Rateb Jneid, a former bankrupt, builder, lawyer, religious minister, and marriage celebrant, has found himself at the center of a civil war within Australia's top Muslim organization, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC). With a $56 million property portfolio and $4.5 million in annual revenue, AFIC is a powerful entity that lobbies prime ministers and state premiers on behalf of the Muslim community. Jneid, the organization's president, has been accused of hijacking AFIC and using it for personal gain, with claims of donations linked to his family's charities and a warning from the government regulator that AFIC risks losing its charity status.
Jneid, who has delayed the election four times during his nine years as president, has a colorful family history. Two of his brothers were sentenced to up to 15 years in jail for trafficking methamphetamine, and another brother, Zakaria Jneid, is the president of International Humanitarian Aid Inc., a charity that has received $400,000 in donations since 2020 but has little public record of any aid it has directly delivered.
The internal dispute within AFIC has escalated, with Jneid accusing his former assistant treasurer, Mohammed Berjaoui, of undermining the organization by disseminating misleading material. Berjaoui claims that AFIC has strayed far from its founding purpose and that Jneid has transformed the charity from one focused on logistics such as building schools and mosques to a political player in its own right.
The civil war has seen members expelled, email campaigns enveloping foreign embassies, and a bitter legal feud with AFIC's NSW affiliate, United Muslims NSW. The charity regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC), has also warned AFIC that it risks losing its charity status and Commonwealth tax concessions if it fails to manage its conflicts of interest and accountability obligations.
Jneid's critics within the organization fear that his replacement will be one of his many proxies, and his influence within AFIC's governance will remain. The election delays have left AFIC in limbo, with the organization continuing to tear itself apart on multiple fronts. The internal warfare within AFIC is a complex and visceral struggle, and it remains to be seen how the organization will emerge from this crisis.
