Hate preachers deported after being granted visas

Two hate preachers with documented records of antisemitic rhetoric were granted Australian visas to headline a national speaking tour, prompting Jewish groups to demand urgent reform of the country’s immigration vetting processes.

Bangladeshi preacher Mizanur Rahman Azhari and Shaykh Ahmadullah were brought to Australia by the Islamic Practice and Dawah Circle (IPDC) for a speaking tour across Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. Azhari was deported by Home Affairs minister Tony Burke after Australian authorities reportedly became aware of his presence only when social media posts surfaced. Ahmadullah fled the country before his visa could be cancelled.

But Australia, Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) executive manager Joel Burnie said the episode exposed a fundamental failure in Australia’s immigration screening.

Azhari has previously praised Adolf Hitler as “divine punishment” against Jews, described Jews as the “biggest terrorists in the world,” and called them a “poisonous blemish” linked to global crises and disease. He was barred from entering the United Kingdom in 2021, after British MP Bob Blackman told the House of Commons that Azhari was working to spread a “message of hatred against Jews and Hindus.” In 2023, his admission to the United States to speak at a Philadelphia conference triggered widespread condemnation from Bangladeshi-American activists and human rights organisations, who called for his visa to be immediately revoked.

Meanwhile Ahmadullah has publicly stated that Jewish people “keep the whole world in turmoil” and labelled them “despicable.”

“A certain scholar once said … even if two fish fight, you should understand that there is a Jewish conspiracy behind it,” he said in a video obtained by The Daily Telegraph.

“That is how despicable (Jews) are … All the unrest in the world, they are puppeteers.”

Burnie said it is “incredibly shocking that a quick Google search of these personalities would have found exactly what the journalists and other community members were able to find in tipping off the government authorities”.

“Catching these hate preachers who have made a detrimental impact on the social cohesion in Australia, it really is shocking and baffling.”

Legal researcher and policy analyst Raymond Salomonn, a member of Emanuel Synagogue and former executive of AUJS, told The AJN the issue was personal as well as political.

“Azhari’s rhetoric – praising Hitler as ‘divine punishment’ against Jews, calling Jews ‘the biggest terrorists in the world’ – is not an abstraction for me,” Salomonn said.

“It is an attack on my community.”

Salomonn, who holds a law degree from UTS and specialises in South Asian geopolitics and international law, noted that IPDC is a registered Australian charity.

“That a registered Australian charity brought this man to our shores … these are matters the Australian Jewish community deserves to know about,” he said.

The remaining tour events were reportedly cancelled.