Hate group members in pro-Palestine protest camp

Australian members of a radical Islamist organisation recently banned as a terrorist group in the UK have infiltrated the mainstream pro-Palestinian movement, using front groups to spread their ideology and holding events at the Sydney University encampment.

An investigation by The Sunday Age and 60 Minutes has uncovered an operation by supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Australia to reinvigorate the group’s decadeslong campaign to destroy Israel and create a caliphate ruled by Islamic law.

Among the group’s tactics is the use of fronts, including the new Stand For Palestine campaign outfit that has amassed thousands of Australian followers on social media and helped organise rallies and protests since the October 7 attack.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is not involved in the regular weekend protests that have drawn thousands to the streets of Sydney and Melbourne in support of Palestine, but has helped organise smaller rallies, sometimes in partnership with others.

Proscribed as a terrorist organisation in Britain this year for its support of Hamas, its antisemitic stance and calls for jihad, the group also appears to have stepped up its presence in mosques and youth groups in this country.

Despite its limited membership and fringe nature in Australia, the resurgence of Hizb ut-Tahrir has caused concern among extremism experts in Australia and overseas, who fear the group is capitalising on discontent caused by war in Gaza to seed radical ideology and recruit followers.

Deakin University extremism expert Dr Josh Roose said the conflict had created an opportunity for groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir to exploit heightened public sentiment over Israel’s military offensives in Gaza that have killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials.

‘‘We are in a very dangerous point in our history where not only is there intense polarisation, but we are seeing a level of potential violent rhetoric and extremism that we’ve not experienced in this country for many generations, if at all,’’ Roose said.

Metadata reveals the Stand For Palestine Telegram group is administered by a Tunisian Hizb ut-Tahrir activist, while its WhatsApp group is managed by three Australian Hizb ut-Tahrir figures.

Key backers of the group have also regularly spoken at Stand For Palestine-branded events and delivered sermons and lectures at the Sydney University student encampment.

In a statement in response to questions from The Sunday Age, camp organisers said the encampment was a coalition of groups and organisations: ‘‘We’re a broad and diverse community here to simply demand our university cut ties with genocide and Israel.’’

Sydney University ordered campers to pack up the site on Friday, almost eight weeks after it was established.

Before rallying under the Stand For Palestine banner, Hizb ut-Tahrir was behind the Stand For Uyghurs campaign protesting human rights abuses of the Muslim minority in China.

Following October 7, social media accounts actively rallying behind the Stand For Uyghurs cause were quickly rebranded as Stand For Palestine accounts, and within days began promoting events and sharing content about Israel’s counter-offensive in Gaza.

British counter-extremism expert Hadiya Masieh, who was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir for a decade before leaving the group after the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005, said Hizb ut-Tahrir preyed on vulnerable people and used popular causes as a hook.

‘‘Hizb ut-Tahrir, like other extreme groups, will use any mechanism they can to push their agenda,’’ she said. ‘‘They divide, they prey on people, and they brand and market themselves very well.’’

The day after Hamas had launched its coordinated attack in southern Israel, killing some 1200 people and taking another 250 hostage, radical Islamist preacher Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun shared his feelings of elation with the crowd at a Hizb ut-Tahrir-sponsored gathering in Lakemba, in Sydney.

‘‘I’m smiling and I’m happy,’’ Dadoun told attendees. ‘‘I’m elated. It’s a day of courage. It’s a day of pride. It’s a day of victory. This is the day we’ve been waiting for.’’ He later denied that the statements meant he was condoning the killing of civilians.

Since then, the group has issued calls for armies from Muslimmajority countries to ‘‘ignore artificial borders’’ and ‘‘respond to their divine obligation’’ to join Hamas in its fight against Israel, and referred to the conflict in Gaza as a first step in the establishment of a global caliphate.

‘‘If a handful of Muslims could rattle the occupation and the entire international community in a single morning, what then could be achieved by the collective efforts of the surrounding armies of Muslim countries?’’ a Hizb ut-Tahrir press release dated October 8 read.

‘‘The liberation of Palestine by the Muslims will be the start of the liberation of humanity from the clutches of the West, and that day is sooner than we think inshallah [God willing].’’

Dadoun refused to answer questions when contacted.

‘‘Hizb ut-Tahrir have been around for a long period of time,’’ Roose said. ‘‘Many people view them as redundant, as irrelevant, to the conversation. However in recent years, in particular, they have become more active, and the extent of their rhetoric, and the potential violence inherent in their rhetoric, is also concerning.’’

It is this rhetoric that prompted British Home Secretary James Cleverly to controversially proscribe Hizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist group in January, arguing it would hamstring its ability to operate and allow authorities to come after it.

The move was criticised by civil libertarians, Muslim groups and some security experts who claim it curtails free speech and risks pushing the group underground where it is harder to monitor.

The decision came after the UK chapter praised the October 7 attacks and called Hamas ‘‘heroes’’ while fantasising about what a unified Muslim world could achieve ‘‘if this can be done by a resistance group’’.

Hizb ut-Tahrir further inflamed the situation by holding a pro-Palestine rally in London where members made speeches calling for jihad and Muslim armies to intervene in Gaza.

The Sunday Age is not suggesting Hizb ut-Tahrir supporters are terrorists or that all its members condone terrorism.

Roose said that while banning Hizb ut-Tahrir could prove a difficult process, hate speech laws should be strengthened to capture the dangerous rhetoric being promoted by its members.

‘‘They might not be necessarily crossing that line into advocating terrorism, but there is inherent violence in what they’re saying and doing,’’ he said.