Islamic preacher loses charity status after Four Corners investigation

A month after losing a Racial Discrimination case brought against him by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), it has been revealed that Islamic preacher Wissam Haddad has had charity status revoked from one of his organisations.

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) stripped Haddad’s Dawah Van Incorporated of its charity registration in June, according to the ABC, after a Four Corners investigation revealed the organisation was radicalising young Australians while receiving tax breaks from the government.

News of the charity revocation comes just weeks after Federal Court Justice Angus Stewart found that Haddad contravened section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act by delivering a series of lectures that were “reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate and intimidate Jews in Australia”.

ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot brought the racial discrimination case against Haddad and the Al Madina Dawah Centre after his three lectures titled “The Jews of Al Medina” were video recorded and uploaded to social media platforms including Rumble and Facebook in November 2023.

Justice Stewart ruled that the lectures conveyed “disparaging imputations about Jewish people” that included “age-old tropes against Jewish people that are fundamentally racist and antisemitic”. The judge found that Haddad made “perverse generalisations against Jewish people as a group” that would be experienced as “harassing and intimidating” by Jews in Australia.

The timing of Haddad’s lectures was particularly significant, delivered “at a time of heightened vulnerability and fragility experienced by Jews in Australia following the attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023, Israel’s bombardment and blockade of Gaza in response and resultant solidarity protests and other actions in Australia”, Justice Stewart noted.

In the lectures, Haddad referenced Jews as “descendants of apes and pigs” and described them as “vile” and “wicked”. The court rejected his defence under section 18D of the Racial Discrimination Act, finding the lectures were “not delivered reasonably and in good faith”.

While Haddad claimed he was teaching Islamic scripture interpretation, expert witnesses on Islamic theology from both sides agreed that “neither the Quran nor the Hadith teach that Jews have an inherent negative quality as a people”.

Justice Stewart ordered Haddad and the Al Madina Dawah Centre to remove the three lectures from any internet pages or publications under their control and to take reasonable steps to have them removed from other sources. Haddad and the centre were also ordered to pay the applicants’ costs.

Speaking after the ruling, Wertheim said, “This case was not about freedom of expression or freedom of religion; it was about antisemitism and the abuse of those freedoms to promote antisemitism.”

He said the decision to launch the legal action “has been vindicated by the judgement that has just been handed down”.

“It confirms that the days when Jewish communities and the Jewish people can be vilified and targeted with impunity are long gone,” Wertheim said.

Goot said freedom of expression “must not be abused by the promotion of hateful antisemitism, and those that wish to do so, should know that that conduct will not be tolerated”.

The charity status revocation aligns with recommendations made by the ECAJ at the Sky Antisemitism Summit in February, where the national Jewish representative body presented a 15-point plan of action to defeat antisemitism in Australia.

Point nine of the plan stated: “Religious and other charitable institutions should have their charity status and all funding revoked if they promote racism – including antisemitism – or display terrorist symbols.”

The plan also called for “greater scrutiny of the sources and use of funds administered by charities to ensure that they are not used to support terrorism or carry out activities outside of their charitable purpose”.

According to the ABC, Haddad’s Dawah Van Incorporated was registered as a charity to preach on Sydney’s streets from 2022, despite his public infamy as a prominent supporter of the Islamic State terrorist group. A former undercover ASIO agent told Four Corners he witnessed how the group indoctrinated teenagers into violent extremism.

ACNC commissioner Sue Woodward said in a written statement to the ABC, “Revocation of charity registration is the most serious action the ACNC can take. Once a charity loses registration, it is no longer eligible for Commonwealth tax concessions and other benefits that charities are entitled to receive.”

The Dawah Van can continue its operations but will no longer benefit from income tax and GST exemptions.