Yahya Sinwar hailed as ‘legend’ at Sydney rally as sheik says Islam will ‘dominate’

A conference stacked with Hizb ut-Tahrir activists was told Islam will ‘dominate … bringing justice to every corner of the world’, and that ‘victory was coming’.

Sheik Ibrahim Dadoun addresses an October 7 rally earlier this month in Lakemba, Sydney. Picture: Jane Dempster

A Sydney conference stacked with Hizb ut-Tahrir activists and sheiks who celebrated October 7 has heard that Islam will “dominate … bringing justice to every corner of the world” amid a “civilisational struggle” as its organisers lauded Yahya Sinwar as a slain hero.

One speaker, Sheik Ibrahim Dadoun – whose employer the United Muslims of Australia received about $1.65m in government funding in September – said that, despite Sinwar’s recent death, he remained “elated” and that “victory was coming”.

Separately, on Sunday, a pro-Palestine Sydney CBD rally heard how the terror group’s slain chief was “legendary”, a martyr who “died a warrior’s death”.

“In (Sinwar’s) death he became a legend, a legend to be told for centuries,” one speaker told a crowd at Sydney’s Hyde Park.

Sheik Dadoun’s latest comments came at a Saturday conference hosted by “Stand for Palestine”, an organisation launched by Hizb ut-Tahrir last October, which is run by its activists and has surged in popularity.

The day after Hamas’ October 7 attacks he told a rally that he was “elated … smiling” and that it had been a “great day”, although later claimed his words were taken out of context, and earlier this month called Israel a “bastard state”.

Billed as the “promised victory” conference, sheik Dadoun reaffirmed his elation, saying: “I will say it again I’m elated, I’m happy … I’ve never seen it, ever in my life, the shift and the tide that has occurred over the last year against the Zionist regime (sic)”.

“We are on that path to victory. We are on that path of the civilisational struggle where we’re going to see Islam dominate, where we’re going to see Islam bring justice to every corner in the world (sic).”

Sheik Dadoun applauded those who were “fighting with their blood” in the “lands of jihad”.

At the same event, sheik Mamoud al-Alzhari said “they” had made the community “scared of saying the word jihad”, appearing to praise the “mujahideen that would liberate (Al-Aqsa mosque)”.

He and Stand for Palestine’s organisers took to social media to laud the slain Hamas chief as a “champion”, saying his death would only pave the way for a new generation of Sinwars.

Sheik al-Alzhari called Sinwar “one of Gaza’s champions” who met a “noble end” and in his death another leader would “rise” while Stand for Palestine told its followers that he had “fought until the very end”, dying a martyr.

Hizb ut-Tahrir activist Amer Al-Wahwah, who runs Stand for Palestine’s WhatsApp group, said Sinwar had “led from the front … either victory or martyrdom, and both are victories” and that anything other than the “entire removal of the Zionist occupation” would be a failure.

Sheik Mamoud al-Alzhari, centre. Picture: Jane Dempster

Stand for Palestine and Hizb ut-Tahrir activist Faraz Nomani, who MC’d Saturday’s conference, said Sinwar and his death had only succeeded in “energising a nation”.

A spokesman for Stand for Palestine said the addresses were “extremely well received” and that it had invited a “diverse range of speakers” to reflect the community at the conference, which also included a “frank and nuanced” discussion on Israel’s response in Gaza.

He said: “The conference aimed to shed light on Palestine as an important Islamic issue that Muslims must strive towards. It was very well attended and a resounding success”.

Hizb ut-Tahrir were banned in the United Kingdom earlier this year – and are proscribed in several Central Asian and Arab countries, including Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey – and the Indian government this month listed it a terrorist organisation.

After its activists infiltrated a pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Sydney, Jewish and political leaders called on Anthony Albanese to do similar, but who has resisted the calls.

Zionist Federation Australia president Jeremy Leibler said the group “must be banned … not because Australia rejects its views but because it threatens (its) security” and Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said sheik Dadoun’s “continued open displays of extremism” highlighted the “absurdity” of the governing awarding taxpayer funds to his employer to “promote social cohesion”.

But Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke reiterated that the UMA’s leadership had a history of working closely with the government, and multiculturalism assistant minister Julian Hill has said that political leaders had “repeatedly condemned” sheik Dadoun’s comments.

Protesters in Melbourne on Sunday display a framed picture of Sinwar.

It comes after, on the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attacks, Hizb ut-Tahrir activists organised a rally where American Khaled Beydoun told a crowd that October 7 was in some ways a “good day” because awareness of the Palestinians had increased.

The Lebanese Muslim Association – the rally had taken place outside its Lakemba Mosque – distanced itself from Mr Beydoun’s comments and some of the rally’s organisers, saying it would promote inclusion and peaceful coexistence “through moderation”.

Mr Burke cancelled the academic’s visa soon after and said he had been “on record for decades” opposing Hizb ut-Tahrir, “ever since I first objected to Liberal governments welcoming their guest speakers (here)”.

“I condemn all hate speech as I always have, in contrast to the decade where Peter Dutton’s Liberals repeatedly tried to weaken our laws against hate speech,” he said.

In the Sydney CBD on Sunday, the activist at the weekly pro-Palestine rally who said Sinwar died a “warrior’s death” also said that the terrorist’s story would “inspire resistance all around the world” and that he “sacrificed” himself to defeat Israel.

“We will never forget you (Sinwar) and we will never forget your legend … the resistance lives on,” the unidentified speaker said.

Sinwar was killed by Israeli soldiers in Rafah on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Jewish leaders said a “year of legal action and condemnation” appeared to have little effect on people celebrating October 7 or extremism, with Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin lamenting a lack of political and legal will.

“Australians remain vulnerable not only to international terrorism but to those among us being told that such atrocities are not only justified but a religious duty to carry out,” he said.

Stand for Palestine has gone to lengths to dispel suggestions that they are linked to – or were established by – Hizb ut-Tahrir, despite that group announcing on Facebook in October 2023 it was launching the movement, and whose activists run its media and logistic operations.

It has, however, grown since to encompass people and activists not part of the extremist group.