Push to ban, terror list ‘hate machine’ Hizb ut-Tahrir accelerates

Jewish leaders are demanding that the federal government take the threat of extremist ‘hate machine’ Hizb ut-Tahrir seriously and designate it a terrorist organisation.

A Hizb ut-Tahrir rally near Lakemba Train Station in 2016. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Jewish leaders and the opposition are demanding the federal government take the threat of ­extremist “hate machine” Hizb ut-Tahrir seriously and designate it a terrorist organisation as a matter of urgency.

On Sunday, the Zionist Federation of Australia wrote to the government calling for the group’s designation, setting out HUT’s “hatred of non-believers”.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry also warned Anthony Albanese of its anti-Semitic influence, urging it to draft legislation to designate it clearly as an “extremist organisation”.

“The Jewish community and leaders of all backgrounds have been warning that there are serious threats to social cohesion with an explosion of extremism in Australia,” a letter from ZFA president Jeremy Leibler and chief-executive Alon Cassuto read. “That is in large part because extremists like Hizb ut-Tahrir are actively working to destroy social cohesion.”

It comes amid allegations HUT has accelerated domestic activities after October 7, with a particular presence at encampment protests at campuses.

The letter, sent to the Prime Minister, the Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil, said HUT had “built a hate ­machine”.

“It is glorifying terrorism, radicalising Australians, and covertly using front organisations to mainstream its extremism,” the pair wrote. “For Hizb ut-Tahrir to have so much as a foothold in Australia is dangerous. Especially given that it is banned in Germany and proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK.”

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler. Picture: Supplied

In January, British Home Secretary James Cleverly outlawed the group as a terror organisation, saying it was “anti-Semitic” and “actively promoting and encouraging terrorism”.

The ZFA’s letter to the government said HUT’s threat was not contained to its community, but also to democracy and society, and that it should follow the lead of its British counterparts.

“In its hatred of democracy, Jews and all non-believers, Hizb ut-Tahrir is a threat to us all,” it read, alleging its ideology was a “gateway to terrorism”.

The ECAJ, also warning the government of the group’s anti-Semitism, suggested it establish a new, concurrent system to designate extremist groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, even if it didn’t reach the criteria to join Hamas and Hezbollah on the terror list.

British Home Secretary James Cleverly. Picture: AFP

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus. Picture: Martin Ollman

“Rather than designate these organisations as terrorist groups when they have not engaged in acts of terrorism, Australia needs to enact a national law analogous to state and territory laws applicable to criminal gangs, empowering the government to desig­nate an organisation as an extremist organisation,” co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said.

Mr Wertheim said the government would then need to be satisfied that members were associ­ating for the purpose of broadly supporting activities aimed to “provoke animosity” between groups on the basis of “race or religion”, and that the organisation or its members represented a “risk to public peace, safety or order”.

He also suggested such a legislative scheme would open up a range of law-enforcement powers, saying Hizb ut-Tahrir had frequently been “anti-Semitic, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, and anti-Western”.

A spokesman for the attorney-general said the government condemned the group’s “hateful comments” and that those had “no place in Australia”.