February 23, 2025
A prominent Sydney sheik has claimed there was a real possibility Australia’s violent wave of anti-Semitism had been “manufactured” by Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad.
The claim by Sheik Ibrahim Dadoun – until recently a director at the country’s peak Muslim body – comes after ASIO director-general Mike Burgess warned about hostile foreign states operating in Australia and said he had “grave concerns” that anti-Semitism was a hatred that defied logic and was likely to get worse.
“When will the ASIO boss tell Australians if the Mossad had anything to do with the wave of manufactured anti-Semitic attacks conducted by known criminals,” the sheik told his supporters on the weekend.
“If it (the attacks) were Iran, it would have been plastered all over the news. If it was China we would have known about it.”
The sheik also claimed Mr Burgess believed the “hostile states” could be allies or friends to Australia who wanted to intervene in domestic politics and “affect social cohesion”.
“Given that Israel is seen as a ‘friend’ to Australia, it is highly likely, in fact plausible, and a real possibility that Mossad manufactured (the) wave of anti-Semitic attacks,” Sheik Dadoun said.
Although far-left pro-Palestine activists and radical fringe preachers have told their social media followers Australia’s anti-Semitic attacks were co-ordinated by Israel, it is the first time a relatively mainstream Muslim leader has made that claim.
A prominent Sydney sheik has claimed there was a real possibility Australia’s violent wave of anti-Semitism had been “manufactured” by Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad.
The claim by Sheik Ibrahim Dadoun – until recently a director at the country’s peak Muslim body – comes after ASIO director-general Mike Burgess warned about hostile foreign states operating in Australia and said he had “grave concerns” that anti-Semitism was a hatred that defied logic and was likely to get worse.
“When will the ASIO boss tell Australians if the Mossad had anything to do with the wave of manufactured anti-Semitic attacks conducted by known criminals,” the sheik told his supporters on the weekend.
“If it (the attacks) were Iran, it would have been plastered all over the news. If it was China we would have known about it.”
The sheik also claimed Mr Burgess believed the “hostile states” could be allies or friends to Australia who wanted to intervene in domestic politics and “affect social cohesion”.
“Given that Israel is seen as a ‘friend’ to Australia, it is highly likely, in fact plausible, and a real possibility that Mossad manufactured (the) wave of anti-Semitic attacks,” Sheik Dadoun said.
Although far-left pro-Palestine activists and radical fringe preachers have told their social media followers Australia’s anti-Semitic attacks were co-ordinated by Israel, it is the first time a relatively mainstream Muslim leader has made that claim.
Jewish leaders slammed the sheik and his claims, saying his views were no surprise and only served to amplify conspiracy theories.
“This is precisely the level of insight we would expect from a man who looked at medieval savagery, rape, decapitation, abduction and reacted with glee,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said.
Sheik Dadoun rose to national prominence the day after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacres when he told a Lakemba rally organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir that he was “smiling” and “elated”.
“It’s a day of courage, it’s a day of resistance, it’s a day of pride, it’s a day of victory,” the sheik said, later claiming he had been taken out of context and was referring only to Palestinians breaking free from Gaza and not Hamas’s attacks, despite the two being intrinsically linked.
“The problem is not that figures like Dadoun hold such views, it is that they hold positions of influence in their communities, which they use to spout conspiracy theories,” Mr Ryvchin said.
“This is creating a generational problem. The Jewish community is of course appalled by his comments but the condemnation should be led by other Islamic leaders, as well as politicians and civil society, to ensure such views never become acceptable.”
After a stint as ANIC public relations director Sheik Dadoun then became one of the group’s statutory directors, until October 2024 when he left the organisation, The Australian can reveal.
He remains one of the imams of the UMA, however, and the Coalition has slammed his continued involvement with that group – which received more than $3m in federal funding last year – calling on Anthony Albanese to stop grants to the body. Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said there was “zero evidence” for the sheik’s claims but that his standing in the community would unfortunately help circulate conspiratorial myths.
“It’s grossly irresponsible to promote unfounded conspiracy theories like this in the middle of an anti-Semitism crisis,” said Senator Paterson, repeating calls for the government to rescind funding to groups that “employed Dadoun” and others who peddled mistruths.
“It’s grotesquely anti-Semitic to blame Jews for attacks on their own community.”
The Australian revealed last week how Hizb ut-Tahrir and Stand 4 Palestine activist Mohammed al-Wahwah worked with the UMA for a five-year period from 2019, running youth-focused programs and prayer sessions.
Sheik Dadoun was also one of more than 50 Muslim groups and leaders to sign a communique barracking for two suspended Bankstown Hospital nurses, denying their threats to “kill Israelis” were anti-Semitic, instead saying the pair were “victims” of “manufactured outrage”.
NSW Police’s Strike Force Pearl – established to investigate crimes of an anti-Semitic nature – last week arrested and laid charges against a 13th person, Scott Marshall, in relation to a vandalism attack in Woollahra in December.
Mr Marshall was named in a search warrant, along with his partner, Tammie Farrugia, after an explosives-filled caravan was discovered in Dural in Sydney’s northwest with a list of Jewish “targets”.
Both are in police custody and Ms Farrugia was charged in January in relation to that Woollahra anti-Semitic vandalism attack.
