The Federal Court has found speeches delivered by an Islamic preacher in Sydney breached the Racial Discrimination Act, finding that his descriptions of Jewish people relied on "age-old tropes" that were "fundamentally racist and antisemitic".
Delivering his judgment following a five-day trial, Justice Angus Stewart rejected Wissam (William) Haddad's defence that his comments were reasonable and made in good faith.
"I have found that the series of lectures titled 'The Jews of Al-Madina' conveys disparaging imputations about Jewish people and … were reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate and intimidate Jews in Australia," Justice Stewart said.
"The imputations were conveyed because of the race or ethnic origin of that group."
Haddad is a preacher and teacher at the Al Madina Dawah Centre in Bankstown in Sydney's south-west, which he co-founded and operates.
Justice Angus Stewart delivered his judgment in the Federal Court in Sydney, finding Wissam Haddad breached the Racial Discrimination Act. Source: Supplied
Justice Stewart said it was "a time of heightened vulnerability and fragility experienced by Jews in Australia following the attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023", and that the community "would experience [the comments] to be harassing … because of their profound offensiveness and the long history of persecution of Jews associated with the use of such rhetoric".
During the trial, the court heard numerous excerpts of Haddad's speeches, which included references to Jewish people as "vile", treacherous", "mischievous", "descended from apes and pigs", and "hiding like the rats that they are", as well as other "tropes", including Jewish people controlling banks and the media.
On the stand, Haddad defended the comments, saying he was referring to "Jews of faith, not ethnicity", "the Jewish people that are in power in Israel", and quoting religious scriptures.
Justice Stewart rejected Haddad's defence and said his comments "made perverse generalisations against Jewish people as a group".
"Haddad sought to justify the imputations on the basis that he was teaching tafsir [commentary on or teachings of the Quran]," Justice Stewart said.
"But the expert witnesses on Islamic theology from both sides agree that neither the Quran nor the Hadith teach that Jews have an inherent negative quality as a people.
"The respondent's expert [witness], said that Islam does not encourage hatred towards Jews."
Justice Stewart also acknowledged Haddad had made critical comments about the actions of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza and about Zionists in one of the five speeches assessed by the court.
"Disparagement of Zionism constitutes disparagement of a philosophy or ideology and not a race or ethnic group," Justice Stewart said.
"Political criticism of Israel, however inflammatory or adversarial, is not by its nature criticism of Jews in general or based on Jewish racial or ethnic identity.
"The conclusion that it is not antisemitic to criticise Israel is the corollary of the conclusion that to blame Jews for the actions of Israel is antisemitic; the one flows from the other."
Justice Stewart found this particular speech related specifically to criticism of the state of Israel, the IDF and "Zionist entities".
Haddad has been ordered to pay the applicant's costs, remove the offending material, and refrain from similar activity.
'Vindicated' by the judgment
Speaking outside court, ECAJ co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said he felt "vindicated" by the judgment.
"This case was not about freedom of expression, or freedom of religion, it was about antisemitism and the abuse of those freedoms to promote antisemitism," he said.
"People are free to engage in robust debate about international conflicts, whether their beliefs are true or false … but that does not include the freedom to mobilise racism ... to promote one's views."
Wertheim said the case was not a debate about political criticism of the government of Israel or Zionism, but acknowledged such debate is "entirely within the scope of ordinary discourse".
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) took Wissam Haddad to the Federal Court over a series of lectures delivered at the Al Madina Dawah Centre in Sydney in November 2023. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts
ECAJ deputy president Robert Goot said: "We brought this action to protect the safety of the Jewish community and to uphold its honour and integrity."
Both Wertheim and Goot expressed disappointment at having to bring the case to civil court after efforts to pursue state-based criminal charges in NSW failed.
Haddad did not speak outside court, but his lawyer Elias Tabchouri said his client "maintains that his sermons delivered in the context of religious instruction and based on scriptural references, were never intended to insult any group in Australia on the basis of their ethnic identity".
"The words he spoke were those from the scripture, and he maintains he has the right to quote religious scripture, and the court has found he has that right.
"The court has found that simply criticising what the Israeli nation has done in Gaza is not antisemitic, and that position has been affirmed by the court.
"We will be complying with court orders."
Clarification: A previous version of the article was missing a quote and some context regarding Justice Angus Stewart's findings on the speeches reviewed by the court. The article has been updated to include additional quotes from Justice Stewart, along with relevant context related to the referenced speeches.
