Proving the Point

Australian Islamic cleric Abu Hamza* has reacted to Prime Minister John Howard’s recent criticism of Muslims failing to integrate into Australian society, by attacking Jews and Israel.

Melbourne cleric Abu Hamza has criticised several of the city’s ethnic communities for not assimilating.

He said Jews had failed to integrate by sticking to Caulfield and Balaclava, as had Italians in Lygon St.

Mr Hamza told a recent prayer meeting that Greeks, Yugoslavs and Albanians who had arrived in Australia 40 years ago had also refused to accept assimilation in the way Prime Minister John Howard was now demanding of Muslims.

“They still don’t integrate, nor do they speak English,” Mr Hamza, the Islamic Information and Services Network president, told his Coburg group.

“They only integrate with people they know of and speak the same language.

“The Jews at the moment live together in the southeast of Melbourne. Why does he (Mr Howard) single out Muslims?” (because the Muslims to which the Prime Minister was referring do not speak English, treat their wives like garbage, and are prone to supporting terrorism, if not themselves engaging in terrorist activities – ed.)

Mr Hamza told his audience the Government’s English tests for new citizens and calls for migrants to integrate should be ignored because they appeared to target Muslims.

Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council director Colin Rubenstein said the Jewish community was integrated with the wider community. “The Australian Jewish community like so many other ethnic communities is fully integrated into the core values of Australian society,” he said.

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He also said Israel was a terrorist state that will not be recognised by Islam.

“Does that contradict Australian values?” Mr Hamza asked the PM.

“If these politicians don’t like it, well then, pack up your bags and go back to England.”

But Hamza doesn’t stop there.

Mr Hamza also said Mr Howard and Peter Costello should be charged with inciting hatred of Islam.

He said he should be forced back to his ancestral home of England if he refused to share Australia with Muslims.

Challenging

Mr Howard to define Australian values and say what a moderate Muslim

should be, Mr Hamza said Muslims should be good to their neighbours,

regardless of religion, not kill innocents, and Muslim women should

wear the hijab.

Of course, you should take this last comment with a grain of salt, because it contradicts what we already know about Hamza’s stance on the killing of innocents.

Omran is also a close associate of Samir Mohtadi, who also goes under the alias of “Abu Hamza”, who runs a Salafist mosque in Coburg, Melbourne. Mohtadi, who runs the Islamic Information and Services Network (IISN) recently said the Bible should be banned, and challenged Cardinal Pell, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, to a “debate”.

Mohtadi was an associate of Abu Nacer Benbrika, and he told a court in Victoria at the start of August that he had heard rumours that Benbrika and his followers were plotting terror attacks. He never reported his findings to the police.

Instead, 42-year old Mohtadi said: “”I had heard from others that Abu Bakr and his young followers were planning to do an act of violence in response to Australia being a land of war. I became worried that he would take it too far and do something stupid. I feared that he was teaching hate to his young followers, who are all new to the religion, and I feared they would learn hate and start to hate themselves……I impressed upon him….that if he wanted to fight, he should go overseas, not do anything in Australia.”

And this, folks, is exactly the problem that Prime Minister Howard was addressing with his comments: people like Abu Hamza living in Australia.

* Not to be confused with this man of the same name. Or perhaps he is to be confused with him.

About the Author

An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.

Filed Under: General

Tags: Australasia, Islam