HADASSAH Australia has defended its decision to host an event featuring World Vision Australia CEO Tim Costello as keynote speaker following allegations the organisation’s director in Gaza has been diverting funds to the military wing of Hamas.
Mohammed El Halabi is currently facing charges in an Israeli court. In an op-ed in The AJN two weeks ago (09/09), Costello condemned terror, said he would be shocked and outraged if the allegations were true and noted that World Vision has commissioned a new audit to investigate the claims.
However, responding to his piece, Rabbi James Kennard (AJN 16/09) noted that the organisation is often critical of the Israeli government and the IDF but is silent when it comes to terror attacks on Israelis, while NGO Monitor’s Gerald Steinberg lamented “no auditing firm can possibly track diversions in a closed area governed by corruption, violence and fear”.
Costello is due to deliver the Hadassah Australia annual oration on November 2, on the topic “Charity in a Time of Terror – from Gaza to Nauru: My World Vision”.
Read the report by Joshua Levi in the Australian Jewish News.