Wissam Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd—"father of Ousayd," his eldest son's name. Born in Australia, 1980. Lebanese parents who migrated in 1971. Works as a carpet layer. Runs his own business in Sydney. Married with children. He was 43 when he delivered the lectures that became the subject of Wertheim v Haddad [2025] FCA 720.

Haddad founded the Al Madina Dawah Centre in April 2021. Located at 54 Kitchener Parade, Bankstown. He's the public officer of AMDC, an incorporated association under NSW law. In Federal Court testimony he admitted he's "in charge." The centre draws 300 to 400 people for Friday prayers. According to his May 2025 affidavit, Haddad teaches youth classes. About 15-20 male students aged 12 to 21. Weekly lessons in Islamic scripture and ideology.

Before AMDC, Haddad ran Al-Risalah Islamic Centre. A recruitment hub. Khaled Sharrouf went there before traveling to Syria in 2013. Sharrouf—the ISIS fighter whose seven-year-old son was photographed holding a severed head. Mohamed Elomar attended regularly. Elomar posed with severed heads too. Died in a drone strike. Mostafa Mahamed spoke there frequently. He became a spokesman for al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra. Sharrouf and Elomar did street preaching in Parramatta in 2012. That's where they radicalized Omarjan Azari, later convicted in R v Azari [2019] NSWSC 314.

January 2015. Police raided Haddad's home. They found an ISIS flag. ISIS DVDs, including sermons by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi—founder of al-Qaeda in Iraq, ISIS's predecessor. A machete. Two tasers. Capsicum spray. Newspaper clippings about counter-terrorism operations. Haddad wasn't charged. In 2014 he'd publicly asked Australian authorities to cancel his passport so he could travel to Syria to join ISIS. He became spokesman for the Australian branch of Millatu Ibrahim, a German organization banned in 2012 for extremism.

ASIO had someone inside. An undercover agent codenamed "Marcus." He infiltrated Haddad's network for six years, posing as an imam and teacher. April 2025—eight months before Bondi—Marcus broke cover on ABC Four Corners. He described AMDC as "feeling like an ISIL camp." Said he "witnessed how [the Dawah Van] was indoctrinating teenagers into violent extremism." Marcus reported that Haddad called ISIS "the brothers." About the black ISIS flag: "This is the flag of the Muslims." Marcus told Four Corners he "repeatedly warned the agency that Haddad was indoctrinating young people at his Bankstown prayer centre."

November 2023. One month after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. Haddad delivered a three-part lecture series: "The Jews of Al Madina." The Federal Court found in Wertheim v Haddad [2025] FCA 720 that these lectures violated section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Justice Stewart identified 25 separate antisemitic imputations. Jews are "mischievous, arrogant, shifty, slanderous, troublemakers, cowards, constantly break their agreements, conspiratorial, wicked, schemers, treacherous and vile." Jews are "murderous and rebellious." There's "an eternal conflict between Jews and Muslims" that will end when "Muslims should and will kill Jews." "Jews are descendants of apes and pigs."

The Court heard Islamic scholars from both sides. Professor Reynolds for the applicants. Sheikh Ibrahim for Haddad. Both agreed "that neither the Qur'an nor the Hadith teach that Jews have any inherent negative qualities as a people." Sheikh Ibrahim was explicit: "Islam does not encourage hatred towards Jews or any other religion." Justice Stewart found Haddad's teachings lacked "any scholarly theological support." They were "idiosyncratic and therefore without good faith." The Court's conclusion: "fundamentally racist and antisemitic and devastatingly offensive and insulting."

Justice Stewart's finding: despite the declarations and injunction requiring Haddad to remove the lectures, "there is a significant risk that he will continue to make disparaging statements otherwise than in private about Jews based on their race or ethnic origin." Haddad "has shown no regret or remorse in relation to the speeches, and he has not apologised." The judgment came down July 1, 2025. Five and a half months before the Bondi attack. Canterbury Bankstown Council shut down AMDC on December 23, 2025. Nine days after 15 people died.

Counterterrorism officials confirmed Naveed Akram had "links to Wisam Haddad." Senator James Paterson stated Akram "was a worshipper at AMDC and acted as a street preacher for Mr Haddad's Dawah Van." AMDC is where Akram absorbed the antisemitic ideology the Federal Court documented. And Haddad has never been charged with terrorism offences. His sermons were assessed as "not meeting the legal threshold." This despite ASIO reportedly calling him "the most important jihadist, extremist preacher in Sydney."

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