Sydney Morning Herald, 26 September 2026
Exclusive Brethren leader calls Jews ‘wicked’, ‘infidel’ as Liberals remain silent
From Michael Bachelard and Sherryn Gronch
The world leader of the Exclusive Brethren church, which ran a covert campaign supporting the Coalition at the last federal election, has described Jews as evil, malicious infidels who are unable to ever atone for the sin of killing Jesus.
Leaked church records spanning more than two decades reveal Bruce Hales, the church’s leader and “Elect Vessel”, repeatedly preaching to his 56,000-stong global flock that Jews are beyond redemption.
“The poor Jew, still in the darkness of Judaism, trying to atone for the things they’ve done wrong; their lies and their iniquity, and their wickedness,” Hales, the Brethren’s “Man of God”, said in 2009.
The Jews’ sin, Hales insists, is not recognising Jesus as the son of God, then “murdering” Him. He refers to Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, as when Jews “go on in their darkness trying to atone”.
“They fell into evil ... It’s not something they can eliminate,” he said in a separate 2009 ministry, adding in 2010 that this was a “terrible thing. What a void.”