 report from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights highlighted that the laws, policies, and practices of Israel have led to suffocating conditions for Palestinians living in the West Bank and East al-Quds.

The report stated that there has been an “unprecedented deterioration of the human rights situation” since October 2023, as Israel “further expanded the use of unlawful force, arbitrary detention and torture, repression of civil society and undue restrictions on media freedoms, severe movement restrictions, settlement expansion and related violations in the occupied West Bank.”

In a recent address at the National Press Club, Chris Sidoti, a commissioner with the UN Commission of Inquiry on Palestine and Israel, asserted that following the Commission’s determination of genocide committed by Israel in Gaza, “anyone who has served in any arm of the Israeli military in Gaza should be treated as a suspect.”

Since the ceasefire took effect in early October last year, Israeli strikes have killed 524 Palestinians and wounded 1,360 others, and committed 1,450 violations, the Gaza media office stated on Saturday.

The media office added that the Israeli army has abducted 50 Palestinians since the agreement took effect, from areas far from the so-called “yellow line” and from within residential neighborhoods.

Concerning the humanitarian protocol, the office reported that Israel has permitted 28,927 trucks for aid, commercial goods, and fuel to enter, from a total of 66,600 trucks stipulated in the agreement, reflecting a compliance rate of 43%.

The Gaza ceasefire agreement was made to end a two-year Israeli genocidal war that killed 71,800 Palestinians and wounded 171,555 others. Despite the ceasefire, Israeli attacks against Palestinians continue both in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The bloody campaign has destroyed roughly 90% of the civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, with UN estimates placing reconstruction costs at about $70 billion.

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