ECAJ sues Islamic preacher Abu Ousayd in Federal Court for racial hatred

[Pelican Press 0]

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ECAJ sues Islamic preacher Abu Ousayd in Federal Court for ******* hatred

Australia’s leading ******* group has launched court action against controversial Islamic preacher Wissam Haddad, claiming the cleric racially vilified Jews during speeches at a Sydney mosque.

In a statement on Monday, the Executive Council of *********** Jewry announced it had begun civil proceedings in the Federal Court against Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd, and the Al Madina Dawah Centre in western Sydney.

The legal action centres on a set of speeches the preacher allegedly made at the ******* centre in late 2023, with recordings of the material uploaded online.

The ECAJ will argue Ousayd’s speeches contravened the 1975 ******* Discrimination Act, which prohibits offensive behaviour based on ******* hatred.

“The documents filed with the court allege that the speeches included derogatory generalisations about ******* people, such as descriptions of them as a ‘vile people’, a ‘treacherous people’, and claims that “their hands are in everywhere – in businesses … in the media’,” the ECAJ said on Monday.

Camera IconThe ECAJ has commenced legal proceedings against Sydney-based Islamic cleric Wissam Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd.

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“The applicants are seeking, among other things, declarations that the respondents contravened section 18C of the ******* Discrimination Act, injunctions requiring the speeches to be removed from the internet and restraining the respondents from publishing similar content in the future, an order requiring publication of a corrective notice on the social media pages of Al Madina Dawah Centre Incorporated and an order for costs.

“No order for damages or monetary compensation is sought.”

ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim brought the action alongside deputy president Robert Goot AO SC.

“As is required by law, we attempted in good ****** to resolve this matter by conciliation through the *********** Human Rights Commission, but a conciliated resolution could not be achieved,” Mr Wertheim said.

“Accordingly, 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.

“Australia has long enjoyed a reputation as a multicultural success story where people of many different faiths and ******* backgrounds have for the most part lived in harmony and mutual respect.

“We are all free to observe our ****** and traditions within the bounds of *********** law and that should mean we do not bring the hatreds, prejudices and bigotry of overseas conflicts and societies into Australia.”

Mr Wertheim also took aim at a perceived ******** of the federal government to maintain “social cohesion” in the wake of the October 7, 2023 ****** ******* ******* on *******.

“Maintaining and strengthening social cohesion is the role of governments and government agencies, but lately they have ******* us,” he said.

“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.

“However, in the circumstances we feel we have no alternative.”

******* Australians suffered a 738 per cent spike in anti-Semitic ****** across October and November 2023 compared with the same ******* in 2022, according to an interim report from the ECAJ.

Australia/******* and ******* Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein, at a Senate hearing in June, said he supported a “horseshoe theory” of politics, which suggests ostensibly oppositional political movements can often meet at some specific spot of centre, as though bending in the shape of a horseshoe rather than a straight left-right line.

He said radicalism, the extreme left and the nationalist far right all met at a point of shared antipathy towards ******* people.

The Al Madina Dawah Centre has been contacted for comment.

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