Ismail Al Wahwah

IslamPreacherRadicaliserIdeological LeaderPolitical IslamPan-Islamist

Jul 14

**DOB:** 1959

**Nationality:** Australian

**Location:** Australia

**Ideology/Affiliation:** Political Islam/ Pan-Islamist

**Type of Leader:** Radicaliser/Preacher/Ideological Leader

Other names: Abu Anas
Current Ideological Status: Head of HT Australia

Biography

Ismail Wahwah is a Jordanian-Australian dual citizen and the current head of Hizb-ut-Tahrir Australia (HT Australia) - the Australia chapter of the global Islamist movement that calls for a global Muslim super-state based on a hardline interpretation of Shari’a law. Despite being a leader of a very small organisation, Wahwah has made several remarks calling for the deaths of Arab rulers, anti-semitic statements, and justified terrorist attacks across the world.

In July 2018, Al Wahwah was detained upon his arrival to Jordan by Jordanian intelligence services, and later imprisoned to two years on charges of insulting the Jordanian ruling family, calling for the violent overthrow of the Jordanian leadership and being a member of a banned organisation. He was subsequently released a year later in August 2019, but has continued to make controversial statements upon his return to Australia.

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Evidence of Hate Speech/Incitement:

June 2020: Following the unrest in the U.S. following the murder of George Floyd, Al Wahwah stated that “Muslims should seize this opportunity to stand up, and take the leadership again”. Although this cannot be classified as hate speech, the exploitation of “Muslims coming to power” over racial issues in the U.S. places Muslims in the crosshairs by Islamophobic groups, and further vindicates HT’s anti-western rhetoric.

February 2020: During a lecture, Al Wahah condemned Muslim religious figures who have visited Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps to commemorate the Holocaust, stating that may “Allah send you to the holocaust in Jahannam (Hellfire)”.

December 2017: Al Wahwah stated that Arab and Muslim rulers who call for a two-state solution to Israel-Palestine are selling Palestine by dividing it up and recognising Israel, and that those rulers ought to be beheaded, and have their heads severed from their bodies with the same knife they are proposing to divide Palestine.

January 2015: Following the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France, Al Wahwah called the attacks a “cure” due to the “daily insults faced by Muslims and the insults to their religion and their Prophet”.

October 2014: In a lecture delivered in Sydney, Wahwah stated that “a new world order is needed”, and “Muslims need to make sacrifices in order to achieve it”. This rhetoric, based on HT’s overall agenda can be construed by extremist elements as a call to arms to achieve certain objectives long espoused by the organisation. In the same lecture, Al Wahwah severely condemned Australian security organisation who raided homes in an anti-terror operation and burst into the bedrooms of Muslim women - stating that “the Australian civilisation would pay the price for that for a thousand years”.