Latest news with #PeterWertheim
Sky News AU
3 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Made a mess of Gaza': Hamas can ‘end the war tomorrow' if they release remaining hostages
Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Peter Wertheim says terrorist group Hamas can 'end the war tomorrow' if they lay down their arms and release the hostages. 'Hamas planned and started the war, they have lost the war, their leaders are dead,' Mr Wertheim told Sky News host Danica De Giorgio. 'They have made a mess of Gaza, they have ruined the lives of the Palestinians in Gaza with the war they started. 'And they can end the war tomorrow by releasing the hostages and laying down their arms.'
Sky News AU
3 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Israel's strikes on Damascus were to ‘protect their Druze brethren in Syria'
Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Peter Wertheim defends Israel's strikes on Damascus, citing the protection of the Druze community. 'It has a context, you can't just judge international political conflicts on the basis of superficial images that are propagated by social media,' Mr Wertheim told Sky News host Danica De Giorgio. 'For much of its history, the majority Suni population mistreated a lot of these minority groups in a very severe way. 'With the fall of the Assad regime and the takeover of Syria by a former Islamic State Al-Qaeda terrorist leader. 'Things have reverted back to what they traditionally were …. Israel has come in … and they have demanded action to protect their Druze brethren in Syria.'
Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Australian Jewish leaders celebrate as Islamist preacher is banned from making anti-Semitic comments after racist sermons
Australian Jewish leaders have celebrated a win following a legal battle against an Islamist preacher who described their community as 'vile' and 'treacherous'. Sydney-based Al Madina Dawah Centre cleric, Wissam Haddad, was accused of racial discrimination in relation to a series of fiery sermons, which have racked up thousands of views online, since November 2023. The preacher, also known as Abu Ousayd, referred to Jewish people as 'vile, treacherous, murderous, and mischievous'. During the landmark case at the NSW Federal Court in Sydney, leaders from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) argued the online lectures were offensive and could incite violence towards Jews. Justice Angus Stewart found on Tuesday that the speeches were disparaging and likely to offend, insult, harass or intimidate Jewish people. 'The imputations include age-old tropes against Jewish people that are fundamentally racist and anti-Semitic,' he said. 'They make perverse generalisations against Jewish people as a group.' ECAJ's co-chief executive Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot stood proudly outside the court after the verdict which 'vindicated' them. 'It confirms that the days when Jewish communities and the Jewish people can be vilified and targeted, with impunity, are a thing of the past,' Mr Wertheim said. '(This case) was about antisemitism and the abuse of those freedoms in order to promote antisemitism. 'If the 300 ancestry groups and 100 faith communities living in Australia today were all free to vilify one another in the way that Mr Haddad vilified the Jewish people, the door would be wide open to chronic racial and sectarian strife. '(This would be) of the kind that has devastated other countries, and the peace and harmony we have generally enjoyed in Australia would be ruined for everyone.' Mr Goot described the preacher as a 'picture of anti-Semitic hatred', adding that he had brought the case to court to protect the Jewish community's safety. 'No community in this wonderful country should be dehumanised in the way that Mr Haddad treated us,' he said. 'Freedom of expression must not be abused by the promotion of hateful antisemitism. 'Those that wish to do so, should know that that conduct will not be tolerated by us.' The ECAJ leaders' case sought the removal of the published speeches, a public declaration of error and an order restraining Mr Haddad from making similar comments in future. Mr Haddad denied breaching anti-discrimination laws and claimed he was delivering historical and religious lectures on events from the Qur'an to contextualise the war in Gaza. He said he was speaking about 'Jews of faith' rather than ethnicity while trying to explain that 'what the Israeli government is doing to the people of Gaza' is 'not something new'. Ruling against the preacher would be tantamount to restricting the free exercise of religious expression, Mr Haddad's lawyer argued. But Justice Stewart rejected the defence on Tuesday and ordered Mr Haddad to remove the speeches. He directed the preacher not to make any further comments that convey similar disparaging imputations. Mr Haddad has also been ordered to foot the legal bill for the ECAJ which the leaders told reporters would be 'several hundred thousand dollars'. The preacher's speeches were delivered during a time of heightened sensitivity after the designated terror group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking Israeli retaliation that has left the Gaza Strip in turmoil. The reporting of the war prompted questions and concerns from Mr Haddad's congregants and at the same time left Jewish Australians feeling unsafe, the court was told.
ABC News
13-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Judge in Wissam Haddad's trial asks if 'racist generalisations' vital to religious freedom
A judge has questioned why making alleged racist comments in a sermon is needed to freely exercise religion, on the final day of a Sydney preacher's racial discrimination trial. Wissam Haddad, an Islamic teacher, is being sued for comments that allegedly breached Commonwealth laws against offensive behaviour because of race. In a series of speeches in late 2023, Mr Haddad is alleged to have portrayed Jews as "wicked and scheming", people who "love money and wealth" and as "descendants of apes and pigs". Mr Haddad denies breaching racial discrimination legislation, rejects the imputations were conveyed in a "full and fair reading" of the speeches, and says his comments do not refer to Australian Jewish people. The case was brought principally by Peter Wertheim, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ). After four days of hearings in the Federal Court, Justice Angus Stewart reserved his decision. Justice Stewart must now decide whether Mr Haddad's comments violated section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. He will assess whether the remarks were reasonably likely in all situations to "offend, insult, humiliate or intimate another … group of people" and were made "because of the race … of all the people in the group". Mr Haddad argues that, if his comments are found to have been unlawful, the act breaches the Australian Constitution, which prevents the making of laws that prohibit the "free exercise of any religion". During closing submissions on Friday, the judge asked Mr Haddad's barrister Andrew Boe why the preacher's comments about Jews were vital to free exercise of religion. "What is it that what was said in this case, that is necessary to the exercise of Islam, which doesn't seek to justify in Islamic texts, as I understand it, racist generalisations?" Justice Stewart asked. Mr Boe admitted his client "may be a very bad preacher" but said his evangelism was protected under the constitution. "He's trying to explain matters to people who are very faithful," Mr Boe said. "I think the phrase 'religious expression' must be read widely." Mr Haddad also argued section 18C would infringe the implied freedom of political communication under the constitution, if his speeches, which addressed the war in Gaza, were found to be unlawful. If Justice Stewart is persuaded of this argument, he would have to overrule his own conclusion in December that the law is valid in a case brought by Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi against One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson. Peter Braham SC, for Mr Wertheim, has sought an injunction banning Mr Haddad from publicly saying anything about Jews that conveys the racist meanings alleged in the case. Mr Braham has also asked for orders to remove the impugned speeches from the internet and to publish a statement declaring the comments about Jews unlawful. "We're not seeking compensation in monetary form," he said. Outside court, Mr Haddad did not respond to questions about whether he would abide by any orders restricting his speech. His solicitor, Elias Tabchouri, said Mr Haddad would deal with the court's orders when they arrived. "We always respect the court's decision," he said.
News.com.au
10-06-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Sydney preacher taken to court over alleged anti-Semitic speech
A Muslim preacher is being sued by Australia's peak Jewish body over alleged anti-Semitic speeches in which he allegedly described Jewish people as 'vile' and 'treacherous'. Wissam Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd, is being taken to the Federal Court by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) over a series of lectures he gave in November 2023. A three-day hearing in Sydney's Federal Court is set to begin on Tuesday. Recordings of the speeches made at the Bankstown centre, which allegedly included derogatory generalisations about Jewish people, such as descriptions of them as 'vile' and 'treacherous' people, were uploaded online. The proceedings have been brought by ECAJ co-chief executive Peter Wertheim AM and deputy president Robert Goot AO SC, who claim Mr Haddad breached the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. Mr Wertheim said they previously attempted 'in good faith' to resolve the matter through the Australian Human Rights Commission, but a conciliated resolution could not be achieved. 'Accordingly, we have commenced proceedings in the Federal Court,' he said. 'Australia has long enjoyed a reputation as a multicultural success story where people of many different faiths and ethnic backgrounds have for the most part lived in harmony and mutual respect.' Mr Wertheim added that all Australians were 'free to observe our faith and traditions within the bounds of Australian law'. 'Maintaining and strengthening social cohesion is the role of governments and government agencies, but lately they have failed us,' he said. 'It should not fall on our community, or any other community, to take private legal action. However, in the circumstances we feel we have no alternative.'
