Racial and Religious Vilification Complaint Lodged Against Australian Jewish Association

A vilification complaint has been lodged this week against the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) with Anti-Discrimination NSW by Sydney law firm Birchgrove Legal on behalf of Palestinian Muslim man Kassem Chalabi, which involves some of the organisation’s social media posts that he claims comprise of “serious and repeated public acts of racial and religious vilification”.

The 58-page complaint focuses on “nine alleged acts of racial vilification and seven acts of religious vilification”. This involves AJA posts on social media platforms, X, Facebook and Instagram. It’s alleged these posts were designed “to incite hatred, serious contempt, and/or severe ridicule of persons on the basis of their Palestinian identity and/or Muslim faith”.

Chalabi is active in the NSW community as the chief executive of the Palestinian Australians Welfare Association, and he states that the “frequency and tone” of AJA’s posting left him feeling “isolated and unsafe”. The AJA posts have been appearing at the same time that Israel is perpetrating mass murder against his people in Gaza, yet this organisation has been openly celebrating the slaughter.

Incidentally, the AJA happens to be the organisation that released short video clips on social media, following a 9 October 2023 protest for Palestine at the Sydney Opera House, which went viral as the clip purportedly displayed protest participants chanting “gas the Jews”. However, NSW police confirmed in February 2024 that forensic analysis revealed no evidence that this was ever uttered.

The AJA complaint is one of the first to have been made under new religious vilification laws passed by the Minns government in August 2023, and the NSW antidiscrimination board will now investigate the matter and attempt to resolve it by private settlement. However, if this fails, there’s the option to refer it to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).

Propagating hatred

“These are cruel, disgusting attacks on who we are. They came while Palestinians here and around the world are mourning the immense suffering in Gaza,” Chalabi said in a 6 August 2025 press release. “As a grandfather, father, a husband, and a proud Palestinian Muslim, I couldn’t stay silent.”

“This is also a message to those who have legitimised this rhetoric by welcoming AJA to speak: parliamentary committees, politicians, media platforms and the charities regulator,” the head of the Palestinian Australians Welfare Association added. “If you won’t call it racist unless we prove it in court, then that’s exactly what we’ll do.”

The complaint covers AJA actions from 4 July 2024 through to 4 February this year. The complaint has been made against the association and its charitable arm, the Australian Jewish Association Tzedakah Incorporated (AJAT), and it has been lodged under sections 20C and 49ZE of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW), which together make racial and religious vilification unlawful.

The Herald has listed the details of some of the AJA posts covered in the complaint. These include assertions that the Palestinian flag is that of a terror organisation, that Islam involves worshiping death, as well as suggestions that Senator Fatima Payman has links to terrorist organisations, and a video implying that people celebrating a ceasefire were applauding terrorists and rapists.

“I believe in an Australia where everyone is treated with dignity, regardless of faith or background,” Chalabi underscored. “This complaint is about drawing a clear line against hate and asserting our right to belong.”

The religious vilification law

The religious vilification law came into effect in late 2023, and this complaint marks the 16th lodged under it. It was passed via the Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Vilification) Bill 2023, which was controversial as it sought to protect the attribute of religion whilst other recognised unprotected attributes such as being a sex worker or a person with intersex variations weren’t addressed.

“The bill implements the government’s election commitment to make religious vilification unlawful by introducing civil prohibition aligned with the existing vilification provisions in the Anti-Discrimination Act,” NSW attorney general Michael Daley said during his 28 June 2023 second reading speech on the bill.

Further doubts were raised about the passing of the law as experts pointed out that the AG had just sent the Anti-Discrimination Act to the NSW Law Reform Commission for review. Experts agreed that there was a gap in NSW antidiscrimination law in respect of religion, but it was understood that the Act was in such disarray that the opportune path to take would be an entire overhaul of it. 

The 2023 religious vilification amendment bill inserted section 49ZE into the Anti-Discrimination Act to make it unlawful, via public act, “to incite hatred towards, serious contempt for or severe ridicule of a person, or group of persons” on the ground that the person, or group holds or doesn’t hold to a specific religious belief or engages or doesn’t engage in a particular religious practice.

But the second part of the section ensures that this does not cover “a fair report of a public act”, a communication subject to the absolute privilege defence under defamation law and nor does it refer to a public act, done in good faith, for academic, artistic, scientific, research, religious or public interest purposes.

Daley’s bill further inserted section 49ZD into the Act, which outlines that the types of public act triggered by the law include forms of communication, such as speaking, writing, broadcasting, making gestures and displaying of insignia that would constitute the vilification of a person or group of persons over their religious beliefs.

The NSW government explained in a 12 November 2023 press release coinciding with the law having taken effect that the president of Anti-Discrimination NSW can attempt to conciliate a complaint or they can refer it to the NCAT, which can make a range of orders that include being directed to make an apology or the awarding of damages of up to $100,000.

A problem long waiting to be solved

“The Australian Jewish Association’s publications consistently portray Palestinians and Muslims in deeply dehumanising terms – describing them as pollutants, threats or burdens to Australian society,” said Moustafa Kheir, principal lawyer at Birchgrove Legal, midweek this week.

“These communications go beyond political discourse, they suggest that Palestinians and Muslims inherently lack compassion, that they are dangerous, criminal or even evil by nature.”

The lawyer adds that some of the posts “explicitly ridicule suffering”, whilst minimising the atrocities that are being perpetrated against the Palestinians of Gaza or they frame Palestinians as being underserving of empathy during the ongoing atrocities. He adds that the posts go as far as calling for the removal of Palestinians and Muslims from this country.

The Birchgrove Legal complaint seeks a formal apology from the AJA, the AJAT and committee members, as well as for the immediate removal of all the posts, an enforceable order to ensure that the AJA ceases with this type of posting that’s become notorious in the NSW public sphere, along with the awarding of just compensation for harm suffered.

“This kind of vilification is not only dangerous – it is among the most extreme we have seen in public discourse,” Kheir made certain in summing up.

“What makes it even more concerning is that their affiliated charity, AJAT, continues to benefit from government-endorsed tax concessions without any sign of review. That should alarm every Australian who believes in a fair and inclusive society.”