Jewish leaders sue Sydney Muslim preacher Wissam Haddad over what they claim are racially charged comments

A Sydney Jewish leader has told a court he was left feeling “dehumanised” after a controversial Islamic cleric allegedly made a series of “derogatory” and “insulting” remarks about Jews in a series of religious sermons posted to social media.

Abu Ousayd, also known as Wissam Haddad, a Sydney-based Islamic cleric, who recited parables calling for the killing of Jews.

A Sydney Jewish leader has told a court he was left feeling “dehumanised” after a controversial Islamic cleric allegedly made a series of “derogatory” and “insulting” remarks about Jews in a series of religious sermons posted to social media.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) co-CEO Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot are suing high profile Sydney Muslim preacher Wissam Haddad in the Federal Court over what they claim was a series of “inflammatory” comments he made about Jewish people in five recorded sermons delivered just weeks after the deadly October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel.

A four-day hearing into the allegations began on Tuesday, with the court set to determine if Haddad — and Bankstown’s Al Madina Dawah Centre, which hosts Haddad and posted videos of the sermons online — contravened the Racial Discrimination Act.

Haddad denies any breach occurred, claiming the speeches largely referenced and quoted Islamic scripture and were a genuine discussion for the purpose of religious education surrounding the unfolding Gaza war.

Wissam Haddad. Picture: NewsWire

According to a statement of claim filed with the court, Wertheim and Goot allege Haddad’s commentary implied Jewish people were “mischievous”, “oppressive”, “shifty” and “arrogant” and “should be killed” by Muslims.

They allege the sermons further implied that Jewish people target Muslims by controlling the media, big business and banks and that they were “slanderous, troublemakers and schemers”.

Giving evidence in court, Wertheim said the ECAJ’s annual report on anti-Semitism in Australia found there had been a seven-fold increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Australia in the two months after the Hamas October 7, 2023 attacks, compared with the same two months the previous year.

“We have previously felt safe in Australia — it’s become far less so since October 7, 2023,” Wertheim told the court.

He named the Opera House anti-Israel protests as an example of Jews feeling unsafe in Australia, saying he’d never encountered anything like it.

“That’s behaviour of a racist nature that’s completely alien to our experiences in Australia,” he said.

When asked to identify how he felt unsafe, he cited the use of “dehumanising language” towards Jews at both the protests and by Haddad in his speeches.

“Making derogatory generalisations, calling Jews a vile, treacherous people, calling them brats, cowards. That in my view is very dehumanising,” he said.

The court heard police had investigated the Opera House incident but determined no criminal laws had been broken.

Meanwhile, the court was told Wertheim and Goot only became aware of the sermons after reading about them in media reports.

Lawyers for Haddad likened Jews watching the sermons then taking offence to them as akin to “a person of a prudish sensitivity seeking out pronography and then complaining about it”.

Explainer: Jewish leaders sue Islamic cleric over alleged hate speech

A controversial Islamic cleric accused of racial vilification allegedly likened the country’s conservative politicians to dogs on a “Jewish leash” and claimed Jews were the descendants of pigs, according to Federal Court documents.

High profile Sydney Muslim preacher Wissam Haddad, who is also known as Abu Ousayd, is being sued by two members of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) over what they claim was a series of “inflammatory” and “insulating” comments he made about Jewish people in five recorded sermons delivered just weeks after the deadly October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel.

A four-day hearing into the allegations is set to begin on Tuesday, with the court being asked to determine if Haddad and the Bankstown-based Al Madina Dawah Centre, which posted videos of the sermons online, contravened the Racial Discrimination Act.

Haddad denies any breach occurred, claiming the speeches largely referenced and quoted Islamic scripture and were a genuine discussion for the purpose of religious education surrounding the unfolding Gaza war.

The plaintiffs: Peter Wertheim, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. Picture Thomas Lisson

Robert Goot, deputy president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. Picture: ECAJ

Court documents state the two applicants, ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot, allege Haddad’s commentary implied Jewish people were “mischievous”, “oppressive”, “shifty” and “arrogant” and “should be killed” by Muslims.

They allege the sermons further implied that Jewish people target Muslims by controlling the media, big business and banks, and that they were “slanderous, troublemakers and schemers”.

In one speech, delivered on November 10, 2023, Haddad urged his “brothers and sister” to speak “the word of truth” about what was happening in Gaza, then compared the country’s conservative MPs to dogs on a leash.

“Support one another because right now, right-wing politicians have stepped into backing Israel because Israel holds their leash,” he said.

“And at any command they would sit, lie down and roll over.”

In another speech delivered on November 29, 2023, Haddad references an incident in the Quran in which the Prophet meets Jewish people at a fortress.

“And he actually calls out to them in a way and he says to them, descendants of apes and pigs, are you insulting me?” Haddad said.

“What do you think the first thing they did? The first thing they did to say was, ‘no we didn’t insult you. It’s not true, we weren’t saying that’. They’re back peddling what they say.”

Wertheim and Goot allege the imputations arising from the comments are likely to offend, humiliate and intimidate members of Australia’s Jewish community.

Wissam Haddad, pictured arriving at the Federal Court in Sydney in December 2024. Picture: NewsWire

Haddad, who is also known as Abu Ousayd, in a screen grab taken from his social media. Picture: YouTube

The court documents said all the speeches were uploaded to social media accounts connected to Al Madina Dawah Centre, which had a combined following of about 2,200 people at the time.

Wertheim and Goot will ask the court for an order restraining Haddad from making further “insulting” comments about Jews. They also want the centre to remove the videos and publish a post about the court findings on its social media pages.

In defence documents filed with the court, Haddad claimed the speeches amounted to political commentary on the Gaza war from a religious perspective and were exempt from racial discrimination laws because they occurred in the context of genuine discussion or debate on a matter of public interest.

He said the speeches reference historical events from the Quran, including Mohammad’s religious and military encounters with the Jews of Medina and did not make any reference to either Wertheim or Goot, nor the wider Australian Jewish community.

He also said the speeches were delivered in a private context to a closed Islamic worship service containing about 40 people and that their publication online was done by volunteers, without his knowledge or control.

Originally published as Jewish leaders sue Sydney Muslim preacher Wissam Haddad over what they claim are racially charged comments