‘No prosecution at all’: Peak Jewish body forced to take action against Islamist preachers

Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Alex Ryvchin has discussed why his organisation has lodged vilification complaints against two radical Islamist preachers with the with the Australian Human Rights Commission. The preachers have described Jewish people as “monsters”, “vile” and “bloodthirsty” in their sermons. “Since October 7, we’ve seen this rolling sequence of sermons on a weekly basis, really, each more horrific than the last which are deliberately intended to incite violence and hatred against our community,” Mr Ryvchin told Sky News host Peta Credlin. “And coming into a time of heightened tension our society, this isn’t merely individuals spouting their own views, these are religious clerics – authorities who are listened to, whose views are adhered to by their followers.” Mr Ryvchin said this is an “extremely dangerous phenomenon”. “The laws in this country and in this state clearly are inadequate to deal with this – there’s been no prosecution at all and so we felt we had to take action to protect our society and to protect our community.”