“The people of Gaza have spoken time and time again. Up until today,there are videos of them while they are being bombarded saying:‘We do not want your dua[prayers]. We do not want your money. We want you to mobilise. We want your arms. We want your armies to help us liberate Palestine’,” he said.

Alwahwah is a relative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia founder Ismail Alwahwah,who died in May last year after facing regular scrutiny in Australia for virulently antisemitic and anti-Western preaching.

The social media footprint of Amer’s fellow charity director,Ali Abu Hassan,reveals his mobile phone number is linked to the account of an active member of the encrypted Telegram social media platform of Ghosts of Palestine hacktivist group,an organisation involved in cyberwarfare targeting the Israeli government and which has promoted the Hamas attack of October 7.

In conversations with other members of the Telegram channel,the Abu Hassan-linked account attacked Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah for his passive stance on the war in Gaza.

“So Nasrallah at the end was all talk. Just lip service. Absolutely disgusted,” Abu Hassan wrote on November 3.

Three weeks after the Hamas attack,the Abu Hassan-linked account wrote of Israel:“My brother,they cannot defeat an enemy who looks down the barrel of the gun and sees paradise.” The account also urged the Ghosts of Palestine to promote an Australian campaign platform,Stand For Palestine,whichthis masthead on Sunday revealed was closely aligned with Hizb ut-Tahrir.

In a statement,the Australian charities regulator declined to comment on Al Rashidun but said all charities “must comply with Australian laws” and take steps to safeguard its funds against abuse overseas. There is no suggestion by this masthead that Al Rashidun has misused any donor funds,only that two of its four Australian directors,Alwahwah and Abu Hassan,have links to radical groups. Alwahwah and Abu Hassan both refused to answer questions when contacted by this masthead,while a third director also declined to respond.

The Sunday revelations prompted calls from the Coalition and the Zionist Federation of Australia for the Albanese government to urgently investigate the possibility of proscribing Hizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist organisation in Australia.

“The criteria for terrorism listing is clear,” said Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson.

“On face value,Hizb ut-Tahrir has met that test and the Albanese government must urgently investigate proscription to protect Australians from violent extremism.”

Under the current legislation,the government can list an organisation as a terror group if it considers it is directly or indirectly promoting or praising the doing of a terrorist act,and there is a risk this could encourage others to engage in terrorism.

The United Kingdom controversially banned Hizb ut-Tahrir for its antisemitic stance and its calls for jihad (just war) in January. The group,which has also been banned in several Muslim-majority countries,has vowed to fight the proscription in the British courts.

In a statement on Sunday morning,Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said that Jewish community leaders had been warning about serious threats to the nation’s social cohesion and a rise in extremist rhetoric.

“For Hizb ut-Tahrir to have so much as a foothold in Australia is dangerous. But it is frankly reckless that our authorities have let it establish a sophisticated operation,” Leibler said.

“Governments must take it seriously and act decisively.”

When contacted by this masthead,a spokesperson for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus condemned Hizb ut-Tahrir’s rhetoric but declined to comment on a potential proscription.

“There is no place in Australia for such disgraceful statements,” the spokesperson said.

“We take advice from our security and intelligence agencies about whether to list organisations,but we don’t speculate publicly about that process.”

An investigation published by this masthead on Sunday uncovered a sophisticated operation by supporters of the extremist groupin Australia to infiltrate the mainstream pro-Palestinian movement using the front group Stand For Palestine to recruit and spread their radical ideology,including at a student encampment at the University of Sydney.

Since the October 7 attack,Hizb ut-Tahrir has issued calls for armies from Muslim-majority countries to “ignore artificial borders” and “respond to their divine obligation” to join Hamas in its fights against Israel,and referred to the conflict in Gaza as a first step in the establishment of a global caliphate.

On Sunday,the university expressed concerns about Hizb ut-Tahrir’s presence on campus and said it had sought advice from authorities. Organisers have beentold to dismantle the encampment which sprang up almost eight weeks ago.

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