Repeat alerts to National Security Hotline over Sydney charity worker’s Hamas-linked fundraisers- AJA comments in article By Suzan Giuliani The National Security Hotline was contacted at least four times over concerns about alleged terrorism financing involving a Western Sydney charity worker. The Sunday Telegraph has spoken to three people from Sydney and Melbourne who made repeated complaints to Australian authorities about charity worker Dalya Ayoub’s fundraising activities for Qawafil Al Khair and her social media posts praising Hamas, including labelling “Jihad” as “an act of worship”, after the October 7, 2023, terror attacks on Israel. The complaints were lodged with several agencies, including Home Affairs’ National Security Hotline, eSafety Commissioner, Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), NSW Fair Trading, the Australian Taxation Office and the eSafety Commissioner. The Sunday Telegraph has sighted at least 15 emails and screenshots of online reports documenting complaints submitted through official reporting channels. But despite repeated warnings to authorities, Ms Ayoub, who previously lived in Bass Hill before relocating to the Middle East in early 2023, continued promoting fundraising campaigns that attracted donations from Australians. It can also be revealed that another woman, Fatima Khodr, who lives in Melbourne, worked closely with Ms Ayoub, publicly promoting Qawafil and sharing fundraising campaigns associated with the charity since 2021. The revelations come after a major Sunday Telegraph investigation exposed Ms Ayoub’s fundraising activities for Qawafil, which was sanctioned by the United States in January over its financial support for Hamas’s military wing. Ms Ayoub’s own campaign, titled “Qawafil Australia / Ust. Dalya Ayoub”, displayed more than US$1 million in donations on crowd-funding platform Ensany. A separate GoFundMe campaign created by Ms Ayoub, who has since been banned from the platform, raised more than $1.5 million. One woman, who contacted the National Security Hotline at least four times between November 2023 and January 2026 and lodged complaints with other authorities, said she was “bewildered” that Ms Ayoub had been able to continue fundraising and publishing social media content praising Hamas. In one complaint, the woman warned: “There are also concerns around whether any of this money is going to support terrorist activities as she openly praises acts of terrorism as ‘resistance’.” “To me, this really exposed grave national security failures in our system,” she told The Telegraph. “For the past three years I’ve seen multiple fundraisers where she has continued to advertise campaigns that have raised millions of dollars, with a lot of donations coming from Australians.” In another report, seen by The Telegraph, which was dated November 13, 2023, the eSafety Commissioner advised the same woman it had reviewed 10 Instagram posts, including content describing October 7 as an “unprecedented beginning” and referring to “Jihad” as an “act of worship”. However, eSafety said it “did not locate any material that advocates the doing of a terrorist act or material that contains detailed instruction or promotion in matters of crime or violence”. The woman challenged the finding, pointing to videos and images she said depicted the October 7 attacks, including confronting footage from the Nova music festival massacre and armed Hamas militants entering an Israeli town. “I can’t see how it’s in the public interest to keep this material online,” she wrote. Another source, who made reports to Instagram about Ms Ayoub’s content, said she was “dumbfounded” that posts she believed glorified dead Hamas terrorists as “martyrs” had not been removed. A third person, who contacted the ACNC, raised concerns after Ms Ayoub directed Australian donors to a local bank account under the name “Life Matters”, an organisation she founded in 2024. He said he received no substantive follow-up from authorities despite raising concerns about the fundraising arrangements. Ms Ayoub worked closely with Melbourne woman Ms Khodr, who has publicly promoted her involvement with Qawafil and shared fundraising material linked to the organisation since 2021. According to her LinkedIn profile, Ms Khodr is a qualified remedial therapist based in Melbourne. On January 15 this year, Ms Khodr wrote on Instagram: “This day is the day where one of our precious CEO was assassinated by the occupation”, alongside a photograph of Ali Al-Maghribi, a founder of Qawafil who has documented links to Hamas. Ms Khodr had previously included a Qawafil fundraising link in her Instagram biography, which is understood to have been changed following the announcement of US sanctions against the charity. A federal government source told The Telegraph that authorities had received reports concerning Ms Khodr’s fundraising activities and online conduct. Meanwhile, despite Qawafil-linked fundraising pages associated with Ms Ayoub being removed earlier this month, around the time The Telegraph began raising questions about the charity, other campaigns promoted by Ms Ayoub have continued to attract donations through the online platform Ensany. The campaigns, some of which have attracted donations from people identifying themselves as being from Sydney and Melbourne, have raised thousands of dollars since the Qawafil links were removed. While the newer campaigns are not explicitly listed under Qawafil, their continued operation raises questions about transparency, oversight and the scrutiny of Australian donations directed to overseas humanitarian causes. Associate Professor Josh Roose, a Deakn University expert on religion and violent extremism, said while agencies would not disclose if someone was under investigation, it was “concerning that any fundraising allegedly linked to terrorism would be able to continue unabated”. “It is becoming evident that charities may be a largely unwatched back door for such funding, and much more scrutiny, and the associated resources to do so, is necessary,” Dr Roose said. Last week, in response to the allegations, Ms Ayoub’s lawyer Moustafa Kheir, from Birchgrove Legal, said his client “was not aware of alleged Hamas connections” to the charity. “Since the US sanctions were brought to her attention she has ceased operations with all organisations and run the humanitarian projects under her own name,” Mr Kheir said. “Ms Ayoub has only ever supported humanitarian projects – some of which had an involvement by Qawafil. “The purpose, even prior to the genocide, has always been to assist innocent civilians and families suffering in Gaza and to provide desperately needed humanitarian aid. “None of her activities have had anything to do with supporting armed groups financially and she has been public about every single project she raised funds for in Gaza since the genocide began.” Meanwhile, opposition home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam said the National Security Hotline was supposed to be a “frontline defence against terrorism”. “It would be disastrous if Australians were reporting suspected terrorist activity and those warnings weren’t being properly investigated and actioned,” Mr Duniam said. “Minister (Tony) Burke needs to explain exactly how these complaints were handled, whether they were referred to our law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and what steps were taken to ensure Australian donations weren’t ending up in the hands of terrorists.” National Council of Jewish Women of Australia president Lynda Ben-Menashe said: “The e-safety, cultural safety and physical safety of every Australian is at risk unless we wake up to the real threats posed by hostile actors outside and inside our country.” “It’s time to start listening to the people who already knew this, and take action.” Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory said: “The allegations are extremely disturbing and raise serious questions about how fundraising activities in Australia are being monitored.” “If concerns about possible terrorism financing were repeatedly reported to the National Security Hotline, Australians deserve to know what action was taken and whether the warnings were properly investigated,” he said. A NSW Fair Trading spokeswoman said that in late 2023, the authority received a complaint concerning charitable fundraising by Life Matters Academy and Ms Ayoub. “NSW Fair Trading acted on that complaint and investigated the matters which resulted in a formal warning being issued to an associated holder of a charitable fundraising authority,” the spokeswoman said. “Any allegation that funds may have been directed to Hamas is a serious matter and should be referred to the Australian Federal Police and Austrac, which are the appropriate authorities to investigate such allegations. “NSW Fair Trading will cooperate fully with relevant law enforcement agencies and provide any information it is lawfully able to provide.” An eSafety spokesman said it had also identified one complaint in relation to this material received through the Illegal and Restricted Content scheme in 2023. “eSafety is unable to comment on specific details of individual complaints, however, it is important to stress the threshold for removal of material under this scheme is set high under the Online Safety Act to protect freedom of speech,” he said. “For eSafety to require removal the material must be, or be likely to be, Refused Classification by the Australian Classification Board. “To meet this threshold material must either promote, incite or instruct in matters of crime or violence, or in the case of praise for terrorist activity, it must also pose a substantial risk that such praise could have the effect of leading a person to engage in terrorism. An example might include the publication of a terrorist manifesto following a terrorist attack. “Recent experience has shown how, following appeal processes, even extreme graphic footage like that showing the Wakeley terrorist stabbing in 2024 and the shooting death of Charlie Kirk in 2025 does not meet the criteria to be considered refused classification and therefore subject to eSafety’s legal removal powers under the Online Safety Act.” The federal government, Ms Ayoub and Ms Khodr were contacted for comment.

Israel's election: A case for continuity AJA President Robert Gregory writes in this week's Australian Jewish News Israel’s election is for Israelis to decide but has profound consequences for Australian Jews. October 7, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, will shadow the Netanyahu Government. Yet any assessment must also recognise the strategic transformation that followed. While October 7 could have happened under any government, no leader could have handled the aftermath with Netanyahu’s combination of experience, resolve and international relationships. Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s network have been devastated. Sinwar, Nasrallah and Khamenei are gone. Gaza hasn’t fired a rocket in over a year. The successful pager operation has Lebanon now discussing Hezbollah’s disarmament and possible peace. Assad’s fall transformed Syria. Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure is crippled. Most significantly, every Israeli hostage, living or deceased, has returned. Netanyahu was laser-focused on Iran and masterfully escalated the confrontation to its source, despite extraordinary international pressure. He defied Biden’s opposition to entering Rafah where Sinwar was hiding and hostages were held. It’s hard to imagine less-experienced leadership withstanding this pressure. Many opposition figures wanted to stop the war at every turn and sign premature ceasefires. Nasrallah and Sinwar would still be alive, and Iran’s nuclear program would be hanging over Israel’s head. Annually, Netanyahu enters the lion’s den of the United Nations and makes Israel’s case in impeccable English in contrast to Gadi Eisenkot’s faltering English. The left blames Netanyahu for October 7, citing his failure to launch pre-emptive war and permission for Qatari aid. That hardly justifies electing opposition parties which advocated even greater appeasement. The Opposition’s only viable path requires cooperation with Islamist party Ra’am, a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot. Democrats leader Yair Golan accused Israel of “killing babies as a hobby” and compared developments in Israel to Nazi Germany. The war is not over. Iran is wounded but not defeated, a jihadist army grows in Syria and Erdogan’s Turkey looms on the horizon. Israel faces surging antisemitism, sanctions, boycotts and further International Criminal Court (ICC) warrants. Diaspora Jews expecting antisemitism to decline after Netanyahu leaves face a rude awakening. Israel’s next leader must confront the wrath of the Europeans, United Nations and the Democrat Party in America. Not everything is bleak. Despite prolonged war, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has kept the economy pumping. GDP growth is projected at 4% in 2026 and 5.5% in 2027. Unemployment is low; inflation within target. Smotrich also led a revolution in Judea and Samaria, Israel’s heartland, approving tens of thousands of Jewish homes, including the critical E1 area protecting Jerusalem, promised by Israeli leaders since Yitzchak Rabin in 1994. Meanwhile, an unprecedented government campaign has demolished thousands of illegal Arab buildings that threatened security and sovereignty in areas like Jerusalem and the Negev. The Abraham Accords, signed under Netanyahu, endure despite years of war. Israel is strengthening ties globally from Latin America to the Pacific. Colombia just became the tenth country to open a Jerusalem embassy. As right-wing parties surge across Europe, Israel’s Government is well-placed to strengthen ties, having wisely abandoned longstanding boycotts. Netanyahu’s relationship with President Trump has delivered recognition of Israel’s capital and Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. He has addressed Congress more often than any other foreign leader, surpassing Churchill and met with Trump more than any other leader. With two years remaining in Trump’s term, can a newcomer start from scratch? The governing bloc is diverse. Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana is Israel’s highest-ranking gay politician ever, serving alongside Orthodox rabbis. Secular Likud voters, Religious Zionists, Ashkenazi and Sephardi Haredim, and Israelis from the periphery coexist in the first government to complete a full term since 1988. Haredi military service remains a serious national challenge. Few Israelis want the status quo established under Labor to continue but opposition rhetoric describing fellow Jews as parasites verges on antisemitism. Enlistment has been rising. A sensible, practical approach is needed. Reckless grandstanding by politicians will fill Israel’s prisons and clog its roads with fiery protests but won’t draft any Charedim. For the first time, for Australian Jews, there is another consideration: a government that will confront a hostile Albanese Government when it fails our community. Australian Aliyah is rising and Labor is planning further hostile sanctions. Through my role at the Australian Jewish Association, I have witnessed this government’s concern for the welfare of Australian Jews. After the Bondi attack, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli contacted us as he was boarding a flight to Australia. AJA hosted him at Chabad Bondi. From Smotrich’s Party, MK Simcha Rothman planned a solidarity visit before Tony Burke revoked his visa while Aliyah Minister Ofir Sofer and MK Ohad Tal visited. Israelis must decide who should navigate the unfinished war and the opportunities ahead. With so much at stake, is now the moment to change experienced hands at the wheel? The decision belongs to Israelis, but its consequences will be felt throughout the Jewish world. Robert Gregory President Australian Jewish Association * The Australian Jewish Association does not endorse political parties or candidates, in Australia or overseas.