Sydney school board member stands down after Hezbollah speeches

A longstanding board member of a Sydney Islamic school has resigned after video emerged of him supporting Hezbollah and its assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Sheikh Ahmad Jundi, 74, spoke at an event attended by children and held at Al Sadiq College in the city’s west last month, in which he prayed for Hezbollah’s victory in Lebanon.

“Oh Allah, protect the leader of the resistance Hassan Nasrallah,” he said, referring to the group’s secretary general, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last week.

Sheikh Ahmad Jundi, a board member of Al Sadiq College, has resigned after video emerged of him expressing support for Hezbollah.

He said on Tuesday he was not aware Hezbollah had been designated as a terrorist organisation, he did not support violence and respected Australian law. His resignation came just hours after he was asked questions by the Herald and follows days of intense political debate about whether protesters carrying Hezbollah flags and portraits of Nasrallah should be prosecuted.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw signalled on Tuesday the force would take action against protesters displaying symbols associated with the terrorist group at demonstrations planned for this weekend.

Kershaw said the display of symbols at last weekend’s protest in Sydney and Melbourne had been “un-Australian” and his agency would use new federal laws outlawing insignia of terrorist groups.

The Australian government in 2021 designated the entirety of Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group that comprises military and civilian wings and controls much of southern Lebanon, a terrorist organisation.

Asked about Jundi’s comments, Al Sadiq board chairman Mohamad Assoud said on Tuesday “the college board has met the individual involved and he has agreed to step down from the board”.

Assoud said the school abided by all education standards and Australian laws and the event where Jundi made his comments was organised by the Muslim Alawite community, not the school.

“The views espoused by people at the event are not the views of the college and they were not speaking on behalf of the school,” he said.

“The college cannot be held to account for the personal views of individuals who have no operational role in the school.”

Sheikh Ahmad Jundi, 74, spoke at an event attended by children and held at Al Sadiq College last month.Credit: SMH

Jundi has served since 2017 as a board member of Al Sadiq, which caters to the Alawite community, and whose Greenacre campus sits within Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s seat.

The kindergarten to year 12 school received $10.9 million in federal government funding in 2022 and another $2.5 million from the state, according to MySchool data.

Jundi was one of several speakers at the September 22 religious event to celebrate the birth of the prophet Muhammad, which was attended by young children who sang for the audience.

Jundi, with a school banner hanging on the wall behind him, began by calling in Arabic for a minute of silence for “the souls of the innocent martyrs who fell at the hands of the criminal Zionist forces led by America and its allies”.

He twice called for Allah to protect Nasrallah, as well as Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad – a member of the Alawite sect – and “Islamic armies in every place”.

Ahmad Jundi has served on the board of Al Sadiq College since 2017.Credit: SMH

“May He shield them from all harm and help them defeat every oppressor and intruder, and overcome every conspirator and traitor, and restore the rights that were taken,” Jundi said.

Toward the end of the speech, he prayed to “Allah, the Exalted, to grant victory to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the face of resistance, and with the help of Syria the shield in Lebanon”.

The speech followed another in May, at an event unrelated to the school, in which Jundi supported “the resistance all over the world and especially Hezbollah in all places around the world”.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare, whose electorate includes Al Sadiq’s second campus at Yagoona, said schools were required to meet “fit and proper person requirements” under the Australian Education Act.

“This includes arrangements for managing and supervising the provision of education at a school, including by relevant individuals at a school,” Clare said.

The federal education department will write to the school to seek further information.

Jundi, an Australian citizen born in Lebanon, told the Herald on Tuesday he supported Australia’s interests above all else and his comments were referring to Hezbollah as a political party in Lebanon.

“I don’t like any violence from anyone,” he said. “I don’t like it because I don’t like killing. We all belong to God.”

Asked about the debate over whether expressing support for Hezbollah was a crime or ought to be, Jundi said it was a matter for police and government.

Al Sadiq College is split over two campuses in Greenacre and Yagoona (pictured).Credit: SMH

“We’re under the umbrella of Australian government law,” he said.

A spokesman for the Association of Independent Schools of NSW said all member schools were expected to adhere to Australian laws.

Al Sadiq, which last year purchased a new site at Chester Hill for $9.5 million, has 770 students.

Jundi, as a representative of the Moslem Alawi Society Sydney, was one of nine signatories to a statement last month denouncing “the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian and Lebanese people”.

The statement said the leaders were committed to “safeguarding the country’s stability by preventing the importation of overseas conflicts into Australia”.

Hezbollah’s External Security Organisation, part of its military wing, was designated a terrorist organisation by Australia in 2003. In 2021, Australia expanded the listing to include the organisation as a whole, a decision also made by Britain, Canada and the United States.

New Zealand and the European Union have banned the military wing only.

The Hezbollah entry on the Australian list of proscribed organisations notes the group’s history of aggression toward Israel and that it had “provided support – such as training, operational assistance, and weapons” for Palestinian extremist groups including Hamas’ Izz al-Din al‑Qassam Brigades.

At the same time, the group “maintains a social welfare network that encompasses education and health services”.

Three Sydney mosques held mourning ceremonies for Nasrallah from Sunday to Tuesday, attended by hundreds of people.

A memorial service held for Hassan Nasrallah at Kingsgrove on Tuesday evening.Credit: SMH

The Al-Zahra mosque in Arncliffe asked those attending to mourn for “the soul of the leader of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the souls of the righteous martyrs who departed with him and all those who have been innocently slain as a result of the Zionist aggression in Lebanon and Palestine”.

When asked about flying Hezbollah flags, carrying photos of Nasrallah and holding mourning ceremonies, the Shia Muslim Council of Australia said these were not intended to incite hate or break the law.

“They are a call for the cessation of the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere,” Dr Ali Alsamail, a director of the peak body, said.

with Ben Cubby