Embattled cleric’s ‘free Palestine’ call as trial ends
The nation’s peak Jewish body has called Wissam Haddad’s trial a ‘tragedy’ of the justice system because it required a ‘private remedy for a public wrong’.
Jihadi preacher Wissam Haddad called for a “free Palestine” at the conclusion of his racial discrimination trial, as the nation’s peak Jewish body declared the cleric had been “brought to account”.
It was Mr Haddad’s sole remark as he left the Federal Court on Friday, pausing only once to stand beside his solicitor Elias Tabchouri.
“The matter is now concluded, his honour will hand down a judgment in due course and we will deal with the matters as they fall,” Mr Tabchouri said.
“We always respect the court’s decision.”
The case’s applicants, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot, said they were disappointed they had to bring the case personally and pursue a “private remedy for a public wrong”.
“This case has marked a significant moment for Jewish Australians. It is the first opportunity we have had to expose what our whole community has been put through over the last 20 months,” Mr Wertheim said.
“We have not lived in the same Australia that we have known and loved for generations. Our country has become something less than that. This case is a test of whether rank anti-Semitism, whichever way it might be dressed up, falls into the category of views that members of the community are now expected to put up with.
“By bringing this case we have achieved something that no government or law enforcement agency, no human rights agency, no university, no writer’s festival and no cultural institution has been able or willing to achieve.
“We have finally brought to account someone who despises Australia’s way of life, our system of government and our precious freedoms, while invoking those same freedoms as an excuse for vilifying entire communities who follow a different religion or no religion at all.
“It’s a tragedy when our institutions fail us and citizens are left to fend for themselves, by having to pursue a private remedy for a public wrong.”
Mr Goot said that Mr Haddad’s speeches were “utterly unacceptable, un-Australian, and – we hope the court will find – unlawful”.
ECAJ barrister Peter Braham SC, in his closing remarks, declared it would be a “Pyrrhic victory” to rule against Mr Haddad without a judge muzzling his allegedly anti-Semitic rhetoric into the future.
He urged judge Angus Stewart to place an injunction on Mr Haddad’s rhetoric should he rule against him.
Mr Braham said Mr Haddad, who is also known as Abu Ousayd, had “robustly defended” his remarks while on trial and demonstrated an inflammatory streak that proved he would likely run foul of racial discrimination laws in the future without a court order to prevent it.
“It would be a somewhat Pyrrhic victory to have this particular person condemned for anti-Semitic behaviour … (when) he plainly will, unless restrained, continue to do it,” Mr Braham said.
“There is no good reason advanced by Mr Haddad why it would be necessary for him in the future to communicate, otherwise than in private, about Jewish people by reference to generalisations relating to race.
“(Mr Haddad) doesn’t give any indication, either directly or through his counsel, that he won’t repeat the conduct (and) ought to be the subject of orders that will prevent him from engaging in unlawful conduct in the future.”
ECAJ is seeking declarations that Mr Haddad contravened section 18C, injunctions to remove the five offending sermons from the internet, and an order that the cleric not publicly insult Jewish Australians in future.
The cleric has repeatedly argued his sermons were pulled from scripture and compared the actions of the 7th century Jewish tribe of Al Medina as detailed in the Koran with the alleged atrocities of Israel today.
His barrister Andrew Boe argued on Friday that Mr Haddad’s sermons were in the public interest and had a clear liturgical purpose, thus being exempt from the act under section 18D.
However, Mr Braham said the speeches were “a racist project to start with” and should not be exempt.
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