‘Kill Jews’ hate preacher Wissam Haddad (Abu Ousayd) unmasked as Islamic State backer

Wissam Haddad has been a key figure in preaching extremist ideology in Sydney for a decade, a friend of high-profile terrorists like Khaled Sharouff who committed atrocities in Syria.

Wissam Haddad at the Al Madina Dawah Centre in Bankstown in Sydney’s southwest on Tuesday. Picture: Justin Lloyd

The Muslim cleric who gave a “kill Jews” sermon in Sydney under the name Abu Ousayd has been unmasked as jihadi preacher Wissam Haddad, an extremist who has ­expressed support for terrorist groups including Islamic State and al-Qa’ida.

The increasing influence of militant figures like Haddad – who has boasted of his friendship with notorious terrorists Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar – is a troubling development for Australian security agencies who fear Israel’s war against Hamas provides a fertile recruiting ground for impressionable youth.

On Monday, The Australian revealed that Haddad, who runs the Al Madina Dawah Centre, preached a sermon citing Islamic scripture and parables that referenced “the end of times” when Muslims would be fighting the Jews and “the trees will speak”.

“They will say ‘oh Muslim, there is a yahud (Arabic for Jew) behind me, come and kill him’,” said Haddad, using the name Abu Ousayd.

The cleric has been a central figure in preaching extremist ideology in Sydney for at least a decade, with his al-Risalah Islamic Centre frequented by numerous men who went on to become high-profile terrorists committing atrocities in Syria.

By using his alternative name and starting a new prayer centre, Haddad’s history as a radical preacher has been obscured, but his recent activities have not escaped the attention of Australia’s national security agencies. An analysis by The Australian of dozens of sermons uploaded by the Al Madina Dawah Centre reveals a history of inflammatory and violent comments, most fervently in addresses given since the October 7 attack by Hamas in Israel.

Abu Ousayd, also known as Wissam Haddad, gives a sermon posted to the centre's YouTube account on October 21 where he says ‘if all Muslims spat on Israel, the Jews would drown’. Picture: YouTube

“If all the Muslims in that region (the Middle East) spat on Israel, the people of Israel would drown, the Jews would drown,” he said in an October 21 sermon.

In other videos he declared that Muslims in Palestine “are crying out to be saved from the descendants of pigs and monkeys,” in reference to Jews.

In an October 2022 video, derived from one of his sermons, Haddad said the “sword is the only way” to deal with people who ­“reject Allah”.

His Instagram page, which has amassed about 7000 followers, contains messages inciting – or praying for – violence and jihad.

NSW Police visited the Al Madina Dawah centre on Monday, after The Australian revealed a sermon by a preacher known only as “Brother Ismail” calling Muslims to wage jihad.

But Haddad threw cold water on the force’s investigation, claiming a senior constable from the ­terrorism squad told them “our only worry is that jihad was mentioned”.

“But he (the officer) said ‘that word is very vast and has many meanings’,” according to Haddad.

Haddad outside his home in southwest Sydney.

NSW Police declined to answer questions about the visit but told The Australian they were aware of the comments and had commenced an investigation.

“As those inquiries are ongoing, we aren’t in a position to provide further information at this time,” a spokesperson said.

In a video posted on Tuesday, Haddad addressed both his own sermon, and also Brother Ismail’s, saying there was “nothing to condemn” and “last time I checked we were in Australia, not North Korea” – referencing freedom of speech. “He (Brother Ismail) didn’t say anything wrong (Islamically) or according to law,” Haddad said.

The cleric also said there was “no proof” babies were beheaded by Hamas and that imagery of bodies being burned on October 7 was “still (under) investigation”.

The 43-year-old has recently become an admirer of social media influencer Andrew Tate, the American-British webcam sex operator now charged with rape, human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women, who has claimed to have converted to Islam.

Haddad wrote glowingly of Tate’s demand that the West should implement shari’ah (Islamic law) and his credo that “woman have their place”, lauding the former kickboxer as “an overnight Salafi Jihadi” who had more understanding “than many Muslims today”.

British-US influencer Andrew Tate at a courthouse in Bucharest in February. Picture: AFP

Haddad invited “Brother Andrew Tate” to have a discussion, asking followers to get a message to him. “Would love to have a conversation with him as he seems to be on the same manhaj (methodology),” he wrote.

Haddad has previously prayed for violence against Australian comedian Isaac Butterfield, posting a video of the comic making jokes perceived to be ­insulting to Islam.

Tagging Butterfield’s Instagram account, he prayed that Allah would “disfigure” his face and “paralyse” the comedian’s tongue.

In sermons posted around the previous festive season, Haddad called Christmas a “day of filth” that “Muslims should hate”, perpetuated by “worshippers of the cross”, and if Muslims took part it would amount to shirk – “the greatest of sins”.

Haddad, who was born in Australia to Lebanese parents, challenged the Abbott government to revoke his citizenship in 2014. “People like myself are happy to leave this country, leave our passport, leave our citizenship if the government allows us to go,” he told 2GB.

“If the government allows the people that don’t want to be here to sign away to give up their citizenship, to give up their passports, to go without being incriminated in any sort of way and mind you this isn’t to go fight or to take up arms. We don’t sound like we’re welcome in Australia.”

Former foreign minister Julie Bishop said people were free to renounce their citizenship but it appears Haddad did not follow through on his bid.

Haddad was head of the now-defunct al-Risalah Islamic Centre and bookstore, a hotbed of radical preachers frequented by Sharrouf and Elomar before they fled Australia to join Islamic State in Syria.

Sharrouf would go on to figure prominently on terrorist lists after he posted pictures of himself holding aloft the severed head of a Syrian solder.

Australian-born ‘Terror Nine’ member Khaled Sharrouf, who slipped out of the country unnoticed on his brother’s passport.

Mohamed Ali Elomar.

In 2016, Haddad told a journalist from The Australian he was still in contact with Sharrouf and Elomar, showing footage on his phone of the pair executing Iraqi prisoners.

“He says he is doing the work of Allah in establishing an Islamic caliphate,’’ Haddad said of Sharrouf. “He is enjoying himself. It is something he has always wanted to do. Why wouldn’t he be happy? He is fulfilling his obligations to Islam. He pretty much called us (other Islamic youth in Sydney) cowards for not being there.”

Sharrouf and Elomar were both reported killed in Syria.

Another preacher who lectured at the centre was Abu Sulayman (Mostafa Mahamad Farag), one of Australia’s highest-ranking al-Qa’ida terrorists in Syria.

Haddad said in 2014 that more Australians should be going to Syria to fight. “Even if it’s a thousand, I think it should be double that,” he told The Australian.

“How can a sane, normal person … see the atrocities and witness the atrocities and hear about the atrocities that are happening in Syria and not want to help, not want to do anything about it?

Haddad closed the al-Risalah Islamic Centre in 2013, claiming a vendetta by ASIO and the media.

The cleric avoided prison in 2015 after being caught with weapons, an Islamic State flag and a machete under his bed. He was given a good behaviour bond for possessing three prohibited weapons: two tasers and a can of (mace) spray after claiming he confiscated them from troubled young men at Al Risalah.

According to the Middle East Research Institute, Haddad is a “central figure in the Salafi-jihadi network in West Sydney and throughout Australia”.

Haddad preaches that jihad is obligatory for Muslims and those who deny its obligation are “hypocrites” and “cowards”

“Today when we hear the word jihad, whether it be in the hearts of disbelievers – they are angered, they are enraged, and they are filled with hate and fear, and they’re also filled with terror.”