An anti-Zionist Jewish organization, the Jewish Council of Australia (JCA), has teamed up with a Hezbollah-linked group and a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated network to demand that the Australian government deny President Isaac Herzog a visa for his forthcoming visit this month.
Herzog is expected to visit Australia from February 8 to February 12 to show his support for the Jewish community and to visit the site of the December 14 Bondi Beach attack.
The latest move by the JCA highlights the ties that this controversial anti-Israel conglomerate has with groups linked to terrorist organizations.
It co-signed a statement with the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) and the Belgian-based Hind Rajab Foundation calling on Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, and the Australian Federal Police to refuse “entry for Israeli President Isaac Herzog and the commencement of a criminal investigation under Australian law.”
Ibrahim Abu Muhammed, the mufti of Australia, is the head of the ANIC. He is a member of the Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), which was founded by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, widely regarded as the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader.
In March 2025, Egyptian-born Mohammed signed a fatwa issued by the IUMS, calling on Muslims to arm and fund Hamas. It also declared violence against the “Zionist entity and all those who collaborate with it.”
The Hind Rajab Foundation is chaired by Dyab Abou Jahjah, who, in a 2003 New York Times article, claimed he had “joined the Hezbollah resistance against Israel” and “had some military training.” Jahjah is also included on the US government’s No Fly List because his family is linked, through business and personal ties, to Hezbollah’s terror-funding network.
Hind Rajab Foundation filed dozens of complaints against Israeli soldiers
Based in Belgium and named for a six-year-old Gaza girl killed in January 2024, the Hind Rajab Foundation has filed dozens of criminal complaints against Israeli soldiers and officials visiting or stationed in European countries over the past two years. It has no known offices in Australia.
Since its establishment in early 2024, moreover, the JCA has collaborated closely with the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), whose leaders have called October 7 “an act of resistance.”
As the JCA took legal action against Herzog, APAN head Nasser Mashni issued statements endorsing the step, saying “war criminals must be arrested, not welcomed.”
“The disgusting human in the head of a state of a country guilty of genocide,” Mashni said, referring to Herzog, in a video posted on his socials.
The JCA has frequently acted in lockstep with APAN, which has played a lead role in the anti-Israel protest movement since Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
For over two years, tens of pro-Palestinian protesters have taken over Australian city streets every week, praising October 7, calling for Israel’s destruction, chanting “intifada,” and at times, holding photos of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and waving their flags.
The JCA was set up in early 2024 by lawyer Sarah Schwartz and academic Max Kaiser. It successfully opposed a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism in 2025.
After the Bondi massacre, it objected to a Royal Commission into antisemitism, though the government eventually initiated such an investigation following a groundswell of public support.
Schwartz and Kaiser had previously been members of another anti-Zionist organization, the Loud Jew Collective, along with APAN board member Jordana Silverstein, and had marched at protests calling for Israel’s destruction. APAN and the JCA often work in tandem on events, fundraising, and social media activations.
Beyond backing the push to prevent Herzog’s visit to Australia as well, the APAN prompted several anti-Israel groups to demand that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government call off the planned visit by the Israeli president.
Many have announced they will carry out mass demonstrations on February 9 under the slogan, “Protest Israel’s president.”