Radical preacher Abu Ousayd’s ‘Dawah Van’ charity takes to Sydney streets

A high-profile Sydney cleric who urged people to spit on Israel so ‘Jews would drown’ runs a charity called the Dawah Van, where he converts young Aussies and tourists to Islam.

Abu Ousayd, also known as Wissam Haddad, a Sydney-based Islamic preacher with the Dawah Van. Picture: YouTube

A high-profile Sydney preacher who urged people to spit on Israel so “Jews would drown” and gave a series of anti-Semitic sermons runs a registered charity called the Dawah Van that he and other leaders from his centre use as a vehicle to convert young Australians and tourists to Islam.

Abu Ousayd, also known as Wissam Haddad, is one of five board members of The Dawah Van Incorporated, the charitable arm of his Al Madina Dawah Centre.

Since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, Mr Ousayd has given a raft of anti-Semitic sermons at the southwest Sydney centre – which has hosted others preaching extremism – and has since been taken to the Australian Human Rights ­Commission by Jewish leaders alleging vilification of their ­community.

Mr Ousayd and volunteers speaking with a member of the public at Sydney's Town Hall. Picture: YouTube

Mr Ousayd has previously boasted of his friendship with Australian terrorists Mohamed Elomar and Khaled Sharrouf, both reported killed fighting for Islamic State, and ran the now-defunct Al-Risalah Centre, which was frequented by numerous men who committed atrocities in Syria.

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission records show that Mr Ousayd, alongside “Brother Ye Ye”, another leading figure at the Al Madina Dawah Centre, established the Dawah Van in 2022 to “advance religion and education”.

Mr Ousayd is listed as the charity’s president, Mr Ye as the vice-president, with three others also on the board. Its mission is “to restore the purpose of life by faith, outreach and action of knowledge … to maintain the Dawah Van as a grassroots facility that reaches out to the community to educate them about the greatness of God and comprehend the purpose of life”.

Pictures taken from the Dawah Van's social-media platforms, showing Mr Ousayd (back, centre) preaching around Sydney's Town Hall.

Mr Ousayd (right) and volunteers around Sydney's Town Hall.

Last week, The Australian revealed Mr Ousayd was a Saturday school principal, teaching children as young as five sharia.

ACNC records show that the Dawah Van is “overdue” on its fin­ancial statements.

The Dawah Van’s social media pages – including Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, which has come under fire for not doing enough to clamp down on hate speech – show Mr Ousayd, Mr Ye, and other volunteers outside Sydney’s Town Hall preaching predominantly to young men, or tourists and expats.

Recent videos posted to the charity’s YouTube channel show the group giving “advice to a moderate Muslim” and converting a “Brazilian mother and son” to Islam, filmed outside Town Hall.

Another is titled “Nazi Gangster Jews” while an October Facebook post said “Our dead are in paradise, yours are in hell”, referring to those lives lost in Palestine and, in the latter, Israel.

The physical Dawah Van, which the centre and its charitable arm use for outreach.

In 2021, before it registered as a charity, it was appealing for funding to help it purchase and decorate its van.

Senator Dave Sharma, a strong voice against anti-Semitism since the onset of the Israel-Hamas conflict, questioned the appropriateness of Mr Ousayd’s charitable arm. “This is a clearly problematic individual, who is creating social division and spreading a message of hate and intolerance, completely at odds with Australian values, to children and the vulnerable,” he said.

The Australian has previously revealed that police dropped investigations into Mr Ousayd and his centre after a series of anti-­Semitic sermons, something Senator Sharma has criticised.

“The NSW authorities’ refusal to act is incomprehensible,” he said. “It is costing our society. What is it they are afraid of?”

The organisation crowd-funded the van before registering as a charity in mid-2022.

In March, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry lodged a vilification complaint against Mr Ousayd and the Al Madina Dawah Centre at the Australian Human Rights Commission after the preacher gave a series of anti-­Semitic sermons that called Jewish people “descendants of pigs and monkeys”, recited parables about their death, and peddled anti-Semitic tropes.

“It’s regrettable that governments and law enforcement agencies have failed to show proper leadership … and that it has fallen to our community to stand up to hatemongers,” ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim previously told The Australian.

Mr Ousayd, the centre, and the Dawah Van all post content to Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, including anti-Israel and anti-­Semitic content, and one recent post that called homosexuals “major sinners”.

Mr Ousayd and the centre have been contacted for comment.