A fundamentalist Islamic cleric who called the Jewish race “vile” and “traitor” has spread a disturbing theory online in the wake of the Melbourne synagogue firebombing.
Controversial preacher Wissam Haddad told his followers on Sunday that he believed the Jewish community burned down the place of worship “to attract public sympathy.”
The Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne’s east has been boarded up in the days since it was destroyed by a devastating arson attack last Friday morning that shook the Jewish community.
The incident has been described as an act of “terrorism” by Premier Anthony Albanese and Victoria Police.
Haddad claimed in a social media post that the attack on the synagogue was a “false flag.”
“If Israel killed its own citizens on a ‘Hannibal directive’, call me a conspiracy theorist, but is it plausible that it would burn down a synagogue to attract public sympathy or raise a false flag in the parliamentary vote?” he wrote on Sunday.
The outspoken preacher had previously told his worshipers that Jews were “cowards” in the Koran and still are today, before comparing them to “rats” under the name Abu Ousayd.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Haddad regarding his comments.
Controversial preacher Wissam Haddadis is currently being sued for past comments he made about Jewish people.
A post shared on Wissam Haddad’s Instagram story suggested the bombing was committed as a “false flag” operation to generate sympathy.
As a result, the Executive Council of Australian Jews is suing Mr Haddad in the Federal Court.
The organization alleges he breached the Racial Discrimination Act in speeches given in 2023 at the Al Madina Dawah Center in Bankstown.
Haddad repudiated the lawsuit in a video posted on YouTube last month, arguing that he made the comments in reference to Islamic scriptures.
He claimed that some anti-Semitic comments were “facts.”
“I pulled out verses from the Koran… and sayings (of) Muhammad that talk about Jews, and I said things by which the Jewish community felt they had been insulted,” he said at the time.
A firebomb attack was carried out on a Melbourne synagogue on Friday morning; Authorities have since called it a “terrorist attack.”
Messages and flowers are seen taped to the fence of the destroyed Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea, in Melbourne’s east.
“We can talk about the Koran and what it says about Jews, Christians can do the same and Jews can talk about us… (The Jewish council) made it a big issue.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has since called the attack on the synagogue an act of terrorism.
“My personal opinion is that yes (it is terrorism), but there is a technical process,” he said Sunday.
‘…But if you want to see my personal view very clearly, terrorism is something that aims to create fear in the community and the atrocities that occurred at the Melbourne synagogue were clearly designed to create fear in the community. ‘
Victoria Police deliberated on classifying the firebombing attack over the weekend and finally decided to treat it as an act of terrorism on Monday morning.
Victorian Police Commissioner Shane Patton made the statement on the advice of his Australian Federal Police and ASIO counterparts.
He said it was “clear” that the “callous” bombing was “a targeted and horrific attack on the synagogue.”
“By default, it is an attack on the Jewish people,” Commissioner Paton said.
Police are currently searching for three suspects and the investigation will be led by the joint counter-terrorism team.