diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.ant/src/org/eclipse/jgit/ant/tasks/GitInitTask.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.ant/src/org/eclipse/jgit/ant/tasks/GitInitTask.java
index cab45e0c0..7b1610eeb 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.ant/src/org/eclipse/jgit/ant/tasks/GitInitTask.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.ant/src/org/eclipse/jgit/ant/tasks/GitInitTask.java
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.Task;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.Git;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.InitCommand;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.api.errors.JGitInternalException;
 
 /**
  * Create an empty git repository.
@@ -86,8 +87,12 @@ public class GitInitTask extends Task {
 		} else {
 			log("Initializing repository at " + destination);
 		}
-		InitCommand init = Git.init();
-		init.setBare(bare).setDirectory(destination);
-		init.call();
+		try {
+			InitCommand init = Git.init();
+			init.setBare(bare).setDirectory(destination);
+			init.call();
+		} catch (JGitInternalException e) {
+			throw new BuildException("Could not initialize repository", e);
+		}
 	}
 }