A Muslim In Oz

2007-10-04T17:34:00.000+10:00

The Tele Breaks Out The Hysteria

The DT is at it again stirring up anti-Muslim hysteria.

This time they have created a story out of nothing...the story was titled Halal is pie in the sky at Harry's and can be found at this link:

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22513629-5006009,00.html

Here is what Michael Hannah from Harry’s had to say:

Dear Moustapha,

I think it is important for you to know that this issue was not raised by me as a means to gain publicity for Harry’s. I was contacted by the Daily Telegraph at 4pm Monday and out of the blue, asked if we would be going Halal.

Given the diversity of Sydney and Australia for that matter, it would be silly for me to try and gain publicity by alienating a particular group of people, many of which are already customers of Harry’s.

We receive numerous requests for various products including gluten free, vegan, organic, Kosher, Halal and the list goes on. In short, we can’t please everyone and we’ve never tried to.

The press has decided to make an issue of why we don’t have Halal and have tried to make it look like we are intentionally trying to do something to exclude customers when in reality, we are running the business the same way it has been run for over 50 years. It is no coincidence that this article was placed on the same page with a banner including it with another potentially disruptive article.

If you read between the lines of this article and look at what I am quoted as saying you will see that I am trying not to add to hysteria but run Harry’s the way it has always been run.

Kind regards,

Michael

Harry’s Café de Wheels

A deliberate beat up of a nothing story!

2007-04-10T12:07:00.000+10:00

Christianity is being torn apart because it is a false religion. Christianity preaches hatred of non-Christians. Christians take the Bible and its teachings very literally so when the Bible states that Christians must spread the word of Christianity throughout the world and use force if they have to, then stupid Christian fundamentalists do exactly that. Christianity is rising because look at the countries where it is the main religion. The countries are often under dictatorial regime or are very poor and vulnerable. They get brainwashed into Christianity because there is no hope of life for them. If you look closely at how Christianity is spread throughout the world, you will see it is not a religion but a political and ethical movement by The West to spread their vermon around the world.

There doesnt seem to be anything peaceful about Christians. They are either fighting with Muslims or fighting themselves. Its never their fault.

Unless the Christian community speak up (or do something) Australian society will further divide. More Muslims will start to look at you with distrust and suspicion, choosing not to offer your children employment over those they percieve with more peaceful intentions ... perferring to have Muslims instead of non-Muslims housed in their rented properties etc etc... it's the way society voice their concerns and punish those they mistrust.

______________________________________________

Sounds pretty extreme doesn't- in fact that is just a merging of some comments which are approved to appear on the Telegraphs website, with the words Muslim and Christian swapped over- here are the original comments:

The sooner this loser is deported the better, Im sick of seeing the papers covered with stories about this sad excuse for a human and poor representative of the muslim community. And as for his daughter, she makes me sick, she is a disgrace for all women regardless of what religion/race they are. She probably only says what she has because she would be punished or ostracised otherwise. How dare she sit in this country and make such comments, go back to your bomb shelter wherever your family is from. Im sure when the bombs and fighting dont cease you would wish you were anywhere else but there. The sheik, his family can get the hell out of here and take that puppet Keyser Trad with you as well.
Posted by: Ally of Sydney 9:53am today

there dosnt seem to be anything peaceful about muslims. they are either fighting with the west or fighting themselves. its never their fault. it is time to ban religon it has given us nothing but evil acts since the day a lie stated it all.

Posted by: timothya of newy 9:28am today

Wake up Muslims! Unless your community speak up (or do something) this fool only serves to isolate you from Australian society further. More non muslims will start to look at you with distrust and suspicion, choosing not to offer your children employment over those the percieve with more peaceful intention ... perferring to have non-muslim housed in their rented properties etc etc... it's the way society voice their concerns and punish those they mistrust. The result, the muslim community will have to increasingly turn to itself for support, your options for emplyment and housing will become contained to fewer and fewer suburbs. Ultimately slums will develope (such as LA, New York) will develope. I'm not saying this is so, but look at other lands and see what society does to those they feel uncomfortable with. It's a noose around your neck, and it's tightning day by day. So someone should get of their chuffs and start to build relations, instead of allowing idiots to offer you and your children only further hardships. Let this land become a model of peace and acceptance for others to envy or emulate.
Posted by: gray 8:09am today

Mohamed of Sydney, I disagree with you. Islam is being torn apart because it is a false religion. It was concocted by Arabs in the 7th century in direct opposition to Christianity and Judaism as these were clearly very popular and rising. Islam preaches hatred of Jews and non-Muslims. Muslims take the Koran and its teachings very literally so when the Koran states that Muslims must spread the word of Islam throughout the world and use force if they have to, then stupid Muslim fundamentalists do exactly that. Islam is rising because look at the countries where it is the main religion. The countries are often under dictatorial regime or are very poor and vulnerable. They get brainwashed into Islam becaus ethere is no hope of life for them so no wonder you have thousands willing to be suicide bombers as they are told they will be greeted by 72 virgins in heaven. For many disillusioned young men in Muslim countries, this is a dream come true. If you look closely at how Islam is spread throughout the world, you will see it is not a religion but a political and ethical movemnet by Arabs to spread their vermon around the world. Unlike the UK, I can guarantee that we will not be turning into Australianistan and that we will fight.
Posted by: George of Melbourne 9:53am today

2007-01-30T17:37:00.000+11:00

2GB Presenter Found Guilty Of Inciting Hatred

But the Australian Communications and Media Authority has been too gutless to act. Not ACMA didn't even give the presenter nor 2GB a slap on the wrist.

It deemed the apology sufficient and 2GBs discplining of the Presenter as adequate- this from the station which led the way for misinformation and provided the hysteria in the lead up to the Cronulla Riots.

It seems if a Muslim makes a stupid comment it is in the news for days and the person is bashed and vilified by the media- but a radio presenter who does the same receives virtually zero punishment.

It's about time regulatory bodies showed more guts.

You can read the full findings here.

2007-01-28T00:38:00.000+11:00

Wakey Wakey Hands Off Sheikhy

First off apologies for the title but I got a little jealous of the trashy tabloids and the sensationalist current affairs show having all the fun with the headlines, so I thought I'd give it ago.

Predictably the media hasn't let us down with divisive islamophobic material, and instead of focusing on a wonderful Australia Day weekend they have turned on a young Imam who gave a sermon in place of Sheikh Taj.

Yahya Safi, a young Australian Muslim, gave a sermon on Friday which included the following:
"God destroy the oppressors, destroy the aggressors, destroy the hypocrites, destroy the despotic tyrants."

He also made dua'a (a Muslim prayer) for God to destroy the enemies of Islam.

So now how do you think the Australian media drama queens took this? Well according to them this was urging attacks on coalition and Australian forces in Iraq.

How do we know whether or not he was talking about Australian troops, easy, we take what he said and see if that is a description of our troops, so-
Are Australian troops enemies of Islam?
Are they oppressors?
Are they aggressors?
Are they hypocrites?
Are they despotic tyrants?

If you answered NO to all the above then you can simply dismiss what these media ratbags are saying.

But for divisive elements of the media to come to that conclusion it means that they must think that are troops are those things- shame on them. How dare they question the ethics of the worlds most honorable military men.

This is an Australia Day weekend and these people need to think long and hard about what sort of Australia they are creating. If we sit silent and allow these people to continue with this rubbish then the future for our country is going to become an "Us vs Them", we will not be a united nation and the Australian we have known and loved will be no more.

The deliberate misinformation being sent out is a disgrace, these people are deliberately infiltrating every sermon at Lakemba Mosque looking for that next quote that they can twist to suit their hate filled agendas.

Shame on you.

2007-01-23T11:48:00.000+11:00

The Twisted World Of The Aussie Media

Another week, another load of hysterical sensationalised articles by the so-called media.

Predictably Sheik Taj has been in the news again, this time for saying that Muslims who chose to become Australians have more right to be here than convicts- a comment which though silly- no Australian has more right to be here than anyother Australian- isn't as offensive as News Ltd and the right wing shock jocks would have us believe.

In fact many articles and talkback shows feature some of the most horrific things about Muslims- articles by Piers Akerman, Andrew Bolt, Janet Albrechtson are consistent in their offensive comments towards Islam and Muslims whilst people like Alan Jones and Jim Ball have had people on their shows advocating violence and even the bombing of mosques.

The most offensive of the Sheiks comments- "....Westerners are liars, especially the English..." wasn't bad enough for News Ltd and their cronies, they had to deliberately lie about what he said, even when they showed the true quote the article would still say that the Sheik called White Australians liars- which he never did.

Not to be outdone the Daily Telegraphs anti-Muslim attack dog, Luke McIlveen, then dug up a 3 year old DVD of Sheik Feiz urging Muslims to bring up their children with a devotion and passion for God. The media went rabid about this claiming that the Sheik advocated violence, when he in fact said no such thing. He never urged suicide bombings or anything like that but again the media has no interests in the truth.

Now watch this video from Fox News- the presenter comments that THIS IS HUGE- so what's so huge????? The fact that a presidential candidate may have been raised as a Muslim- that's the guys crime.

Now I'm not going to excuse Sheik Feiz or Sheik Taj about what they said. Their comments were silly and offensive to some people, but what we did not need was the predictable hysterical rantings of the media drama queens twisting the words. The comments were offensive in their original form there was no need to reinterpret and add new meanings to the words.

The media has now moved onto Sheik Taj wanting to run for Parliament, however no media organisation has provided a quote from the Sheik that he wants to run nor have any of his spokespeople said that. The closet we've got is that the Sheik may endorse some candidates to run in the election, but this didn't stop the reactionary politicians like Morris Iemma trying to get their bit of action.

Guess what guys this is a democracy, people are free to run for election if they so choose, I mean if people like Pauline Hanson, David Oldfield and Jim Saleam can run then so can the Sheik.

Who knows what next week will bring- either way you can bet there is more sensationalised nonsense coming from the usual channels.

Before I leave you here is just a small sampling of comments from the Daily Telegraph website- a website which states it will not publish offensive comments- as well as the personal blog of the Telegraphs Opinion Editor Tim Blair- well you can be the judge, are these comments at the very least as offensive as anything the Sheiks have said?

"Let’s not beat around the bush. Muslims in every Western nation refuse to integrate, to assimilate or to participate. Unlike all the other religious groups such as Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Skiks for instance, Muslims immigrate to Western nations and practise a regime of virtually absolute intolerance to the peoples of their host nations, while stridently demanding that their barbaric, mysogynistic medieval creed that masquerades as a religion, is accepted.

When a “religion” is based upon the dictates of a holy book that exhorts its followers to “Kill all Christians and Jews wherever you find them”, then we know what Muslims really stand for. I for one do not tolerate such a hate-filled creed or the fanatics that follow it.

I feel very sorry for Ms Hage-Ali and the best thing she could do for herself is to renounce the evil that is Islam and just live her life as a normal young Australian girl. As for the Muslim fanatics that condemn her, if they don’t like what goes on in Australia, they can emigrate to one of their Islamic paradises, such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Libya etc, instead of burdening us with their hatred."
Posted by Anti-Muslim of Sydney on Wed 06 Dec 06 at 09:43am

"24 is pretty spot on. If they want to be accurate with today's world well Islamic Terror is the biggest threat to the Free world. I can't remember the last time a Christian walked into a train of plane and blew himself and others I the name of Jesus. Muslims must face facts that Islam is a violent religion which encourages death. Its founder was a mass murder and paedophile can we expect anything less?"
Posted by: Mickstar of Sydney 3:55pm January 19, 2007

"It has just been proved that the morality and tolerance of Islam has not moved one iota in the last 600 years. Islamic Fanatics can justify any claims, but any criticism is rejected as hateful, discriminatory and evil. It is OK to preach genocide, promote murder, entrench female slavery and prohibit free speech, as longs as you are Islamic. In Islamic countries it is dangerous (if not illegal) for some one to preach any other faith. Often it is just as dangerous o preach a different type of Islam. Yet Islam demands that the can freely preach in non-Muslim countries. Why do their leaders fear freedom, education and criticism? Perhaps they rightly fear these things because then their followers might realise that the faith they are following is not one of love and tolerance, but hatred, hypocrisy, murder and repression. To recant your faith in Islam is punishable by death. A religion that not only would condemn your soul, but also encourage your murder. There must be many millions of Muslims that would wish to leave this blood thirsty religion, but only stay for fear of their life. Each individual religious teacher can say what ever they want. The way that Islamic sects seem to debate is by murdering their critics (both Muslims and non-Muslim) in a most indiscriminate way, also killing hundreds of bystanders. This religion of hate, intolerance and murder should be prohibited. No civilised person could even consider this to be a religion. The puppet leaders of Islamic countriues that wish to retain this dead religion, should not have any of the amenities of modern society. They wish to live with 14th Century leaders and philosophy then they should also have similar medicine, weapons and education."
Posted by: Angus 1:31pm September 18, 2006

"It's not just El-Hilali who is deranged - it's his thousands of followers who genuinely and happily agree with him. Islam should be banned in Australia, and if people want to practice worshipping the Islamic cult, they will HAVE to leave - and good riddance to them all. Howard ,stop beating around the bush and take some drastic action before we're all sucked into a Baghdad style civil war with these lunatics."
Posted by: tony 8:56am January 13, 2007

" ... Often I’d gaze across the street from the coffee shop and think about throwing a brick through the window"
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2007 01 17 at 09:56 AM

" ... This is why their women should be considered nothing more than breeders of weapons and their children as weapons.

There is no “innocent civilian” in the islamist world. All us infidel are considered legitimate targets by them and all their men, women and children are weapons to use against us.

They are, and have been, waging a genocidal war against us, and we’re imprisoning our own Soldiers for being rude or impolite to their murder/death cultists."
Posted by Grimmy on 2007 01 17 at 06:42 PM

"I’d like to take these guys round the back of their context and “educate” them."
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 01 17 at 07:54 PM

"Actually, mareeS, apart from oil, the only useful thing Arabs have given us are thoroughbred horses.
Legend has it, that the reason Arabian horses are so fast is because they’ve seen what happens to the goats."
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 01 17 at 09:17 PM

"... there are only two types of Muslim: inpatient and outpatient."
Posted by Dminor on 2007 01 17 at 11:17 PM

2007-01-04T10:59:00.000+11:00

The Assassination Of Saddam Hussein

There is no question that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant, who inflicted misery upon many people in Iraq- he was a thug, a murderer, and may even have been a war criminal.

In saying that though there is no excuse for the revenge murder of Saddam Hussein that happened on the morning of one of the holiest days in Islam- Eid Al Adha.

The execution of Saddam was a stunt, whose motivation was revenge- the trial which has been condemned by Human Rights groups, was as unfair as a trial could get. It was motivated by revenge not by justice.

The Nazi murderers who were responsible for the execution of 6 million Jews had a fair trial, but Saddam was condemned to death on the day of his capture.

It is evident that the US puppet regime in Iraq is weak, and has no interest in justice for the Iraqi people- Saddam should've been tried for ALL of his atrocities.

The truth about who was involved, who funded Saddam, and who provided him with weapons has now died with him and those people will never be held to account.

To top this off we had people dancing in the streets, celebrating this murder- but what is there to celebrate? Everyday more and more Iraqis are dying under this illegal invasion, if the execution of Saddam meant it would all end, then by all means celebrate, but the sad reality is many more Iraqis will die.

The USA used to stand for truth and justice- but under George W Bush it stands for lies, corruption and murder.

2006-12-22T13:53:00.000+11:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS

It's been an interesting 2006, hopefully 2007 will see less hysteria and racist driven media views.

I'd like to wish all readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, as well as an Eid Mubbarak.

Have a happy and safe holiday- drive safely, and if you choose to drink, please don't drive.

Hopefully Santa will be kind to all of you.

2006-12-19T13:49:00.000+11:00

Daily Telegraph Editor Defends The Tele's "Reporting"

Like a cockroach running when you turn on the lights, so to is the Daily Telegraph's editor David Penberthy running from the truth.

David has written to Crikey defending his newspaper's reporting of the Iktimal Hage-Ali cocaine issue, but it seems his defence falls short because it looks like he failed to speak to his journalists about the issue.

This blog has confirmation that Luke McIlveen contacted Iktimal about her arrest on the morning the original positive stories were run, I'll repeat that again he contacted her ON THE MORNING the story was run. Now to contact somebody to get confirmation tells me and any other normal person that Luke McIlveen knew about it before hand, and you can bet that if Luke knew about it so to did his puppet masters at the Telegraph. For them to have contacted her in the morning they would've known about it at least the day before. Interesting thing to note is that this blog actually heard about the arrest 3 days before the Telegraphs positive story, so you can bet the Tele with all their sources knew about it as well.

David attempts to somehow justify his newspapers stance by saying:
"This newspaper did not know of Ms Hage-Ali’s cocaine arrest when it published a news story, editorial and opinion piece defending her earlier this month over attacks from hardliners within the Muslim community for her drinking champagne at the NSW Australian of the Year awards. "

Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen another lie from David- "...attacks from hardliners within the Muslim community for her drinking champagne...." Now if David, as well as his lazy journalists had done a little bit of objective journalism they would've seen that it wasn't hardliners being critical of Iktimal, it was ordinary everyday Muslims who are concerned about the behaviour of those who the media labels as "Muslim Leaders".

Penberthy then goes on to say:
"It was only because of our support for her that we were contacted by persons with information about her cocaine arrest who rightly told us that we had not published the full story. We then contacted her and asked her whether it was true that she had been arrested and interviewed by police in relation to using cocaine;"

Note that he avoids mentioning when they contacted her, it is obvious he is running away from the truth- but that's something we have come to expect from Penberthy and his acolytes at the Tele.

David continues on his rampage, now choosing to savage and vilify Irfan Yusuf who had the gall to mention that he was subjected to some vile messages on his News Ltd blog. A quick read of the Daily Telegraph blogs reveals a wicked mix of hate and racism by some it's readers, one post to the story of a young 8 yr old boy who drowned trying to save his sister managed to include an attack on Islam:
"notice these poor folks are Muslim. I wonder if this tragedy would have happened if they allowed their girls to go to mixed gender swimming classes, instead of insisting that they go to the few female-only classes available. From the description of this incident, it sounds like the little girl just lost her footing and was helpless -- just like all the "30 family members" who watched from the shore, apparently because they couldn't swim either. When religion stops children from learning to swim and makes 30 people useless, it's time to think if that is what Allah really wants. Posted by: hector of hastings 8:37am today
Comment 1 of 22"

Penberthy finishes off with one last lie:
"because we subscribe to the old-fashioned notion that it’s not our job as a newspaper to censor people’s views and shut down debate."

This blog has posted at least a dozen comments on the Telegraph, all of which for some reason, did not appear- but don't take my word for it:
"Assalam Alaykum, given that there are several times i have posted comments on the Daily Telegraph website that were not published for some reason - i've decided to start a thread whereby any reader comments that aren't published are displayed for the Islamic community to see. - JStevens1044"

To further prove that David Penberthy plays loose with the truth here is the message that comes up when a post is made on the Telegraphs site:

"Please note that we are not able to publish all the comments that we receive, and that we may edit some comments to ensure their suitability for publishing.

Feedback will be rejected if it does not add to a debate, or is a purely personal attack, or is offensive, repetitious, illegal or meaningless, or contains clear errors of fact.

Although we try to run feedback just as it is received, we reserve the right to edit or delete any and all material."

So David according to your newspapers own website there is proof that you do censor people's views.

People can make up their own minds.

2006-12-14T23:09:00.000+11:00

No Ethics At News Limited

Last week the hacks at News Limited went out of their way to build up the self-appointed Muslim "leader" Iktimal Hage-Ali. Boy oh boy did they go for it, they claimed she was a great Australian, we had a few articles dedicated to her appearing throughout the News Limited publications, they even had their in-house redneck Piers Akerman write a couple of articles praising Iktimal and vilifying those who dared condemn her (note that Piers couldn't even get the spelling of her name right).

This week News Limited is tearing this girls reputation apart over the fact that she was arrested by Police during a raid on an alleged cocaine dealing syndicate. For the record Iktimal was arrested and interviewed by Police BUT she was released without charge- I'll say it again she was RELEASED WITHOUT CHARGE. The arrest took place about a week before she won the NSW Young Australian of the Year award, and Police still haven't laid charges against he, in fact all indications are that she will not be charged.

Now this isn't good enough for the hate mongers at News Limited, they considered this front page news and it has so far run for two days with no indication that it will be letting up anytime soon.

Things though get alot more interesting, the "journalists" at News Limited knew about her arrest before they published last weeks articles praising Iktimal, she was also hired by News Limited to write an online blog for their website.

So here you have an organisation who knows about an arrest, but still chooses to build this person up as a role model and give her a job- a week later though they decide to bring the girl down with vicious articles to tarnish her reputation.

It is obvious there is an agenda here, it is as plain as daylight- let's build up a young Muslim woman and then let's expose her as being no better than the rest of them.

This is journalism at it's worst, and the News Limited journalists should be the last people to attack somebody for using cocaine. This is a shameful attack by people with a hate driven agenda.

News Limited publications are now the equal of Nazi propoganda, their website features some of the most vile hate filled rubbish on the blogs including posts which show extreme racism to a young Muslim boy who drowned while trying to save his sister.

This blog knew about the arrest of Iktimal before last weeks worship of her by News Limited and before I posted a condemnation of Iktimal as a Muslim leader, however as I have standards and ethics, I chose not to post that information about her even though I was being critical of her. Standards and ethics however mean nothing to the morons at News Limited.

2006-12-06T14:53:00.000+11:00

Vilified Over A Sip Of Bubbly

So how many articles do you think would be enough about a young woman, who was being criticised by her fellow Muslims as unrepresentative of them? One, two, three? Nope, the Daily Telegraph has dedicated four different articles including an editorial.

So what has caused all the outrage? Well a few Muslims have dared voice their concern over a so-called representative who drinks alcohol and doesn't wear the hijab.

I mean how dare they expect that a media-appointed Islamic leader should set an example.

Here's the thing, if she wants to drink that's fine just don't hold yourself up as being representative of Muslims.

We are told Iktimal Hage-Ali has done alot of good work out there, fantastic, keep it up but don't undo that good work by prentending you are something that you are not.

For the record, I wish her luck and congratulate her for her Australian of the Year nomination but her nomination should be due to the work that she has done, not her representation of the Muslim community.

People in certain roles have certain responsibilities and unless they uphold them then they shouldn't be in those positions.

If you want to read the comments yourself just visit the MuslimVillage Online Forum.

2006-12-06T14:45:00.000+11:00

Muslim Boys Urinated On The Bible

These boys should be ashamed of themselves, this is a disgraceful act and on that should never be tolerated.

Desecrating a holy book, regardless of which one, is vile and these boys should be punished by both their school and their parents.

The reason why we have so many of our youth in trouble with the law is that parents aren't teaching them Islamic behaviour- they may be teaching them Islam but their behaviour leaves alot to be desired.

So what is Islamic behaviour? It is being polite and respectful to all people, it is holding yourself up as the personification of what a good person should be, and it's about doing good everyday in your life- to use an Aussie value, it's about decency- something sorely lacking in these boys.

The sooner this behaviour is instilled in our youth, the better off we'll all be.

2006-11-10T14:54:00.000+11:00

The Worlds Silence Is Defeaning

Where is the outcry, blood flows through the streets of the Palestinian territories and the world is silence.

The hypocrisy of the US in regards to Israel is a joke. They are actively supporting this murder.

They want to fight terrorism, well first they need to fight this sort of injustice. This is the sort of stuff that breeds terrorists. When people see this stuff on a daily basis, and have no hope for the future they resort to desperate measures and these measures are what we see as suicide bombings.

Isn't it time to give these people back their dignity? Surely that is a far better approach to stop terrorism then bombing Iraq and Afghanistan.

2006-11-02T22:09:00.001+11:00

PM should Support Our Muslim Community, not dictate to them

The Australian Democrats have called on the Prime Minster to provide public support to the Muslim community rather than lend his weight to the crusade of vilification being conducted against them.

“The double standards being applied over this incident are blatant. It will only serve to increase the alienation felt by many Muslim Australians and feed the hostility of other Australians towards them,” Senator Bartlett said.

“It is time for the Prime Minister to put the national interest ahead of his own short-term political gain.”

“However terrible Sheik's comments were, as far as I know he's never been accused or found to guilty of the even worse crime of child rape, unlike a number of priest and religious figures. The Church not only didn't 'take action' on many of those incidents, it actively covered them up for decades.

“When the Pope stated last year that "deep seated homosexual tendencies are objectively disordered" and that such persons are "gravely hindered in relating correctly to men and women", nobody demanded that the Pope by replaced or that reaction to his views would be a 'test of the bona fides of the Catholic community'.

“The Prime Minister should stop instructing the Muslim community how to handle this situation. He knows full well that by publicly telling them what they should do, it makes it much harder for them to do it, as they will just be seen to be acting on his instruction.

“Suggestions have already come from the Muslim community of a plan to abolish the position of Mufti in Australia and this seems sensible to me. But the main thing that will threaten any such move is outsiders pontificating through the media about what they should do and when they should do it.

“It is way past time to cut the double standards and stop the feeding frenzy in this debate. We should give the Muslim community the opportunity to address the problem in their own way and in their own time. The Prime Minster should be showing leadership on this issue by giving this beleaguered community much needed support to help achieve this,” Senator Bartlett concluded.

SENATOR ANDREW BARTLETT
Queensland Democrat Senator

Media contact – Tracee McPate – 0417 607 655

Electoral office: Suite 14 B1, 7/421 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, QLD 4006

t: 07 3252 7101 local call cost (Qld): 1300 301 879 f: 07 3252 8957

e: senator.bartlett@aph.gov.au web: www.andrewbartlett.com

2006-10-30T22:58:00.000+11:00

My Apology To Sheikh Taj Eldine Al Hilaly

My last article was critical of Sheikh Taj, I was critical of him for putting Muslims in the firing line and although I didn't buy the sensationalised hype from the right wing hysteria filled media I was unfair to the Sheikh in that I hadn't got his side of the story first.

Today the Sheikh was taken to hospital after suffering a mild heart attack, and boy oh boy have the rabid media had a field day with this. A man collapses and talkback radio is filled with people taking pleasure in what this man is suffering.

Today made me realise that it isn't Sheikh Tajs comments that put Muslims in the firing line, it is those who pose as journalists who are looking for an excuse and will abuse every rule of what is considered fair and reasonable under journalistic ethics. They don't care about the truth they are just vultures.

Sheikh Taj is a man who stands at the front line for Muslims, he takes all the heat, cops all the abuse and is the one who is demonised.

His views may not always be popular be at least he always defends the rights of Muslims- I mean this was a man who had undergone heart bypass surgery and put his life on the line to help rescue a fellow Australian, Douglas Wood.

This is a man who has stood up for women, he has stood up for a fair go and he has made his voice heard.

Was the sermon he delivered a mistake? That question is now irrelevant because the attacks have become personal. The media wants Sheikh Taj out but the thing is no matter who we get to replace him they will never be happy.

I'd like everyone to read the Sheikhs press release and then tell me you can condemn this man. In some peoples eyes he may have made a mistake but don't we all.

The Sheikh has done alot for the Muslim community and it will be a sad day indeed if we were to lose him, it is imperative that each and everyone of us stands by him.

We may disagree with what was said, but we will not be dictated to by politicians as to who will be our Mufti.

The saddest thing is that those people close to the Mufti have betrayed him. I can tell you now there is an agenda against him by people who have political aspirations and after speaking to some of them I can reveal that at least one of them was told by a staff member of a prominent state politician that they will have no political career unless they are active in dismissing the Sheikh- this runs against every democratic principal and is a sad day for this country.

On top of this you have a certain Muslim splinter group, who have a record of being underhanded, leaking sensationalised half truths to the media in the hope of having them run as stories against the Sheikh. This group is seeking to control the Muslim powerbase through dishonest means and God shall judge them.

There are times when we have to accept that we will be attacked and demonised but standing by a person like the Sheikh is worth every single article, paragraph and sentence of abuse and demonisation.

2006-10-27T10:23:00.000+10:00

Sheik Hilaly And Those Comments

OK after reading a few different transcripts here is my opinion on this issue.

In regards to the gang rapes, I don't see any link between those rapes and what the Sheikh said- he called rape a crime, by saying "a meeting, a crime...." he then says "a merciless judge gives you 65 years"- well a merciful judge wouldn't give you 65 years, so I don't think we can draw any conclusion of excusing the behaviour of the rapists....a judge giving 65 years for rape is being merciless because the perpertrators don't deserve mercy. So on that point the Sheikh is completely exonerated in my opinion.

In regards to the "uncovered meat" outrage, it is obvious that he is quoting someone else, but in my opinion that doesn't excuse or vindicate him. This part is reminiscent of the Pope protesting that he was quoting someone else. Quoting someone else is used to illustrate a point and support an argument, so in this case the Shiekh has used an unacceptable analogy. So although his comments were misrepresented by The Australian he still made the comments, and at best they were inappropriate.

As the Mufti it is his role and his duty to protect the Ummah in Australia, unfortunately this episode has increased the heat on our community. It is an unnecessary yet highly inflammatory issue and something which our community has grown accustomed to.

Whether we like it or not or mosques are under increased surveillance by those who hate us and they are looking for a minor slipup so they can put the boot in. They will sensationalise everything and demonise us at every turn. We need to ensure that we don't give them any ammunition.

So whether the Mufti is in the right or in the wrong becomes irrelevant because his comments have put us in the firing line and that is something a strong leader needs to avoid.

On top of this the issue has caused something alot more serious and that is division within our Ummah and that is something we cannot tolerate.

My fear is that although the story will eventually blow over, there will always be another issue coming out.

2006-10-25T17:51:00.000+10:00

Blair. The veil. And a new low in politics
By PETER OBORNE
21st October 2006

Great sea changes of thought or opinion are rare in British public life, taking place perhaps only once or twice in a generation.

But there is abundant evidence that we are undergoing one now.

Until only a few months ago, mainstream British politicians were extremely cautious about articulating the fears and resentments felt by many ordinary people on the subject of mass immigration.

Those who spoke out publicly (Enoch Powell's 'rivers of blood' speech is the notorious example) were ostracised. Political parties which raised the issue were thrust beyond the outer margins of debate - the fate of the National Front and the BNP.

This self-restraint has now vanished. Practically every day for the past two weeks, another minister has insulted the customs, habits or religious beliefs of Britain's Muslim minority.

The most recent assault, which came just hours after the subject was discussed at a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street, was launched by Hilary Armstrong on Question Time and came with the full authority of the Prime Minister.

Harriet Harman, Tessa Jowell, Peter Hain, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, Ruth Kelly and a number of other frontline Labour politicians have also entered the fray.

It is now clear that Jack Straw's comments on women who wear the veil were not, as seemed likely at the time, the result of some random rumination. He surely set out with the intention of putting in motion a national campaign .

In other words, Labour has made the extraordinary decision to place the politics of religious identity at the centre of public discourse, in the same sort of way that Jorg Haider's Freedom Party does in Austria and Pim Fortuyn's List Party did in the Netherlands

Criticisms of this tactic in the Press - which was so derogatory about Michael Howard's timid excursion into similar terrain 18 months ago - have been few and far between.

On the contrary, Jack Straw's comments have liberated the media to follow suit. It seems every day now brings forth news of an outrage allegedly perpetrated somewhere by a Muslim.

Many of the stories - such as the front page claims two weeks ago that a Muslim man had shouted abuse in a hospital at a British soldier wounded in Iraq, or the allegation that a terrorist suspect used the veil to evade detection - are impossible to substantiate and may well turn out to be fabrications.

Some people will feel glad that the subject of Islam is being widely aired at last. And it is perfectly true that many of the comments made by ministers, whether Jack Straw on the veil or Ruth Kelly on the need to keep an eye on 'extremism', contain grains of good sense.

But cumulatively this litany of condemnation has turned into an anti-Islamic crusade. I am a practising member of the Church of England and if we had come under the same wave of condemnation for our practices and traditions I would by now be affronted beyond belief.

If I were Jewish, with the experience of the 20th century to look back on, and came under the same weight of hostility I would be terrified.

There is a whiff of the lynch mob about the wave of attacks over the past fortnight, and it is no surprise to learn that the new national mood sparked by Jack Straw and sanctioned by Tony Blair has indeed led to a number of assaults on British mosques, including one firebombing.

There have also been reports of a sharp rise of physical assaults on Muslims.

It is nothing short of appalling that the Blair government has been ready to countenance this change in public culture, but I think three main factors lie behind Labour's campaign against Islam.

The first is a genuine belief that it is extremely difficult to reconcile Muslim fundamentalism with full membership of British society. I know from many personal conversations -that Phil Woolas, the minister for race relations - who last week intervened in the row over the classroom assistant Aisha Azmi by calling for her to be sacked - has long held this view.

At last year's General Election Woolas - who unlike his colleagues has the merit of being consistent - put the Union Flag on his campaign literature and highlighted 'anti-white racism' as a vital issue in his Oldham constituency.

Many experts expected that Woolas would lose this marginal seat, but his tactics ensured that his vote surged, an outcome that was carefully noted by the Millbank electoral machine.

My guess is that Labour strategists have now calculated that the Muslim coalition of voters, which was so stalwartly behind the party in 1997 and 2001, is now lost for ever as a result of the Iraq War.

Rather than try to win them back, Labour has cut its losses, and decided instead to stir up racial tension as a means of appealing directly to the white working-class vote. Labour activists tell me Jack Straw's remarks have proved 'incredibly resonant' on the doorstep.

This callous strategy has one extra attraction: it confuses the Tories. In the 1997 and 2001 elections, William Hague and Michael Howard rather hesitantly raised the abuse of the asylum system only to be denounced by Labour for running 'racist' campaigns.

As a consequence of this experience, the Conservatives plumped for David Cameron and swore a self-denying ordinance on the subject of immigration.

With awesome cynicism, Labour has now moved directly into the ground vacated by the Conservatives, only with far greater assurance. It is now engaging with issues that Michael Howard would never have dared even to mention.

So far the Conservative response has been impressive. To his credit, David Cameron has braved internal criticism by refusing to join in some kind of bidding war with Labour.

Instead, the Tory leader has gently rebuked Labour for victimising Muslims. I hope he will speak out much more strongly on the subject in due course.

That said, it must be admitted that this is very clever stuff from Tony Blair. There is every sign the strategy is working and I am sure that Labour will continue to deploy what used to be called the race card right up to next year's May elections and beyond. But playing politics with Islam is reckless beyond belief.

In the wake of last year's London atrocity, the Prime Minister promised to engage with the mainstream Muslim community. He never really tried to do so - the 'working parties' set up in the wake of the July bombings met just two or three times, they were not listened to, and their recommendations were ignored.

Now Tony Blair has allowed a campaign that is bound to undermine moderate Muslims and encourage extremism, whether from white supremacist parties like the BNP or within Islam itself.

It is quite the nastiest and most irresponsible politics I have seen from a mainstream political party in my life, and we will all pay a horrible price for such cynical opportunism.

The Daily Mail

2006-10-17T11:50:00.000+10:00

Racist Attack In Maroubra
Daily Telegraph, October 17 2006

So a family having a BBQ and enjoying the wonderful Sydney weather is viciously attacked by a gang of 20 youths in a racist attack.

You'd expect this to be front page news especially since the Cronulla Race Riots. You'd expect to hear talkback shock jocks whipping up hysteria and telling these people to go back to their own country if they can't abide by our laws.

And you'd expect Naomi Robson to throw on the makeup and do an expose on these violent ruthless gangs.

But you'll find none of that- why????

Because this was an attack on an Asian family by Caucasian youths.

Racism spewed from their mouths during the attacks with comments like:
'Get the f. . . out of the area, do you know this is our area, you filthy f. . .ing Asians'

Now let's say it was the other way around, what would the outcry be if it was Asian youths attacking an "Aussie" family? What if it was a Middle Eastern group who was telling a Caucasian family to get out of the area? What would the outcry be?

The double standards of the media in this country make me sick. They are happy to paint the minorities as villians but when the perpertrator is not from a minority group the story is virtually ignored or not sensationalised.

Think this is only my opinion? This morning John Laws during his morning radio show said virtually the same thing and I am paraphrasing here- Can you imagine the outcry if these thugs were Middle Eastern , it would be plastered over every front page- that is from John Laws, someone who cannot be accused of being pro-minority group.

2006-10-12T15:51:00.000+10:00

Muslim Taxi Drivers Refusing To Take Dogs
(Daily Telegraph)- 12th October 2006

Boy oh boy has a story ever been blown out of proportion like this?

The hysteria queens are already out in force telling us how this is evidence of Shar'ia Law being implemented in Australia- whilst at the same time ignoring the fact that every Muslim organisation asked to comment has said that it is not against the Muslim religon for Cabbies to take dogs in their cabs.

Let's investigate this- there have been, the article tell us, at least 20 dog-aided blind people have lodged complaints- well you can take that as 20 complaints.

Now how many of these complaints were against the same driver? How many were against Muslim drivers? How many were about Muslim drivers refusing to take dogs?

The article doesn't tell us this- and why should it. This blog is currently attempting to gain comment from the Victorian Taxi Directorate and as soon as the information is received we will post it.

In the meantime you can enjoy the Xenophobic posts of the ratbags and rednecks on the Daily Telegraph Blog.

2006-10-10T23:01:00.000+10:00

5 Years since 9/11 and the world is a much more dangerous place- there is the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the quagmire in Iraq, the threat of Iran and now North Korea with nuclear weapons.

Imagine if instead of jumping in all gung ho and bombing Afghanistan back to the stone age, or invading Iraq on false pretences, the US took action against the real threat.

Now it is too late and we have the dangerous situation of a crazy leader with dangerous weapons.

Terrorist threats persist with no sign of letting up and North Korea is now a nuclear power.

It's OK for Bush and the neocons to talk tough and drop bombs but the people that will pay the ultimate price are us, while they hide in their bunkers protected.

2006-10-10T12:10:00.001+10:00

The Death Of Innocents- The Destruction Of Lebanon

Israels genocide of the Lebanese people.

2006-10-10T12:10:00.000+10:00

Israeli Terrorism

See the real face of the war on Lebanon

2006-10-10T12:09:00.000+10:00

Israel Attacks- Lebanon Burns

A Photo-Documentary detailing Israels War Crimes In Lebanon

2006-10-10T11:43:00.000+10:00

I love this country, it is my home and it is home for my family.

I love it because it is a beautiful place to live, it is a great place to work plus it is home to the Mighty South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Now I see myself and my family as your ordinary run of the mill Aussies, but for some reason we are expected to justify our loyalty to this country or why we live here.

Nobody has the right to proclaim themselves a better Australian than us just because of the colour of their skin or their religon, and that brings me to the demonisation of Muslims in this country.

We've had some stupid comments from some stupid polticians looking to score political points, we've had beatups from Newspapers and Television shows looking to generate more ratings, and we've had the usual shock jocks preaching to us about how Muslims don't fit in.

In this country most Muslim voices are ignored, instead the media tends to focus its attention towards the people and self-appointed leaders who will give them a great headline.

Fact of the matter is that there hundreds of Mosques in Australia and hundreds of Imams, yet we only see 2 or 3 different ones in our media- and you guessed it they are the ones making the controversial comments.

So why does the media do it? Simple- it sells newspapers and generates ratings, I mean what better tool than fear of the unknown.

I'm not just playing the victim here, far from it, but next time a person with a Muslim name does something wrong I want you to count how many times the word Muslim is used to describe that person and then when a person with a Christian name does something wrong count how many times the word Christian is used.

Truth be told, us Muslims aren't really that exciting our lives are quite mundane- work, family, and home.