A fundamentalist Islamic cleric who has branded the Jewish race “vile” and “treacherous” has spread a disturbing theory online in the wake of the Melbourne synagogue firebombing.
Controversial pastor Wissam Haddad told his followers on Sunday that he believed the Jewish community had set fire to the place of worship “to arouse public sympathy.”
The Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne’s east has been boarded up in recent days since it was destroyed in a devastating arson attack last Friday morning that rocked the Jewish community.
The incident has been branded an act of ‘terrorism’ by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian police.
Mr. Haddad claimed in a social media post that the attack on the synagogue was a “false flag.”
“If Israel were to kill its own citizens in a ‘Hannibal directive’, call me a conspiracy theorist, but is it likely that a synagogue would be set on fire to gain public sympathy or to raise a false flag in parliament? votes,” he wrote on Sunday.
The outspoken preacher previously told worshipers that Jews were “cowards” in the Quran and still are, before comparing them to “rats” under the name Abu Ousayd.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Haddad about his comments.
Controversial preacher Wissam Haddadis is currently facing charges over past comments he made about Jewish peoples
A post shared on Wissam Haddad’s Instagram story suggested the firebombings were carried out as a ‘false flag’ operation to gain sympathy
As a result, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry is currently suing Mr Haddad in the Federal Court.
The organization claims he broke the Racial Discrimination Act during 2023 speeches at the Al Madina Dawah Center in Bankstown.
Mr. Haddad dismissed the lawsuit in a video posted to YouTube last month, arguing that he made the comments in reference to Islamic scriptures.
He claimed that some anti-Semitic comments were “facts.”
“I brought up verses from the Koran… and sayings (by) Muhammad that speak about the Jews, and said things that offended the Jewish community,” he said at the time.
A Melbourne synagogue was firebombed in the early hours of Friday morning. Authorities have since classified it as a “terrorist attack.”
Messages and flowers are attached to the fence of the gutted Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea in Melbourne’s east
“We can talk about the Koran and what it says about the Jews, the Christians can do the same, and the Jews can talk about us… (The Jewish Council) has made a big deal out of it.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has since labeled the synagogue attack an act of terrorism
“My personal opinion is yes (it is terrorism), but there is a technical process,” he said on Sunday.
“…But if you want my personal view to be very clear, terrorism is something that is designed to create fear in the community and the atrocities that took place at the synagogue in Melbourne were clearly designed to create fear in the community.”
Victoria Police deliberated over the weekend on how to classify the firebombings and ultimately decided on Monday morning to classify the attack as an act of terror.
Victoria Police Commissioner Shane Patton made the statement on the advice of colleagues from the Australian Federal Police and ASIO.
He said it was “clear” that the “callous” firebombing was “targeted and a horrific attack on the synagogue.”
“It’s an attack on the Jewish people by default,” Commissioner Paton said.
Police are currently looking for three suspects and the investigation will be conducted by the joint counter-terrorism team.