Australia’s imams council has defended a decision not to eject a cleric who declared he was elated shortly after the deadly 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. The head of a religious leaders’ council has defended its response to an imam’s apparent elation over the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. Sheikh Dadoun told a crowd at Lakemba, in southwest Sydney, that the attacks on Israel were an act of resistance. Sheikh Alsuleiman said the council’s leadership asked Sheikh Dadoun to release a statement addressing his comments. “We believe that the comments that (Sheikh Dadoun) made on the eighth of October are inappropriate.”