February 18, 2025
The Muslim Vote has partnered with extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir and mainstream Islamic bodies to uphold two sacked Bankstown nurses who claimed to have killed Israeli patients as victims of “manufactured outrage” in a campaign to silence Palestinian voices.
While the NSW government criticised the “divisive and unwelcome” comments contained in a joint communique, and the federal opposition chastised mainstream bodies for aligning with known radicals, neither Anthony Albanese nor Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke responded to questions about the statement supporting the healthcare workers.
The unlikely alliance – which included pro-Palestine independent candidates, and hardline Islamic centres and radical preachers – comes after footage of NSW Health nurses Ahmad “Rashad” Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh vowing to “kill” Israeli patients led to their immediate dismissals and sparked an investigation by a state police anti-Semitism taskforce. The communique was put together by “Stand 4 Palestine” – a group established and largely run by Hizb ut-Tahrir operatives.
It criticised what it called “co-ordinated outrage” and claimed the response to the two nurses’ comments was “manufactured” to serve a “political narrative”.
“The most revealing aspect of the reaction to the nurses’ video is not the (footage) itself – but the speed, intensity and uniformity of response from certain political leaders and media outlets,” said the statement, endorsed by more than 50 bodies or leaders.
The intervention puts into sharp focus the tightrope authorities must tread as they seek to balance faith in the health system with the anger of parts of the Muslim community over apparent double standards in the governments’ response to anti-Semitism.
The alignment of Hizb ut-Tahrir and extremist preachers with the anti-ALP Muslim political campaign creates a clear dividing line for Labor in seats such as Watson and Blaxland, where it is courting and hopeful of support from the area’s wider, mainstream Muslim community.
Stand 4 Palestine said its statement was “not about defending inappropriate remarks” but to “push back against double standards and moral manipulation”.
Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia, whose British branch was last year banned, is a signatory to the letter. Germany, Egypt, Turkey, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Pakistan, among others, have also outlawed the group.
Signatories also included mainstream bodies, including the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils and the Islamic councils of Victoria and WA, but also radical groups, such as the Al Madina Dawah Centre and its founder, Wissam Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd.
Mr Haddad is being sued for vilifying the Jewish community in sermons that allegedly called Jewish people “descendants of pigs and monkeys”, recited Islamic parables about their killing, labelled them “treacherous people”, and alleged they had their “hands in business and media”.
The preacher has been vocal about his friendship with now-dead Islamic State terrorists Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, and whose defunct Al Risalah bookstore was a known hotbed of extremism. He shares standing as a “prominent individual” on the communique alongside two independents running in the upcoming federal election: Ziad Basyouny and Ahmed Ouf.
Political groups Muslim Votes Matter and The Muslim Vote are signatories. The Muslim Vote convener, sheik Wesam Charkawi, who is helping co-ordinate the campaigns of the two independent candidates in Watson and Blaxland also signed the communique.
While there have been public links between The Muslim Vote and Sheik Charkawi with elements of Hizb ut-Tahrir – the sheik and the extremist group – shared a stage at an October 2024 rally outside Lakemba Mosque – it is the first time the two independent candidates have shared a letterhead with that group or Mr Haddad.
Recent polling suggested Labor would retain Watson and Blaxland, but was on track for a razor-thin defeat in Werriwa, where The Muslim Vote has said it would back another as-yet revealed candidate.
The decision to align with Hizb ut-Tahrir, its offshoot Stand 4 Palestine, and Mr Haddad should firm up an activist cohort of voters the candidates are chasing. However, it could prove detrimental in drawing wider support from the area’s Muslim community, many of who would be deterred by a campaign that involved and counted Hizb ut-Tahrir as supporters.
Peter Dutton in September declared Dr Basyouny “didn’t deserve to be in the Australian parliament” because of a series of Facebook posts that appeared to glorify Hamas’s use of paragliders in its October 7 massacre.
The Opposition Leader urged Anthony Albanese to refuse to direct preferences to Dr Basyouny, although the Watson candidate said his posts should not be seen as an endorsement of violence against innocent people.
The Australian understands that both candidates have held talks with Liberal figures about a form of preference deal in Watson, Blaxland and Werriwa, where The Muslim Vote has all but confirmed it would preference the opposition party above the ALP.
Sheik Charkawi claimed Mr Nadir’s and Ms Abu Lebdeh’s comments “were never meant to be (taken) literally or be a threat to patient care”. “In these times … emotions can sometimes get the better of anybody,” he said.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park on Monday reiterated that the comments by Mr Nadir and Ms Abu Lebdeh were “indefensible”.
“The NSW government’s swift and decisive response was critical to restoring faith in the state’s health system,” Mr Park said.
“We need to unite against hatred, and these comments (enclosed in the statement) are divisive and unwelcome.”
The communique said the nurses’ threats about killing Israeli patients were not examples of anti-Semitism but rather “frustration and anger directed at Israel” propelled by “gaslighting by Zionist lobby groups”.
“The frustration and anger directed at Israel is a direct response to its violence policies, not an expression of hatred toward the Jewish people,” the statement claimed.
The statement argued that the nurses’ comments were “clearly emotional and hyperbolic”.
Melbourne-based Al Bayyinah Islamic Centre, closely linked to Mr Haddad, was a signatory, as was Gamel Kheir, the Lebanese Muslim Association secretary. Sheik Ibrahim Dadoun, who said the day after Hamas’s attacks that he was “elated”, is a signatory, as is Rateb Jneid, AFIC’s president.
Peak Muslim body, the Australian National Imams Council, did not lend its support, nor did the LMA, which issued its own statement on the incident.
Stand 4 Palestine organisers – Anas, Amer and Mohammed al-Wahwah, all relatives of Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia founder Ismail – appear routinely alongside Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia figure Wassim Doureihi on that group’s new YouTube channel.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the fact mainstream Muslim bodies were happy to share a platform with Hizb ut-Tahrir was “deeply disturbing”. “It is even more troubling that they are seeking to minimise the seriousness of what these nurses did,” Senator Paterson said.
He called on the government to cancel any outstanding grants to organisations who signed the communique.