December 19, 2023
Political and Jewish leaders have said inaction on incendiary sermons delivered at a Sydney Islamic centre has given radical clerics a “green light” as another preacher called for a Muslim army, describing it as “the final solution”, a term explicitly linked to Nazism and the Holocaust.
The Australian revealed on Sunday how a cleric known as “Brother Muhammad” gave the sermon at Bankstown’s Al Madina Dawah Centre – itself the subject of two police investigations now dropped – that called for a Muslim army and an Islamic state with sharia law, and wrongly accused Israel of using AI to target children.
Jewish leaders said “Australia’s tolerance of intolerance” was reaching its limits.
“Brother Muhammad is the latest self-described Islamic preacher to spew hatred against Jews,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim said.
“In the wake of Hamas’s genocidal atrocities, he has adopted the expression ‘the final solution’ against the world’s only Jewish state, an expression made infamous by Nazi Germany as a euphemism for the genocide of the Jewish people.”
The Australian previously revealed how police had dropped investigations into hate-fuelled sermons at the centre by cleric Abu Ousayd – also known as Wissam Haddad – and “Brother Ismail”, which included calls for jihad, parables that said “kill Jews” and that if Islamic nations “spat on Israel the Jews would drown”. The police involved said each case had not breached the criminality threshold.
“Previous anti-Jewish rants by other Muslim preachers went unpunished, and now we see the consequences – Australia’s tolerance of intolerance must surely be reaching its limits,” Mr Wertheim said.
He contrasted Brother Muhammad’s use of the term with former senator Fraser Anning saying “the final solution to the immigration problem is a popular vote”, referring to Muslim immigrants, for which he was criticised.
“Brother Muhammad has used that identical expression in a manner that is even more directly reminiscent of Nazi ideas and practices,” Mr Wertheim said.
“Yet the same parties that screamed their disapproval of Mr Anning have been silent about this latest incident. Their hypocrisy and double standards could not be more obvious.”
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said social cohesion was a “collective responsibility”, slamming the sermon’s rhetoric.
“Those who seek to divide our society based on race, religion or other immutable characteristics tear at the seams of what makes Australia the best place on Earth to live,” he said.
In political circles, the sermon was labelled “appalling” and “abhorrent”.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said he was concerned that even after multiple investigations into the centre’s preachers, they continued to “sprout violent rhetoric and hatred”.
“Calling for a ‘final solution’ in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict is abhorrent and indefensible,” Senator Paterson said, calling it “corrosive” to society and saying it should be rejected by Australians.
“Our law enforcement and security agencies must continue to keep a close eye on the inflammatory rhetoric from these preachers and ensure the law is robustly enforced.”
Liberal senator Dave Sharma – a former ambassador to Israel – agreed the failure to act on previous sermons had given the clerics “the green light”.
“This rhetoric is incendiary and only likely to fuel further anti-Semitism … especially with its appalling reference to seeking a ‘final solution’,” he said.
“Unfortunately NSW authorities have effectively given such speech the green light, with their bizarre and inexplicable failure to take action and enforce laws intended to safeguard our entire community.”
In December, when asked why police had dropped their investigations, NSW Premier Chris Minns reiterated that the sermons “reeked of anti-Semitism” but decisions to prosecute sat with NSW police, who found its contents hadn’t breached section 93z of the Crimes Act.
The Anti-Discrimination Act, which makes it unlawful to incite hatred or contempt for a person or group on the basis of their belief or race, is a civil and not a criminal provision.
NSW Police was contacted about whether Brother Muhammad’s sermon would be subject to inquiries.
