'Bad' Muslim preacher fights for religious freedom
An Islamist preacher who referred to Jewish people as "vile" and "treacherous" argues his comments weren't racist but instead protected religious lectures.
Sydney-based Al Madina Dawah Centre cleric Wissam Haddad has been accused of racial discrimination in a series of fiery sermons from November 2023, which have racked up thousands of views online.
In the speeches, Haddad - also known as Abu Ousayd - referred to Jewish people as "vile", "treacherous", "murderous" and "descendants of pigs and apes".
His lawyer Andrew Boe previously argued his speeches were intended for a small private Muslim audience and weren't reasonably likely to attract the attention of the broader community.
Yet he conceded at the 11th hour that the speeches were not made in private, after Mr Haddad admitted he knew they would be published online.
Mr Boe argued the speeches were not racist because they were historical and religious lectures delivered in good faith to contextualise the war in Gaza.
He maintains Mr Haddad was referring to Jews of faith, not ethnicity, while comparing seventh century Jews to the current Israeli government.
"We may not necessarily embrace that the correlation he was making is a good one," Mr Boe said in his closing remarks on Friday.
"He may be a very bad preacher. That doesn't mean what he's saying about Islam doesn't fall within (the protections for freedom of religious expression)."
Mr Haddad had been quoting in large part from Islamic texts so ruling in favour of the two Jewish plaintiffs would be the equivalent of prohibiting the recitation of religious material, Mr Boe argued.
He told the court such a judgment would suggest there was an "inextricable link" between religious speech, religious narratives and racially motivated speech.
"I'm not understating the awfulness of some of the language," Mr Boe said.
"A rejection of the applicants' case … does not mean the court condones the actions of the respondent in any way."
However, lawyers for Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot who are suing Mr Haddad, said there was "no basis" for concluding the speeches were an exercise of religious freedom.
"The evidence positively says Islam doesn't require or justify wholesale negative expression about Jewish people," Hannah Ryan told the Federal Court.
Peter Braham SC concluded the argument that Mr Haddad was trying to comfort and educate his congregation was "putting a very thin veil" over a message that equated to "Jews bad".
He pointed to Mr Haddad's previous provocative comments about the Christian and Hindu communities as evidence of an offensive pattern of behaviour by the preacher.
His clients are seeking the removal of the published speech, a public declaration of wrongdoing and an order restraining Mr Haddad from making similar comments in future.
"He should be ordered to not repeat the conduct," Mr Braham said.
The hearing continues.
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The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
No diplomatic breakthrough as Israel-Iran war drags on
Talks aimed at de-escalating fighting between Israel and Iran have failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough as the war enters its second week with a fresh round of strikes between the two adversaries. European ministers and Iran's top diplomat met on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, as President Donald Trump continued to weigh US military involvement and worries rose over potential strikes on nuclear reactors. European officials expressed hope for future negotiations, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was open to further dialogue while emphasising that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continued attacking. "Iran is ready to consider diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable for its committed crimes," he told reporters. No date was set for the next round of talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's military operation in Iran would continue "for as long as it takes" to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran's nuclear program and arsenal of ballistic missiles. But Netanyahu's goal could be out of reach without US help. Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered to be out of reach to all but America's "bunker-buster" bombs. Trump said he would put off deciding whether to join Israel's air campaign against Iran for up to two weeks. The war between Israel and Iran erupted June 13, with Israeli air strikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel's air defences, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. Israel's defence minister said on Saturday it killed a commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the 20-month long war in Gaza. Saeed Izadi, who was commander of the Palestine Corps for the elite Iranian Quds Force, was killed in an apartment in the city of Qom. Addressing an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned against attacks on Iran's nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. 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Iranian state media reported explosions from Israeli strikes in an industrial area of Rasht, along the coast of the Caspian Sea. Israel's military had warned Iranians to leave the area around Rasht's Industrial City, but with Iran's internet shut off - now for more than 48 hours - it's unclear how many people could see the message. The Israeli military believes it has destroyed most of Iran's ballistic missile launchers, contributing to the steady decline in Iranian attacks. But several of the roughly three dozen missiles that Israel said Iran fired on Friday slipped through the country's aerial defences, setting off air-raid sirens across the country and sending shrapnel flying into a residential area in the southern city of Beersheba, where a hospital was hit on Thursday. Talks aimed at de-escalating fighting between Israel and Iran have failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough as the war enters its second week with a fresh round of strikes between the two adversaries. European ministers and Iran's top diplomat met on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, as President Donald Trump continued to weigh US military involvement and worries rose over potential strikes on nuclear reactors. European officials expressed hope for future negotiations, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was open to further dialogue while emphasising that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continued attacking. "Iran is ready to consider diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable for its committed crimes," he told reporters. No date was set for the next round of talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's military operation in Iran would continue "for as long as it takes" to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran's nuclear program and arsenal of ballistic missiles. But Netanyahu's goal could be out of reach without US help. Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered to be out of reach to all but America's "bunker-buster" bombs. Trump said he would put off deciding whether to join Israel's air campaign against Iran for up to two weeks. The war between Israel and Iran erupted June 13, with Israeli air strikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel's air defences, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. Israel's defence minister said on Saturday it killed a commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the 20-month long war in Gaza. Saeed Izadi, who was commander of the Palestine Corps for the elite Iranian Quds Force, was killed in an apartment in the city of Qom. Addressing an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned against attacks on Iran's nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. Israel has not targeted Iran's nuclear reactors, instead focusing its strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country's Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital. Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal with the US, France, China, Russia, Britain and Germany in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the US out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade levels and restricting access to its nuclear facilities. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Israel said its warplanes hit dozens of military targets across Iran on Friday, including missile-manufacturing facilities, while an Iranian missile hit Israel's northern city of Haifa, wounding at least 31 people. Iranian state media reported explosions from Israeli strikes in an industrial area of Rasht, along the coast of the Caspian Sea. Israel's military had warned Iranians to leave the area around Rasht's Industrial City, but with Iran's internet shut off - now for more than 48 hours - it's unclear how many people could see the message. The Israeli military believes it has destroyed most of Iran's ballistic missile launchers, contributing to the steady decline in Iranian attacks. But several of the roughly three dozen missiles that Israel said Iran fired on Friday slipped through the country's aerial defences, setting off air-raid sirens across the country and sending shrapnel flying into a residential area in the southern city of Beersheba, where a hospital was hit on Thursday. Talks aimed at de-escalating fighting between Israel and Iran have failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough as the war enters its second week with a fresh round of strikes between the two adversaries. European ministers and Iran's top diplomat met on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, as President Donald Trump continued to weigh US military involvement and worries rose over potential strikes on nuclear reactors. European officials expressed hope for future negotiations, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was open to further dialogue while emphasising that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continued attacking. "Iran is ready to consider diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable for its committed crimes," he told reporters. No date was set for the next round of talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's military operation in Iran would continue "for as long as it takes" to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran's nuclear program and arsenal of ballistic missiles. But Netanyahu's goal could be out of reach without US help. Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered to be out of reach to all but America's "bunker-buster" bombs. Trump said he would put off deciding whether to join Israel's air campaign against Iran for up to two weeks. The war between Israel and Iran erupted June 13, with Israeli air strikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel's air defences, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. Israel's defence minister said on Saturday it killed a commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the 20-month long war in Gaza. Saeed Izadi, who was commander of the Palestine Corps for the elite Iranian Quds Force, was killed in an apartment in the city of Qom. Addressing an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned against attacks on Iran's nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. Israel has not targeted Iran's nuclear reactors, instead focusing its strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country's Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital. Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal with the US, France, China, Russia, Britain and Germany in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the US out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade levels and restricting access to its nuclear facilities. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Israel said its warplanes hit dozens of military targets across Iran on Friday, including missile-manufacturing facilities, while an Iranian missile hit Israel's northern city of Haifa, wounding at least 31 people. Iranian state media reported explosions from Israeli strikes in an industrial area of Rasht, along the coast of the Caspian Sea. Israel's military had warned Iranians to leave the area around Rasht's Industrial City, but with Iran's internet shut off - now for more than 48 hours - it's unclear how many people could see the message. The Israeli military believes it has destroyed most of Iran's ballistic missile launchers, contributing to the steady decline in Iranian attacks. But several of the roughly three dozen missiles that Israel said Iran fired on Friday slipped through the country's aerial defences, setting off air-raid sirens across the country and sending shrapnel flying into a residential area in the southern city of Beersheba, where a hospital was hit on Thursday. Talks aimed at de-escalating fighting between Israel and Iran have failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough as the war enters its second week with a fresh round of strikes between the two adversaries. European ministers and Iran's top diplomat met on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, as President Donald Trump continued to weigh US military involvement and worries rose over potential strikes on nuclear reactors. European officials expressed hope for future negotiations, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was open to further dialogue while emphasising that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continued attacking. "Iran is ready to consider diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable for its committed crimes," he told reporters. No date was set for the next round of talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's military operation in Iran would continue "for as long as it takes" to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran's nuclear program and arsenal of ballistic missiles. But Netanyahu's goal could be out of reach without US help. Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered to be out of reach to all but America's "bunker-buster" bombs. Trump said he would put off deciding whether to join Israel's air campaign against Iran for up to two weeks. The war between Israel and Iran erupted June 13, with Israeli air strikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel's air defences, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. Israel's defence minister said on Saturday it killed a commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the 20-month long war in Gaza. Saeed Izadi, who was commander of the Palestine Corps for the elite Iranian Quds Force, was killed in an apartment in the city of Qom. Addressing an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned against attacks on Iran's nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. Israel has not targeted Iran's nuclear reactors, instead focusing its strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country's Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital. Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal with the US, France, China, Russia, Britain and Germany in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the US out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade levels and restricting access to its nuclear facilities. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Israel said its warplanes hit dozens of military targets across Iran on Friday, including missile-manufacturing facilities, while an Iranian missile hit Israel's northern city of Haifa, wounding at least 31 people. Iranian state media reported explosions from Israeli strikes in an industrial area of Rasht, along the coast of the Caspian Sea. Israel's military had warned Iranians to leave the area around Rasht's Industrial City, but with Iran's internet shut off - now for more than 48 hours - it's unclear how many people could see the message. The Israeli military believes it has destroyed most of Iran's ballistic missile launchers, contributing to the steady decline in Iranian attacks. But several of the roughly three dozen missiles that Israel said Iran fired on Friday slipped through the country's aerial defences, setting off air-raid sirens across the country and sending shrapnel flying into a residential area in the southern city of Beersheba, where a hospital was hit on Thursday.
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Barron Trump may have made millions from family's lucrative crypto firm: report
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The Advertiser
6 hours ago
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Protester Mahmoud Khalil freed from detention in US
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has been released from federal immigration detention, 104 days after becoming a symbol of President Donald Trump 's clampdown on campus protests. The former Columbia University graduate student was freed in Louisiana on Friday after a court ruling. He is expected to head to New York to reunite with his US citizen wife and infant son, born while Khalil was detained. "Justice prevailed, but it's very long overdue," he said outside the facility in a remote part of Louisiana. "This shouldn't have taken three months." The Trump administration is seeking to deport Khalil over his role in pro-Palestinian protests. He was detained on March 8 at his apartment building in Manhattan. During an hourlong hearing conducted by phone, the New Jersey-based judge said the government had "clearly not met" the standards for detention. The government filed notice that it's appealing Khalil's release. Khalil was the first person arrested under Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza. The Trump administration has argued that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be deported as it considers their views antisemitic. Protesters and civil rights groups say the administration is conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel in order to silence dissent. The international affairs graduate student served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists and wasn't among the demonstrators arrested, but his prominence in news coverage and willingness to speak publicly made him a target of critics. The judge agreed Friday with Khalil's lawyers that the protester was being prevented from exercising his free speech and due process rights despite no obvious reason for his continued detention. Khalil said Friday that no one should be detained for protesting Israel's war in Gaza. He said his time in the detention facility had shown him "a different reality about this country that supposedly champions human rights and liberty and justice." "Whether you are a US citizen, an immigrant or just a person on this land doesn't mean that you are less of a human," he said, adding that "justice will prevail, no matter what this administration may try to portray" about immigrants. In a statement after the judge's ruling, Khalil's wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, said she can finally "breathe a sigh of relief" after her husband's three months in detention. The judge's decision comes after several other scholars targeted for their activism have been released from custody, including another former Palestinian student at Columbia, Mohsen Mahdawi; a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk; and a Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri. Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has been released from federal immigration detention, 104 days after becoming a symbol of President Donald Trump 's clampdown on campus protests. The former Columbia University graduate student was freed in Louisiana on Friday after a court ruling. He is expected to head to New York to reunite with his US citizen wife and infant son, born while Khalil was detained. "Justice prevailed, but it's very long overdue," he said outside the facility in a remote part of Louisiana. "This shouldn't have taken three months." The Trump administration is seeking to deport Khalil over his role in pro-Palestinian protests. He was detained on March 8 at his apartment building in Manhattan. During an hourlong hearing conducted by phone, the New Jersey-based judge said the government had "clearly not met" the standards for detention. The government filed notice that it's appealing Khalil's release. Khalil was the first person arrested under Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza. The Trump administration has argued that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be deported as it considers their views antisemitic. Protesters and civil rights groups say the administration is conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel in order to silence dissent. The international affairs graduate student served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists and wasn't among the demonstrators arrested, but his prominence in news coverage and willingness to speak publicly made him a target of critics. The judge agreed Friday with Khalil's lawyers that the protester was being prevented from exercising his free speech and due process rights despite no obvious reason for his continued detention. Khalil said Friday that no one should be detained for protesting Israel's war in Gaza. He said his time in the detention facility had shown him "a different reality about this country that supposedly champions human rights and liberty and justice." "Whether you are a US citizen, an immigrant or just a person on this land doesn't mean that you are less of a human," he said, adding that "justice will prevail, no matter what this administration may try to portray" about immigrants. In a statement after the judge's ruling, Khalil's wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, said she can finally "breathe a sigh of relief" after her husband's three months in detention. The judge's decision comes after several other scholars targeted for their activism have been released from custody, including another former Palestinian student at Columbia, Mohsen Mahdawi; a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk; and a Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri. Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has been released from federal immigration detention, 104 days after becoming a symbol of President Donald Trump 's clampdown on campus protests. The former Columbia University graduate student was freed in Louisiana on Friday after a court ruling. He is expected to head to New York to reunite with his US citizen wife and infant son, born while Khalil was detained. "Justice prevailed, but it's very long overdue," he said outside the facility in a remote part of Louisiana. "This shouldn't have taken three months." The Trump administration is seeking to deport Khalil over his role in pro-Palestinian protests. He was detained on March 8 at his apartment building in Manhattan. During an hourlong hearing conducted by phone, the New Jersey-based judge said the government had "clearly not met" the standards for detention. The government filed notice that it's appealing Khalil's release. Khalil was the first person arrested under Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza. The Trump administration has argued that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be deported as it considers their views antisemitic. Protesters and civil rights groups say the administration is conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel in order to silence dissent. The international affairs graduate student served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists and wasn't among the demonstrators arrested, but his prominence in news coverage and willingness to speak publicly made him a target of critics. The judge agreed Friday with Khalil's lawyers that the protester was being prevented from exercising his free speech and due process rights despite no obvious reason for his continued detention. Khalil said Friday that no one should be detained for protesting Israel's war in Gaza. He said his time in the detention facility had shown him "a different reality about this country that supposedly champions human rights and liberty and justice." "Whether you are a US citizen, an immigrant or just a person on this land doesn't mean that you are less of a human," he said, adding that "justice will prevail, no matter what this administration may try to portray" about immigrants. In a statement after the judge's ruling, Khalil's wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, said she can finally "breathe a sigh of relief" after her husband's three months in detention. The judge's decision comes after several other scholars targeted for their activism have been released from custody, including another former Palestinian student at Columbia, Mohsen Mahdawi; a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk; and a Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri. Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has been released from federal immigration detention, 104 days after becoming a symbol of President Donald Trump 's clampdown on campus protests. The former Columbia University graduate student was freed in Louisiana on Friday after a court ruling. He is expected to head to New York to reunite with his US citizen wife and infant son, born while Khalil was detained. "Justice prevailed, but it's very long overdue," he said outside the facility in a remote part of Louisiana. "This shouldn't have taken three months." The Trump administration is seeking to deport Khalil over his role in pro-Palestinian protests. He was detained on March 8 at his apartment building in Manhattan. During an hourlong hearing conducted by phone, the New Jersey-based judge said the government had "clearly not met" the standards for detention. The government filed notice that it's appealing Khalil's release. Khalil was the first person arrested under Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza. The Trump administration has argued that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be deported as it considers their views antisemitic. Protesters and civil rights groups say the administration is conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel in order to silence dissent. The international affairs graduate student served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists and wasn't among the demonstrators arrested, but his prominence in news coverage and willingness to speak publicly made him a target of critics. The judge agreed Friday with Khalil's lawyers that the protester was being prevented from exercising his free speech and due process rights despite no obvious reason for his continued detention. Khalil said Friday that no one should be detained for protesting Israel's war in Gaza. He said his time in the detention facility had shown him "a different reality about this country that supposedly champions human rights and liberty and justice." "Whether you are a US citizen, an immigrant or just a person on this land doesn't mean that you are less of a human," he said, adding that "justice will prevail, no matter what this administration may try to portray" about immigrants. In a statement after the judge's ruling, Khalil's wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, said she can finally "breathe a sigh of relief" after her husband's three months in detention. The judge's decision comes after several other scholars targeted for their activism have been released from custody, including another former Palestinian student at Columbia, Mohsen Mahdawi; a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk; and a Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri.
