The Federal Court has determined that speeches given by an Islamic preacher in Sydney violated the Racial Discrimination Act, concluding that his portrayals of Jewish individuals relied on “ancient stereotypes” that were “inherently racist and antisemitic”. Announcing his decision after a five-day trial, Justice Angus Stewart dismissed Wissam (William) Haddad’s argument that his statements were fair and made with honest intent. “I have concluded that the series of talks titled ‘The Jews of Al-Madina’ included derogatory comments about Jewish people and were likely to offend, insult, humiliate, and intimidate Jewish individuals in Australia,” Justice Stewart stated. “These comments were made because of the race or ethnic background of that group.” Justice Angus Stewart announced his ruling in the Federal Court in Sydney, determining that Wissam Haddad violated the Racial Discrimination Act. Source: Supplied Peter Wertheim and Robert Goot, representing the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), brought the case against Haddad over a series of lectures and sermons he gave at the centre in November 2023, which were subsequently posted online. 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. “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 in Gaza and about Zionists. “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.” ‘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.” 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 “The court has ordered that Mr Haddad and the centre … be restrained from republishing comments that contain a whole series of imputations about Jews, including the infamous one about Jews being descended from apes and pigs,” Wertheim said. 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.”