Anger as Beslan massacre apologist arrives in Aust?

A British reporter who converted to Islam after being kidnapped by the Taliban is set to address a controversial Islamic conference beginning in Melbourne today.

Yvonne Ridley, who was kidnapped in 2001 and converted to Islam in 2003, once wrote an article describing the ringleader of the Beslan school massacre as a "martyr".

The federal Opposition is angry that Ms Ridley has been allowed to attend while another potential speaker, controversial Canadian cleric Sheikh Bilal Philips, has been barred from entering the country.

Federal Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke questions why she has been granted a visa.

"When you're justifying a school massacre, I reckon you're sufficiently at the extreme end of the spectrum for us to say you're not welcome," he said.

"[You can't say that] vilification is wrong and evil, but justifiying a massacre of school children is okay."

Source:  http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1891486.htm

==============================

So that should prove to you that Lib/Lab are one party who work for John Howard the ABC and APIAC in pushing the USA Israeli agenda here at home.

The idea is name and shame but in articles I have read say for instance on John Howard's ABC no follow up was done to inform the readers of the alleged article describing the ringleader of the Beslan school massacre as a "martyr".

But even if they did come up with the said article then so what? What someone may have said in his or her lifetime. And in what context did she say it?

Controversy

Since her conversion to Islam, Ridley has increasingly come under criticism for her allegedly controversial stances[8]. In particular surrounding her apparent support for suicide bombings, which she insist on calling martyrdom operations[9]. As another example, She is reported to have said that, "I hate the term 'suicide bombers' it's an offensive term which was invented by the West to ridicule what many people regard as 'martyrdom operations' and you have to look at each one in context." [10] On 21 September 2004 she described radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri as "quite sweet really," while her former captors, the Taliban, had suffered an "unfair press." [11]

Her vocal support for causes involving Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya and Uzbekistan have made her a popular speaker in anti-war circles. At a debate at Imperial College London on 16 February 2006 she outlined a viewpoint that is "pretty much in line with that of Hamas." She described Israel as "that disgusting little watchdog of America that is festering in the Middle East" and further that her party, the Respect Party, "is a Zionist-free party… if there was any Zionism in the Respect Party they would be hunted down and kicked out. We have no time for Zionists", while both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties are "riddled with Zionists." [12]

 http://www.answers.com/topic/yvonne-ridley

More interestingly we know John Howard who joined in with the Coalition of the Killing to wipe out as many as 655,000 people literally in the name of some alleged democracy [resource wars] in Iraq.

And a 'complicit Labor' alleged opposition to boot who stood by and watched without any opposition, in that illegal and degrading war of aggression.

So how come we have to live with that Tony Burke? Hey Lib/Lab?

Why this is happening is because Yvonne Ridley, is a staunch Human Rights journalist and that goes against the grain that Lib/Lab, the Coalition of the Killing and NATO with (APIAC) are creating some form of democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It also assists the divide and conquer program here in Australia - to control the dissent and the masses - and ensures that any opposition to war is quickly extinguished - because as we all should know these are resource wars, crimes against humanity, and they're illegal, degrading and wrong.

===================================

How I Came to Love the Veil
By Yvonne Ridley

LONDON

I used to look at veiled women as quiet, oppressed creatures -- until I was captured by the Taliban.

In September 2001, just 15 days after the terrorist attacks on the United States, I snuck into Afghanistan, clad in a head-to-toe blue burqa, intending to write a newspaper account of life under the repressive regime. Instead, I was discovered, arrested and detained for 10 days. I spat and swore at my captors; they called me a "bad" woman but let me go after I promised to read the Koran and study Islam. (Frankly, I'm not sure who was happier when I was freed -- they or I.)

Back home in London, I kept my word about studying Islam -- and was amazed by what I discovered. I'd been expecting Koran chapters on how to beat your wife and oppress your daughters; instead, I found passages promoting the liberation of women. Two-and-a-half years after my capture, I converted to Islam, provoking a mixture of astonishment, disappointment and encouragement among friends and relatives.

Now, it is with disgust and dismay that I watch here in Britain as former foreign secretary Jack Straw describes the Muslim nikab -- a face veil that reveals only the eyes -- as an unwelcome barrier to integration, with Prime Minister Tony Blair, writer Salman Rushdie and even Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi leaping to his defense.

Having been on both sides of the veil, I can tell you that most Western male politicians and journalists who lament the oppression of women in the Islamic world have no idea what they are talking about. They go on about veils, child brides, female circumcision, honor killings and forced marriages, and they wrongly blame Islam for all this -- their arrogance surpassed only by their ignorance.

These cultural issues and customs have nothing to do with Islam. A careful reading of the Koran shows that just about everything that Western feminists fought for in the 1970s was available to Muslim women 1,400 years ago. Women in Islam are considered equal to men in spirituality, education and worth, and a woman's gift for childbirth and child-rearing is regarded as a positive attribute.

When Islam offers women so much, why are Western men so obsessed with Muslim women's attire? Even British government ministers Gordon Brown and John Reid have made disparaging remarks about the nikab -- and they hail from across the Scottish border, where men wear skirts.

When I converted to Islam and began wearing a headscarf, the repercussions were enormous. All I did was cover my head and hair -- but I instantly became a second-class citizen. I knew I'd hear from the odd Islamophobe, but I didn't expect so much open hostility from strangers. Cabs passed me by at night, their "for hire" lights glowing. One cabbie, after dropping off a white passenger right in front of me, glared at me when I rapped on his window, then drove off. Another said, "Don't leave a bomb in the back seat" and asked, "Where's bin Laden hiding?"

Yes, it is a religious obligation for Muslim women to dress modestly, but the majority of Muslim women I know like wearing the hijab, which leaves the face uncovered, though a few prefer the nikab. It is a personal statement: My dress tells you that I am a Muslim and that I expect to be treated respectfully, much as a Wall Street banker would say that a business suit defines him as an executive to be taken seriously. And, especially among converts to the faith like me, the attention of men who confront women with inappropriate, leering behavior is not tolerable.

I was a Western feminist for many years, but I've discovered that Muslim feminists are more radical than their secular counterparts. We hate those ghastly beauty pageants, and tried to stop laughing in 2003 when judges of the Miss Earth competition hailed the emergence of a bikini-clad Miss Afghanistan, Vida Samadzai, as a giant leap for women's liberation. They even gave Samadzai a special award for "representing the victory of women's rights."

Some young Muslim feminists consider the hijab and the nikab political symbols, too, a way of rejecting Western excesses such as binge drinking, casual sex and drug use. What is more liberating: being judged on the length of your skirt and the size of your surgically enhanced breasts, or being judged on your character and intelligence? In Islam, superiority is achieved through piety -- not beauty, wealth, power, position or sex.

I didn't know whether to scream or laugh when Italy's Prodi joined the debate last week by declaring that it is "common sense" not to wear the nikab because it makes social relations "more difficult." Nonsense. If this is the case, then why are cellphones, landlines, e-mail, text messaging and fax machines in daily use? And no one switches off the radio because they can't see the presenter's face.

Under Islam, I am respected. It tells me that I have a right to an education and that it is my duty to seek out knowledge, regardless of whether I am single or married. Nowhere in the framework of Islam are we told that women must wash, clean or cook for men. As for how Muslim men are allowed to beat their wives -- it's simply not true. Critics of Islam will quote random Koranic verses or hadith, but usually out of context. If a man does raise a finger against his wife, he is not allowed to leave a mark on her body, which is the Koran's way of saying, "Don't beat your wife, stupid."

It is not just Muslim men who must reevaluate the place and treatment of women. According to a recent National Domestic Violence Hotline survey, 4 million American women experience a serious assault by a partner during an average 12-month period. More than three women are killed by their husbands and boyfriends every day -- that is nearly 5,500 since 9/11.

Violent men don't come from any particular religious or cultural category; one in three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime, according to the hotline survey. This is a global problem that transcends religion, wealth, class, race and culture.

But it is also true that in the West, men still believe that they are superior to women, despite protests to the contrary. They still receive better pay for equal work -- whether in the mailroom or the boardroom -- and women are still treated as sexualized commodities whose power and influence flow directly from their appearance.

And for those who are still trying to claim that Islam oppresses women, recall this 1992 statement from the Rev. Pat Robertson, offering his views on empowered women: Feminism is a "socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
Now you tell me who is civilized and who is not.
 hermosh@aol.com

Yvonne Ridley is political editor of Islam Channel TV in London and coauthor
of "In the Hands of the Taliban: Her Extraordinary Story" (Robson Books).

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/20/AR200610...

Related:

AUSTRALIAN AIPAC ISLAMOPHOBIA BLOG:

Opposition questions Ridley's character test?

The Federal Opposition says the Government should explain how high-profile British Muslim Yvonne Ridley passed the character test to visit Australia for a conference this weekend.

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143038_comment.php#143145

Muslim group rejects visa ban on sheikh

The Islamic community has questioned the Government's ban on Canadian Sheikh Bilal Philips, who was to speak at the first Australian Islamic Conference. ??

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1889980.htm

Trade Centre sheikh barred from entering Australia

A Canadian Muslim cleric linked by the US Government to the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing has been refused entry to Australia on security grounds.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1889169.htm

ABC Repeat offenders: I just can't help myself?

LMA to refund Al Hilali's donations

Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) president Tom Zreika says controversial cleric Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilali gave Australian aid donations to a Lebanese radio station with suspected links to Iraqi insurgents.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1887993.htm

==============================

What about the links to Bin Laden? How many cups of coffee did Hilali have with him hey?

Jihad coffee?

==============================

Al Hilali under pressure to provide donations paper trail

The Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) has asked Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilali to provide proof that he did not mishandle charity funding meant for victims of last year's Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1887846.htm

Politics, Corporations and Religion Don't Mix?

Praise the Lord what religion is this? What do we do about the MONSTER and war criminals that argue that there is something wrong with selected Muslims? And imply that all other religions must be better than Islam because some Muslims are Islamic fundamentalists? Like there are no fundamentalists in any other religion?

 http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/node/50552

Ruddock wants answers to Hilali donations in Lebanon

Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says he is anxious to receive information about how money raised by Australia's Lebanese Muslim community has been spent in Lebanon.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1887491.htm

Sheikh asked to account for Lebanon aid cash

Questions are being asked about how controversial Muslim cleric Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilali spent money raised for victims of last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1886995.htm

Impact of Al Hilali decision extremely negative: PM

Prime Minister John Howard says Islamic leaders are doing damage to their community by not taking decisive action against Sydney's Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilali.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1881341.htm

=============================??

Even though the war criminal John Howard is one of the most negative people on the planet! How does he get away with it? Bullshit!

============================

Muslim leaders mull replacing Sheikh Hilali

The first conference of the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) has voted to set up two committees to determine their spiritual leader or mufti.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1881093.htm

============================

Muslim leaders or the ABC? I say that John Howard's ABC mull divide and conquer! How about SBS and John Howard's ABC just accept the decision? Fair?

Now go away! Worse than the flies!

============================

Hilaly stays on as Mufti

The inaugural meeting of the Australian National Imams Council has decided controversial Sydney Muslim cleric Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilaly will stay on as the head of Australia's Muslims for now.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1880999.htm

============================

Nile claims NSW election win for Muslim bashing

Christian Democratic Party leader Fred Nile says he has been re-elected to the Upper House for a fourth term in the New South Wales election, after proposing to freeze Muslim immigration.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1880686.htm

divide and conquer

Clerics to decide on Hilali's future as mufti

An historic meeting tomorrow of more than 60 of the nation's Islamic clerics will decide if Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilali should continue as mufti at the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1880502.htm

======================================

Muslim leaders call for Sharia divorce court in Perth

ELEANOR HALL: To religious issues in Australia now, and Muslim leaders in Perth are planning to set up a special court under Sharia law to settle disputes in divorce proceedings.

At the moment, anyone whose marriage is registered in their country of origin has to go there to get an annulment.

But Abdul Jalil Ahmad, of the Islamic Council of Western Australia, says the Sharia court is needed here.

However, he says it would not be a replacement for the Australian legal system.

This report from David Weber in Perth.

DAVID WEBER: Abdul Jalil Ahmad says a board of 10 Islamic leaders may be required to make up the court. He says the court would protect the interests of women going through a separation or a divorce.

ABDUL JALIL AHMAD: Sometime, you know, if they come to me as individual first, you know, it is not right for me like to decide anything because I am not a judge. I can advise them. Or if the problem is not so big, I can try to solve their problem, but sometimes big problem, especially when the husband, you know… for example, the wife has been suffering, the husband refuses to divorce here or something like that. So there's no way for them to explain it to the Sharia court, you know.

DAVID WEBER: So a Sharia court would take the place of mediator, I suppose?

ABDUL JALIL AHMAD: Yeah, something like that, like, you know, court of arbitration, you see.

DAVID WEBER: A Sharia court would not take the place of the Australian legal system?

ABDUL JALIL AHMAD: No, no, no. You know, the most we expect or we hope is that it can be recognised, you know.

DAVID WEBER: Is it possible that a court, a Sharia court, could deal with other aspects of Sharia law?

ABDUL JALIL AHMAD: You see, when we live in any country as minority you always, you know, what do you call… abide by the law of the land, you see.

Only in areas where we are legally allowed to implement our Islamic teaching we do, otherwise we cannot do because it is illegal, you understand. Especially, like, where it got to marriage, divorce and funeral, that all we have – what we have been doing so far, you know. But it doesn't extend to, like, criminal law or something like that, because you have to follow the law of the land because we are a minority.

DAVID WEBER: What would you hope to say to people in Australia who may be concerned about some of the more extreme aspects of Sharia law that are in place in some parts of the world, like Sudan for instance, and the idea that that may be coming into play here?

ABDUL JALIL AHMAD: We are a minority here, we cannot do anything against the law, you see. So we can only demand or practice our diligence, you know, in the areas or the aspects in which we are allowed legally.

DAVID WEBER: The WA Ethnic Communities' Council does not support the move.

The President, Suresh Rajan, says there could be problems where two sets of laws exist.

The Chief Executive of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Amjad Mehboob, says an imam has a mediating role where marriages are breaking down.

But he says a Sharia court would be useful in some circumstances, because it would provide a legal framework.

AMJAD MEHBOOB: Maybe where a husband is refusing to grant divorce, where the woman is asking for one, and then she could perhaps approach an avenue that has some legal powers. But the imam hasn't got directly very many legal powers in the normal sense.

ELEANOR HALL: Amjad Mehboob, the Chief Executive of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, speaking to David Weber in Perth

 http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/node/50468

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/03/142553_comment.php#142613

=============================

Break it down, lay it down he said?

Let's review this report:

ELEANOR HALL: He says, "But Abdul Jalil Ahmad, of the Islamic Council of Western Australia, says the Sharia court is needed here.

"However, he says it would not be a replacement for the Australian legal system."

This report from David Weber in Perth.

==============================

DAVID WEBER: "A Sharia court would not take the place of the Australian legal system?"

==============================

ABDUL JALIL AHMAD: No, no, no. You know, the most we expect or we hope is that it can be recognised, you know.

=============================

Now we have to be very certain about this don't we?

So whose Idea was it? David 'divide and conquer' tactics' Weber?

Eleanor Hall?

John Howard?

=============================
Maybe they just send the file to ASIO like they did to Jack Thomas? And say that he said it now? But they didn't instigate it? Oh no!
============================

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/03/142568.php

============================

Fact is they make it sound like ABDUL JALIL AHMAD is trying to take over Australia therefore we should all live in fear of Isamophobia, and divide and conquer rules best?

===========================

"DAVID WEBER: What would you hope to say to people in Australia who may be concerned about some of the more extreme aspects of Sharia law that are in place in some parts of the world, like Sudan for instance, and the idea that that may be coming into play here?"

============================

The 655,000 dead people in Iraq you mean? That's a holocaust and very extreme yes but perhaps you don't wish to talk about that David?

===========================

Some advice for John Howard, Eleanor Hall, David Weber, and the ants:

However, there are two truths that are ignored in such a pessimistic assessment. One is that while it is easy to control individual citizens, it is impossible for a relatively few officials, police, or whoever, to control many citizens. Try it with some ants, you can use a small twig or a pencil to block the path or a single ant, and you can do so for five or six at once. But once there are 20 or 30 ants, let alone two or three thousand, control of the routes they take becomes impossible. That is why the authorities of the old order fear mobs, and why they always adopt 'divide and conquer' tactics within their national control strategies.

 http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/node/50448

============================

Islamic association denies claims Hilali pensioned off

A spokesman for Australia's most [mass media savy agent provocateur] controversial Muslim cleric, Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali, has rejected claims that the mufti has been given a golden handshake in return for abandoning claims to leadership positions.

Source  http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1842736.htm

============================

Baptists stand by 'Jesus loves Osama' sign

Baptist leaders say a sign displayed on many of its churches, reading "Jesus loves Osama", is not meant to cause offence.

[What about a distraction?]

A number of churches have displayed the sign that also quotes the Bible saying "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you".

[Even the John Howard govt, his cronies, and the Coalition of the Killing?]

New South Wales Baptist Union spokesman Alan Soden says while he can understand people may be offended, the sign reflects Christian teachings.

"[Jesus] said we should love our enemies as controversial as that may be," he said.

[We must really love the Coalition of the Killing then because some people were stupid enough to elect them back into public office? That's how much they love them? See!]

Alan Soden "The bottom line to me is we're all sinners.

[Some a lot worse than others hey Alan? Like 655,000 dead in the Iraq war. Then why are some people sent to jail and other not so unlucky?]

Alan Soden "He loves us all, no matter who we are or what we may've done."

[Even a holocaust in Iraq? Hey Alan? And even if you blamed the wrong bloke, Osama 'where has he bin lately?' And whose just the scapegoat demonic and a figment of George W Bush's sinister imagination? And even if your Christian church is just a 'propaganda distraction for the mass media and mass murderers, hey Alan?]

[You there Alan?]

Sorcerer:  http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1838230.htm

============================

Agencies asked to 'review status' of Islamic group

Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has asked the relevant agencies to review the status of the controversial Islamic group, Hizb ut-Tahrir.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1835919.htm

==========================

Ruddock won't do it and the State won't do it then the police might do it? As long as it stays on the front page? Notice no one will arrest those war criminals like John Howard and his cronies either? Because one of them is Phillip Ruddock. That makes everyone else a potential witch!

============================

Islamic group could face legal action: NSW Neo-Liberals

The New South Wales Opposition says a radical Islamic group in Sydney could face court over what it says is the racial vilification of non-Muslims.

The group, called Hizb ut Tahrir, held a conference in south-west Sydney yesterday and called for the establishment of an Islamic state under sharia law somewhere in the world.

Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says there is insufficient evidence to ban the group.

But the NSW Liberal's justice spokesman, Chris Hartcher, says the State Government has the power to prosecute Hizb ut Tahrir separate to the Commonwealth.

"The whole thrust of Islamic extremism in Australia is to vilify the races in Australia who are not adherents to Islam," he said.

[But some might say that Neo-Liberal conservatism 'stick' and mass media 'power' in Australia is to vilify the races in Australia who are not adherents to Christianity?]

"That clearly constitutes vilification under the racial discrimination sections of the racial discrimination act."

Mr Ruddock says NSW will have to decide itself if it wants to ban the controversial Islamic group.

[NSW Yes!]

"If the State Government believes it should be banned as an organisation simply because they don't like their views, I would suggest they've got power to do it," he said.

"The Commonwealth doesn't and we know that from the Communist Party dissolution case."

[But this is just another way to change their mind by using the State as a different entity than that of the federal regime and somehow not connected to the same constitution? We can't do it but someone else can I think?] Sure someone else can most likely Morris Iemma. But Peter Debnam would have to push him into it so that he gets the credit?]

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1835361.htm

===========================

In anycase it's just another round of Islamophobic bashing that's going on in Australia and in particular NSW. Must be electioneering? War related?

It would still be happening even if there weren't and election looming in NSW or in Federal arena so it's war related electioneering? It's also another in the very long list of Australian Islamophobic webblogs or should I say webwogs?

============================

Islamic super state

How to wind up the community with nonsense!

===================================

Banning Muslim group 'would be dangerous'

A leading Muslim says the Federal Government is right to allow the controversial Islamic group, Hizb ut Tahrir, to practice in Australia.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1835066.htm

==============================

Tell me what line I crossed?

2nd Renaissance - Beyond Industrial Capitalism and Nation States

Go forward in peace. And always remember the line from Gravity's Rainbow: "If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers."

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/06/115092.php

============================

Sydney conference speaker demands Islamic state

A speaker at a conference in Sydney's south-west says a revolution or a civil war may be necessary in order to create an Islamic state, or caliphate.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1834944.htm

=============================

The article describes what someone is alleged to have said but fails to provide the context. Typical rubbish beamed into our Sunday lunch.

Islamic group moves meeting after council ban

A controversial Islamic group that was banned from holding a conference at a Sydney town hall is today meeting at an alternate venue in the city's south-west.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1834903.htm

=======================

In addition this seems to be where the witch-hunt started.

============================

Sheikh Hilali warned off sermon

Controversial cleric Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali pulled out of his weekly sermon at the Lakemba Mosque yesterday after he was told his address would have to be apolitical.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1834582.htm

===============================
Even though Islamic cleric Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilali never offered himself up as a personal candidate for the State foregone conclusion? Does Peter Debnam, john hoWARd's bum boy, think everyone was born yesterday? Why? Because he's a racist scumbag that's why! If you want to make some trouble ask Peter Debnam about this:

============================

Sheikh urged to end election speculation

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma says Islamic cleric Sheikh Taj el-din Al Hilali should announce whether he is going to run in the state election.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1833703.htm

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/137723_comment.php#137757

=========================

Group won't support Sheikh's MP push

The president of Australia's Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), Tom Zreika, has distanced himself from Muslim cleric Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilali, who reportedly wants to field three candidates in the south-west Sydney seats of Lakemba, Bankstown and Auburn in the state election.

=============================

You say, "Muslim cleric Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilali, who reportedly wants to field three candidates in the south-west Sydney seats of Lakemba, Bankstown and Auburn in the state election."

Then why didn't anyone including the ABC tell the New South Wales Deputy Premier John Watkins?

Debnam urged to rule out Hilali preference deal

New South Wales Deputy Premier John Watkins is calling on the State Opposition to rule out preference deals with Islamic cleric Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilali if he decides to run as a candidate in the state election.

========================
Does New South Wales Deputy Premier John Watkins think we don't know that Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilali publicly declared on National TV that he was not offering himself up personally as a NSW candidate? Or is he just acting dumb? Perhaps no one told him? Nah! So what would he have against any other Muslim candidate anyways? Islamophobia?

What would Peter Debnam Say? I love you I love you all?

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/137206_comment.php#137235

============================

Islamophobic Australians attack peaceful Aussie mufti

January 15, 2007 - Aussie mufti Sheik Taj al-Din Hilali's recent comments during an Egyptian TV interview have triggered more Islamaphobic outrage in Australia, with a number of politicians, including Federal Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone, laughing him off as an "irrelevance" or demanding he "stay in his native Egypt if did not like Australia."

 http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/57907

============================

Sheik's comments spur calls to Immigration Dept?

Now it's alleged that the Sheik Taj el-Din Al Hilali comments spurred calls to the Immigration Department? What was the point of the pr exercise if people weren't going to call her? Why does she distance herself from her government and political media establishment's xenophobic pr campaigns?

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/136146.php

============================

debnam has got to go!

The New South Wales Flopposition Leader, peter debnam, says an anti-American statement made by Sydney cleric Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilaly was a virtual declaration of war on Western society. So debnam actually thinks war crimes against humanity and the death of 665,000 Iraqi men, women and children for democracy is a fair argument? Sack him before it's too late, please!

 http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/40531/index.php

============================

Xenophobic rocket launcher, so why was it reported really?

Police say they are unsure if the claims, published in a 'Sunday newspaper', are true and they are now being investigated. [So why was it reported today by howard's 'abc' and the 'Melbourne age'?]

 http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/50226

============================

Man refused bail over rocket launcher charges, discrepancies?

Peter Debnam is also a 'chip off' the old neo-liberal rocket launcher 'war criminal', block, John Howard, who has a very good reason to hype up and generate fear in the community for an illegal and degrading war in Iraq. Sinister?

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/135990.php

Australian media seizes upon Muslim cleric’s comments to whip up xenophobia

There is now an inescapable necessity for all those opposed to militarism and war, and committed to the defence of democratic rights, to develop an independent political opposition to the xenophobic campaign being directed against Muslims. No faction of the media or political establishment has any opposition to the drive to militarise society under the banner of “Australian values”, and all are complicit in the cultivation of anti-Muslim communalism.

 http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/45493

PART THEREOF AUSTRALIAN MYTH OF THE MEDIA BLOG

Bill Moyers: "Big Media is Ravenous

Bill Moyers: "Big Media is Ravenous. It Never Gets Enough. Always Wants More. And it Will Stop at Nothing to Get It. These Conglomerates are an Empire, and they are Imperial."

 http://perth.indymedia.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=42717

Christians United for Israel: New Christian Zionism Lobby Hopes to Rival AIPAC

We take a look at a new recently established group called Christians United for Israel - an evangelical organization that believes supporting expansionist policies of the Israeli government is: "a biblical imperative." We speak with investigative journalist Max Blumenthal who reports they lobbied the Bush administration to adopt a confrontational posture toward Iran, refuse aid to the Palestinians and give Israel a free hand in its attack on Lebanon.

 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/15/1326256

Sen. Hillary Clinton Refuses to Acknowledge Making Mistake Over Voting for Iraq War

At a town hall meeting in New Hampshire resident Roger Tilton asked Clinton: "I want to know if right here, right now, once and for all and without nuance, you can say that war authorization was a mistake." Anne Miller later asked Clinton about her views on Iran.

LISTEN ONLINE:
 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/13/154256

 http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/02/13/18362570.php

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/02/139613.php