Latest news with #JusticeAngusStewart
The Guardian
17-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Sydney Muslim cleric told to prominently display online judge's findings he was ‘racist and antisemitic'
An Islamist preacher who used harmful racial stereotypes about Jewish people in sermons will be forced to tell the world of his antisemitism through prominent online posts. Sydney-based Al Madina Dawah Centre cleric Wissam Haddad was ordered by the federal court earlier in July not to repeat the perverse and racist tropes he used in a series of fiery sermons from November 2023. In the speeches, Haddad - who is also known as William Haddad or Abu Ousayd - variously referred to Jewish people as 'vile', 'treacherous', 'murderous' and 'mischievous'. Justice Angus Stewart found the sermons contained 'perverse generalisations' against Jewish people and included racist, antisemitic tropes. The judge on Thursday ordered the preacher 'pin' or 'feature' corrective notices describing the court's findings to the centre's website and social media pages on Facebook, Rumble, Instagram and Soundcloud. He has been given 21 days to comply with the order. As of Thursday afternoon, the posts had not been made. Haddad objected to prominently displaying the notices, saying this would go beyond what was ordinarily ordered by the courts. Pinning the posts would be tantamount to promoting or advertising the findings, he said. Justice Stewart ordered the notices to be pinned for 30 days, saying the requirement was not unduly burdensome and would stop them disappearing from view. 'It will prevent them from being deliberately buried by way of successive further posts,' the judge wrote. Promoting the notices was part of their objective, he said. 'The respondents promoted the unlawful lectures and it is not disproportionate to require them to promote the corrective notice in the relatively constrained manner described above as an appropriate form of redress,' he wrote in his judgement. The notice itself highlights the 'unlawful behaviour based on racial hatred' of Haddad and the centre. The three lectures - titled 'The Jews of Al Medina' and published on video hosting site Rumble - were reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate Jewish members of the Australian community, the notice says. The lawsuit was brought by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot, who claimed the lectures were offensive and could incite violence towards Jewish people. The pair said they were vindicated by Justice Stewart's findings, saying no community in Australia should be dehumanised. 'Freedom of expression should not be abused by the promotion of hateful anti-Semitism and those who wish to do so should know that conduct shouldn't be tolerated by us,' Goot told reporters after the judgement. The cleric has been ordered to remove the lectures and not to repeat similar racist statements about Jewish people in public. He will also have to pay the legal bill for Wertheim and Goot, which is estimated to be in the six figures.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Islamist preacher unable to 'bury' anti-Semitism ruling
An Islamist preacher who used harmful racial stereotypes about Jewish people in sermons will be forced to tell the world of his anti-Semitism through prominent online posts. Sydney-based Al Madina Dawah Centre cleric Wissam Haddad was ordered by the Federal Court earlier in July not to repeat the perverse and racist tropes used in a series of fiery sermons from November 2023. In the speeches, Mr Haddad - who is also known as William Haddad or Abu Ousayd - variously referred to Jewish people as "vile", "treacherous", "murderous" and "mischievous". Justice Angus Stewart found the sermons contained "perverse generalisations" against Jewish people and included racist, anti-Semitic tropes. The judge on Thursday ordered the preacher "pin" or "feature" corrective notices describing the court's findings to the centre's website and social media pages on Facebook, Rumble, Instagram and Soundcloud. He has been given 21 days to comply with the order and the posts had not been made as of Thursday afternoon. Mr Haddad objected to prominently displaying the notices, saying this would go beyond what was ordinarily ordered by the courts. Pinning the posts would be tantamount to promoting or advertising the findings, he said. Justice Stewart ordered the notices to be pinned for 30 days, saying the requirement was not unduly burdensome and would stop them disappearing from view. "It will prevent them from being deliberately buried by way of successive further posts," the judge wrote. Promoting the notices was part of their objective, he said. "The respondents promoted the unlawful lectures and it is not disproportionate to require them to promote the corrective notice in the relatively constrained manner described above as an appropriate form of redress," he wrote in his judgment. The notice itself highlights the "unlawful behaviour based on racial hatred" of Mr Haddad and the centre. The three lectures - titled "The Jews of Al Medina" and published on video hosting site Rumble - were reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate Jewish members of the Australian community, the notice says. The lawsuit was brought by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot, who claimed the lectures were offensive and could incite violence towards Jewish people. The pair said they were vindicated by Justice Stewart's findings, saying no community in Australia should be dehumanised. "Freedom of expression should not be abused by the promotion of hateful anti-Semitism and those who wish to do so should know that conduct shouldn't be tolerated by us," Mr Goot told reporters after the judgment. The cleric has been ordered to remove the lectures and not to repeat similar racist statements about Jewish people in public. He will also have to pay the legal bill for Mr Wertheim and Mr Goot, which is estimated to be in the six figures. Mr Haddad's speeches were delivered after Hamas, designated by Australia as a terrorist group, attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack sparked Israeli retaliation that has left Gaza in turmoil and tens of thousands of civilians dead.
Daily Mail
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Wissam Haddad BANNED from making anti-Semitic remarks in public after fiery sermons
An Islamist preacher can no longer make disparaging remarks about Jews in public after a landmark ruling on his speeches, in which he described them as vile and treacherous. Wissam Haddad, a cleric at the Sydney-based Al Madina Dawah Centre, was accused of racial discrimination in relation to a series of fiery sermons, which have racked up thousands of views online, since November 2023. In the speeches, the preacher, also known as Abu Ousayd, referred to Jewish people as vile, treacherous, murderous, and mischievous. Justice Angus Stewart on Tuesday found the speeches were disparaging and likely to offend, insult, harass or intimidate Jewish people. 'The imputations include age-old tropes against Jewish people that are fundamentally racist and anti-Semitic,' Justice Stewart said. 'They make perverse generalisations against Jewish people as a group.' During the landmark case testing the limits of religious expression and hate speech, two Jewish leaders argued the online lectures were offensive and could incite violence towards Jews. They sought the removal of the published speeches, a public declaration of error and an order restraining Mr Haddad from making similar comments in future. Mr Haddad denied breaching anti-discrimination laws and claimed he was delivering historical and religious lectures on events from the Koran to contextualise the war in Gaza. He said he was speaking about 'Jews of faith' rather than ethnicity while trying to explain that 'what the Israeli government is doing to the people of Gaza' is 'not something new'. Ruling against the preacher would be tantamount to restricting the free exercise of religious expression, Mr Haddad's lawyer argued. Justice Stewart rejected the defence on Tuesday and ordered Mr Haddad to remove the speeches. He directed the preacher not to make any further comments that convey similar disparaging imputations. Mr Haddad has also been ordered to foot the legal bill for Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot. The preacher did not appear in the Federal Court when Justice Stewart handed down his decision, arriving late. His speeches were delivered during a time of heightened sensitivity after the designated terror group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking Israeli retaliation that has left the Gaza Strip in turmoil. The reporting of the war prompted questions and concerns from Mr Haddad's congregants and at the same time left Jewish Australians feeling unsafe, the court was told.
ABC News
10-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Lawyers argue preacher Wissam Haddad's lectures were 'humiliating' and 'offensive' to Jews
Lawyers for the nation's peak Jewish body have told a judge speeches delivered by an Islamic preacher in Western Sydney contravened the Racial Discrimination Act and were calculated to "denigrate all Jewish people". The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) took Wissam Haddad to the Federal Court over a series of lectures delivered at the Al Madina Dawah Centre in Bankstown in November 2023. Mr Haddad denies he breached anti-discrimination laws and will argue in part that the speeches were based on religious text. On the opening day of the four-day hearing, Peter Braham SC, representing the council, told the court the speeches attributed negative characteristics to Jewish people and encouraged the audience to hold those views. Mr Braham said the aim was to inform the audience about Jews "as a people" using stories from the time of the prophet, and make "a general point about race". He told Justice Angus Stewart the intent was to "persuade an audience that the Jewish people have certain immutable and eternal characteristics that cause them to come in conflict with Muslims" and to "be the objects of contempt and hatred". "It's that exercise that's so dangerous," Mr Braham said. "It's threatening, it's humiliating and it's offensive. It's calculated to denigrate all Jewish people, including the Australian Jews for whom we appear. "It involved repeating a large range of offensive tropes about Jews; they're mischievous, they're a vile people, that they're treacherous, and that they control the media and banks et cetera." Mr Haddad is expected to give evidence and be cross-examined during the proceedings. Counsel for Mr Haddad, Andrew Boe, said this was not a case about antisemitism and it will be resolved by "sober, objective analysis". Mr Boe said the court should not form a view about the merits or otherwise of the religious views expressed by Mr Haddad, or their theological foundations. Mr Boe said in a democratic society, there must be room for "the confronting, the challenging, even the shocking". He said it was important in these types of cases for courts to take a "rigorous and detached approach" to applying the Racial Discrimination Act. That approach must maintain the "intended balance between, on the one hand, proscribing racially motivated behaviour that may be harmful in the Australian community, and on the other hand, preserving the freedoms of speech and religion that are so essential to the continued existence of a free democracy". The ECAJ asked the court for orders that there was a contravention of the law and an order requiring videos of the speeches to be removed online. It has also requested the court make an order prohibiting Mr Haddad and the centre from participating in similar conduct in the future. In defence documents, Mr Haddad argued the speeches were derived in substance from the text of the Koran and Hadith — reports believed by Muslims to be the words of Mohammed, his family and companions. He said some contained direct and allegorical references to that material, together with "political commentary on the Gaza war". Mr Haddad's lawyers denied there was any breach of the Racial Discrimination Act and said the speeches were directed only at practising Muslims. They further argued the centre was not a public place because members of the public do not have access to it as a right — its attendees must be either Muslim or permitted by a member of its committee. Mr Haddad's legal team says that if the court does find there was a contravention of the law, then that section of the Racial Discrimination Act is unconstitutional because it would be prohibiting the free exercise of religion.
