Federal court orders Sydney Muslim cleric to remove ‘racist and antisemitic’ lectures from social media

<p>Wissam Haddad was sued by two members of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry over lectures in 2023 recorded in Bankstown</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/jul/01/east-coast-weather-nsw-victoria-queensland-politics-updates-ntwnfb">Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates</a></p></li><li><p>Get our <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau_sfl">breaking news email</a>, <a href="https://app.adjust.com/w4u7jx3">free app</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/full-story?CMP=cvau_sfl">daily news podcast</a></p></li></ul><p>A Sydney Muslim cleric has been ordered by the federal court to take down a series of <em>“</em>fundamentally racist and antisemitic<em>”</em> speeches posted online, and instructed by a judge not to make similar addresses again.</p><p>But <a href="https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2025/2025fca0720">Justice Angus Stewart</a> ruled other criticisms of the state of Israel and its military did not breach the Racial Discrimination Act, finding it is not inherently antisemitic to criticise Israel.</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/email-newsletters?CMP=copyembed">Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email</a></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/01/wissam-haddad-sydney-muslim-cleric-racist-anti-semitic-online-lectures-federal-court-ntwnfb">Continue reading...</a>