“Such remarks would likely be perceived by most Jews as dehumanising.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry deputy president Robert Goot and ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim are involved in the case. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi

In opening remarks, Peter Braham SC, the counsel representing Wertheim and the ECAJ, took the court through excerpts of five speeches or lectures made by Haddad, also known publicly as Abu Ousayd, at the Al Madina Dawah Centre in Bankstown, Sydney in November 2023.

Braham argued that Haddad was “aware his words were being heard and engaged with by the mainstream media,” suggesting that his remarks about Jewish people were not private.

Wissam Haddad denies he breached the Racial Discrimination Act. Source: AAP, Supplied / SUPPLIED/PR IMAGE

‘Not about antisemitism’, says defence

Boe told the court videos played to the court and experts of Haddad’s speeches read to the court by Braham were presented in a “piecemeal way”.

Defence raises Hanson v Faruqi