March 26, 2024
A radical, terrorism-backing Sydney cleric who described Jewish people as "descendants of pigs and monkeys" and urged people to "spit on Israel" so that "Jews would drown" is a Saturday school principal teaching sharia to children as young as five.
The Australian can reveal that southwest Sydney cleric Abu Ousayd is the head of an informal Saturday school for children aged five to 12 at Bankstown's Al Madina Dawah Centre.
Since the onset of the IsraelHamas war on October 7, the centre has provided a platform for incendiary sermons by a number of clerics, including Mr Ousayd.
Mr Ousayd has previously expressed support for Islamic State and al-Qa'ida, boasted of friendship with terrorists Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, and preached extremist ideology at his now-defunct Al-Risalah Islamic Centre, which was frequented by numerous men who committed atrocities in Syria.
As recently as last month, the Al Madina Dawah Centre was encouraging enrolments for children to study the Koran, Arabic and sharia, at a cost of $200 per place.
Promotional material said the school would "grow hearts and minds, guided by the Koran and Sunnah", and promised "learning, fun and play".
Mr Ousayd's real or, at least, previous name is Wissam Haddad, understood to formally be "William" Haddad.
The Australian understands that the Saturday school is not registered and thus not covered by the NSW Education Standards Authority, and that there are no records of a teacher with the names Abu Ousayd, or Wissam or William Haddad.
Pictures of the centre's three classrooms show a handful of desks, whiteboards, and teaching resources. It is understood that the teachers bar "principal" Ousayd are all female.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said he was concerned that radical ideology was being taught to children by a known extremist preacher.
"The failure of the NSW and federal governments to enforce Australia's strong anti-incitement laws means hate preachers are indoctrinating future generations with their extreme ideology," Senator Paterson said.
"We cannot stand idly by and allow this to happen." On Monday, The Australian revealed that the Executive. Council of Australian Jewry had lodged vilification complaints against Mr Ousayd and the centre at the Australian Human Rights Commission, citing the vile, anti-Semitic language enclosed in the cleric's sermons.
NSW Police said it was unable to lay charges, which instigated a review of hate-speech provisions.
"It's just not good enough," Senator Paterson said of Jewish leaders themselves having to take action. "It's time for the Prime Minister to show some strength and lead before something catastrophic happens." Senator Dave Sharma said Jewish leaders being forced to take action themselves "demonstrated the profound failure" of the government's response to a "surge in anti-Semitism".
"This should not be on them (Jewish leaders)," Senator Sharma said. "Not only is no action being taken against these hateful comments, but now we learn that this individual has a platform for propagating his intolerant and odious views to young children." ECAJ deputy president Robert Goot SC said the body was forced to take the move after "hateful anti-Semitic preaching", but also to protect Australia's future "as a peaceful and cohesive society". "We can only hope his hateful views of Jewish people don't feature in the lessons given at Al Madina Dawah to young impressionable children," Mr Goot said.
He called it "deeply concerning" and said education was central to a tolerant society. "Sadly, however, based on past experience, we have no expectation that will be the case," he said.
The ECAJ will seek that the AHRC order the sermons be removed from the internet, and that the clerics a second, separate sheik and another organisation are also included issue a public apology and provide "binding commitments" that they don't engage in similar conduct.
Across sermons at the centre from October to January, Mr Ousayd, among others, has: recited parables about the killing of Jews and said that if people spat on Israel "the Jews would drown"; described Jewish people as "descendants of pigs and monkeys"; peddled anti-Semitic tropes that Jewish people had "their hands everywhere in business", used "wealth to gain authority over the weak and "owned the majority of banks. giving the most oppressive interest loans to people in need"; described New Year's Eve as a "celebration of foreskin".
Other clerics at the centre called jihad "the final solution".
Mr Ousayd, who was born in Australia to Lebanese parents, challenged the Abbott government to revoke his citizenship in 2014. "People like myself are happy to leave this country and citizenship if the government allows us to go," he said.
Former foreign minister Julie Bishop said people were free to renounce their citizenship but it appears Mr Ousayd did not follow through on his bid.
He previously boasted about his friendship with terrorists, including Sharrouf who posted pictures of himself holding aloft the severed head of a Syrian soldier.
In 2016, Mr Ousayd told the The Australian he was still in contact with Sharrouf and Elomar, showing footage on his phone of the pair executing Iraqi prisoners.
"He says he is doing the work of Allah in establishing an Islamic caliphate," he said of Sharrouf.
"He is enjoying himself. It is something he has always wanted to do. Why wouldn't he be happy?
He is fulfilling his obligations to Islam." Another preacher who lectured at the defunct Al-Risalah centre was Abu Sulayman (Mostafa Farag), one of Australia's highest-ranking al-Qa'ida terrorists in Syria. Mr Ousayd said in 2014 that more Australians should be going to Syria to fight.
