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December 23, 2025
A radical Islamist prayer hall linked to Bondi gunman Naveed Akram will be shut down by a local council over a planning law technicality, despite a hate preacher using it as a base for years to vilify Australian Jews and spread anti-Semitism.
Nearly six months after radical jihadist preacher Wissam Haddad was found to have knowingly breached hate laws in the Federal Court and eight days after the Bondi Beach massacre, Canterbury Bankstown Council said Mr Haddad and his Al Madina Dawah Centre in central Bankstown never had approval to operate as a prayer hall.
Over the years, Mr Haddad or speakers at his Al Madina Dawah Centre have called Jewish people “descendants of pigs and monkeys”, recited parables about their killing and said people should “spit” on Israel so its citizens “would drown”.
Last week, it was revealed that Naveed Akram was a follower of Mr Haddad and a frequent worshipper at the centre. In a response posted to the Al Madina Dawah Facebook page last week, Mr Haddad questioned the term “follower”. He has denied any prior knowledge of the Bondi Beach attack.
Following a review of 55 years of records, the Labor-dominated council on Tuesday said it found the premises had consent only to be used as a medical centre, and that following “recent” surveillance, it had photographic evidence to suspect the centre was illegally being used as a place of worship. “Cease use” notices were issued to Mr Haddad and the building owners, effective immediately, with council saying it would take further action for non-compliance.
In a one-page response on Tuesday, the operators of the centre, the Al Madina Group, said they had been the subject of “discriminatory insinuations being presented as fact” and media reporting was “inflaming community tensions”. It also questioned whether other places of worship within the same local government area had been “subject to the same scrutiny and enforcement standards”.
The group again distanced itself from Mr Haddad, saying the centre was “under new management” and Mr Haddad “holds no management role and has no operational authority”.
Last week, the group said he was invited in for the odd sermon.
In an affidavit sworn in court proceedings in May, Mr Haddad said he was the “sole director” of the centre.
“Al Madina Group rejects any attempt to conflate administrative or planning matters with allegations of extremism, national security, or criminal conduct,” the group said.
Canterbury Bankstown Council said it has been monitoring the Al Madina Dawah Centre since May after media reports Mr Haddad made a speech from the premises that the “Jewish lobby” wanted to “destroy” Islam.
Mr Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd, has previously boasted of his friendship with Australian terrorists Mohamed Elomar and Khaled Sharrouf, both reportedly killed fighting for Islamic State. Mr Haddad was earlier this year found to have knowingly breached racial hatred laws in a series of lectures and sermons that asserted Jews were “vile” and “treacherous”.
The centre has been in its current location since mid-2022.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said shutting down the prayer centre was “an important change not just for that community but for NSW” but it was “not the end of the matter”.
“We need decisive steps whether through planning laws (or on) hate speech to send the message to those intent on putting hate in people’s hearts or spreading racism in the community that they will be met with the full force of the law. And that’s exactly what happened today.”
Mr Minns praised mayor Bilal El-Hayek for “decisive action”. “They’ve been in conversation with both us and the planning department for a number of days, as well as NSW police, and this is the kind of leadership we need right now,” he said.
“Bilal has led that community for a number of years. He’s obviously decided this can’t go on, it’s not being used for the purposes in which the permit has been released; you can expect more, not less, of it in weeks to come.”
At the mayor’s Iftar in March, Mr El-Hayek praised Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke for “always standing by” the Muslim community and his efforts to protect s18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, the Australasian Muslim Times reported.
He condemned increased Islamophobic incidents, as well as the “clear imbalance in reporting racial abuse”.
“If it didn’t happen in the eastern suburbs, then it didn’t happen at all,” he reportedly said.
Following the Bondi attack, Mr El-Hayek said it was a “day that must unite us as a community” and “we condemn this senseless act of terror and decry anti-Semitism and hate in all its forms”.
Federal opposition finance spokesman James Paterson, an ardent critic of the centre, said “Shutting down the Al Madina Dawah Centre for planning issues is like getting Al Capone for tax evasion”.
“It should have happened years ago and for far more serious offences. But finally closing the doors of this factory of hate for any reason is welcome,” he said.
“We must now be vigilant to ensure it doesn’t just phoenix into another similar entity with an equally corrosive ideology.”
The council spokesman said that in May this year, it investigated claims Mr Haddad was preaching from the Al Madina Dawah Centre in Bankstown by carrying out surveillance “but had no evidence to issue any notices”.
However, it has continued to carry out surveillance since then.
“Despite no complaints from nearby residents, we continued to conduct ongoing surveillance of the premises, and we now have the photographic evidence to suspect the centre is being used contrary to what it has been approved for,” he said.
“There are no compromises, and we will be taking further action if they don’t comply
“Council needs to make it clear we have no control over what is preached inside these ‘illegal’ prayer halls and our role is to ensure the premises are used in accordance with authorised use.”
Council said in December 2023, it had issued a “cease use” directive to Mr Haddad to shut down a premises on Eldon Street, Georges Hall, that was being used to conduct prayer meetings when it only had approval as a gym. When Mr Haddad continued to operate, he was issued another notice to shut down, council said.