Controversial Sydney fundamentalist preacher Wissam Haddad backs Nasrallah killing
Wissam Haddad has emerged as an unlikely bedfellow of those supporting the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, saying he hoped he’d be given the ‘worst of punishments’.
Controversial Islamic fundamentalist Wissam Haddad has emerged as an unlikely bedfellow of those supporting the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, praising the killing of the terror chief and saying he hoped that he’d be given the “worst of punishments”.
Mr Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd, publicly praised the Israel Defence Forces’ killing of Nasrallah in a Sunday strike on Beirut, telling his supporters: “Alhamdulillah (praise be to God) for the death of Nasrulat!”.
The vast majority of Australia’s Muslim community have focused on supporting loved ones in Lebanon, with recognised leaders urging the government to take a stronger stance against Israel’s attacks rather than commenting on Nasrallah’s death and Hezbollah, the divisive Shia political and militant group whose support falls largely along Islamic branch lines.
Mr Haddad’s usage of “Nasrulat” is a derogatory term, particularly used by Syrian Sunni Muslims – prompted in part by vitriol against Hezbollah’s support of the Bashar Al Assad regime – and is used to suggest that the Islamic leader was not a “true believer”.
On Sunday, Mr Haddad wrote on social media: “Fighting the Jews did not cause us to forget (Nasrallah’s) killings of (Sunni Muslims) … May Allah give him the worst of punishments.”
Mr Haddad, a Sunni Muslim, has previously expressed support for Islamic State fighters in Syria, but his followers were quick to take issue with his anti-Hezbollah stance, accusing him of “eating out of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s hand” and being an “agent of divisiveness”.
On Wednesday, the cleric – who has been shunned by mainstream Muslim leaders, whom he frequently takes to the pulpit to criticise – also slammed Iran and appeared to criticise the Shia community, saying on Instagram it had “betrayed Islam and Sunnis”.
Mr Haddad’s praising of Nasrallah’s death, however, is not out of support for Israel or the Jewish community, whose leaders earlier this year filed a vilification complaint against him at the Australian Human Rights Commission pertaining to a series of alleged anti-Semitic sermons.
The cleric has also recently secured a premises in Melbourne’s Springvale area to extend the reach of his Al Madina Dawah Centre, telling supporters the new Victorian location would soon start delivering Friday prayers.
Criticising the community’s fledgling political movements, Mr Haddad in September produced thousands of “anti-democracy” booklets, which he distributed at last month’s NSW council elections, pledging to continue to do so for the upcoming federal poll.
In July, he said that there was no place for Muslims to be involved in democracy and that legislation “belonged solely to God”, but rejected the notion that his views were radical.
In 2013, Hezbollah sent fighters into Syria to help its Iran-backed ally, President al-Assad, put down a rebellion, which was criticised by Lebanese Sunni leaders who accused Nasrallah of dragging the country into war as sectarian tensions worsened.
On Sunday, after Israel’s strike on Hezbollah’s Beirut headquarters, footage emerged of Syrians in the country’s Idlib province celebrating in the streets.
Nasrallah’s death prompted rallies across Australia’s state capitals on Sunday, with some protesters waving Hezbollah flags or holding aloft portraits of the slain terrorist group leader, which could constitute a criminal offence.
Some Sydney mosques – made up predominantly of members of the Lebanese Shia community – held commemoration services for Nasrallah earlier this week, calling him no normal “martyr and jihadi” but a “history-maker” whose blood had not been “wasted”.
One of those, the Sayeda Zainab Centre, appeared to backtrack on Wednesday, urging its members to “avoid displaying flags or symbols” associated with Hezbollah at this weekend’s upcoming protests.
Hezbollah’s military wing was designated a terrorist organisation by Australia in 2003, before the government expanded the listing to include the group in its entirety in 2021, a decision also made by Britain, Canada and the US.
New Zealand and the EU have banned the military wing only.
Hezbollah’s terror listing notes the group’s history of aggression towards Israel and that it had “provided support – such as training, operational assistance, and weapons” – for Palestinian extremist groups, including Hamas’s Izz al-Din al Qassam Brigades.
The political arm of the group, however, “maintains a social welfare network that encompasses education and health services” and has a large support base in Lebanon, particularly in the country’s south.
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