The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) is suing a controversial Sydney Muslim cleric over claims of anti-semitic speech and racial hatred.
Wissam Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd, and the Sydney-based Al Madina Dawah Centre, have been accused of racial discrimination in Federal Court proceedings filed on Oct. 25.
The action has been brought about by ECAJ co-Chief Executive Peter Wertheim and Deputy President Robert Goot and focuses on Haddad’s sermons at the Bankstown Centre in Sydney’s south-west that were also published online.
Wertheim and Goot claim Haddad used derogatory generalisations of Jewish people, with Haddad reported as referring to Jews as “vile and treacherous people.”
“We have commenced proceedings in the Federal Court to defend the honour of our community, and as a warning to deter others seeking to mobilise racism in order to promote their political views,” Wertheim said in a statement.
ECAJ’s case comes under part IIA of the Racial Discrimination Act–which outlaws offensive behaviour based on racial hatred.
Haddad has previously been quoted as publicly saying Jews were the “descendants of pigs and monkeys.”
Wertheim and Goot are not seeking financial compensation, but are instead seeking court injunctions requiring the removal of any racist speeches and the prohibition of Haddad from making similar comments in the future.
Wertheim said living in a multicultural society meant people were free to worship in harmony.
“That should mean we do not bring the hatreds, prejudices, and bigotry of overseas conflicts and societies into Australia,” he said.
Wertheim felt the government had failed to act on the matter.
“It should not fall on our community, or any other community, to take private legal action to remedy a public wrong, and to stand up to those who sow hatred in our midst,” he said.
Controversial History
Earlier in the year, police said they had been unable to lay charges following complaints about Haddad after he warned that those who attacked Islam in fact loved “death.”New South Wales Police said Haddad’s comments did not contravene hate speech provisions.
Haddad urged his followers to be “warriors by day” in the speech where he said: “If you attack Allah, if you attack our prophet, our religion and our fellow brothers and sisters, and if you attack our lands, you are going to be met with men who love death more than you love life.”
ECAJ had lodged a vilification complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission, warning inaction could lead to violent threats becoming normalised in society.
