PM's Muslim advisors meet in Canberra

[Proud Aussie]

Imam to defy code of conduct
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/ima...0151851234.html

Muslims demand blood over cartoons. At th same time this Iman refuses to accept a code of conduct written by his peers to limit inflammatory statements. Muslim hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Controversial Muslim cleric Sheikh Mohammed Omran says he will defy any moves to restrict his sermons or statements under a proposed code of conduct for imams, or religious leaders.

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils has called Muslim religious leaders to a summit next month to develop a code aimed at preventing inflammatory statements. But Brunswick-based S
heikh Omran said the federation did not have the power to muzzle imams.

"I speak (of) what I believe in and I don't consider if that pleases the Govern
ment or not. If we want to go to the agenda of the Government and what the Prime Minister wants, this will be a hopeless meeting."

Sheikh Omran was not invited to the Prime Minister's terrorism summit last August, apparently because organisers wanted only those who represented majority views. The federation expects about 100 imams will respond to its call soon to attend next month's summit.

But at least one Muslim representative has said he will not go if Sheikh Omran attends. Mustapha Kara-Ali, who is on the Federal Government's Muslim reference group, said inviting Sheikh Omran to a national forum would give legitimacy to a radical leader who exploited rifts in the community and was part of a network on the fringes of Muslim beliefs.

Others say it is important the fundamentalist sheikh, cri
ticised by John Howard for describing Osama bin Laden as a "good man", be involved. Islamic Friendship Association president Keysar Trad said: "It is a win for all, because he is likely to walk away with a b
etter understanding of what offends his fellow citizens and what comments are likely to be misunderstood."[/b]

 

[Proud Aussie]

Muslim community split deepens
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18206206-2,00.html

This can only be good news for Australia!

THE split in Australia's Muslim community deepened yesterday as the head of a controversial Muslim organisation lashed out at the nation's Islamic leader.

Ghayeth al-Shelh, president of the Islamic Charity Projects Association, accused Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali of dividing the Muslim community and undermining his organisation with "baseless" allegations.
The Australian revealed last week that Sheik Hilali had threatened to split away from John Howard's hand-picked Muslim Community Reference Group because of his objections to the asso
ciation.

He accused one of the 14 reference group members, youth leader Mustapha Kara-Ali, of having links with the "radical" ICPA, known in Arabic as al-Ahbash.


Sheik Hilali said five of the 14 reference group members, including himself and chairman Ameer Ali, would refuse to attend meetings at his request if Mr Kara-Ali wasn't kicked off.

But Dr al-Shelh struck back at Sheik Hilali for accusing his organisation of being a violent cult and accused the imam of the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney's southwest of being "divisive".

"(Sheik Hilali) is dividing the community," Dr al-Shelh said.
Sheik Hilali's accusations were "baseless and really lacking substance and proof" and were designed to undermine the organisation's standing in the community, he added.

The federal Government has vowed to examine the mufti's accusations after he sent a letter outlining his concerns about the ICPA to the Prim
e Minister's office.

While Mr Kara-Ali refused to distance himself from the ICPA, he said he would not be "bullied" out of the reference group by the mufti.

Mr Howard's Muslim advisory body was set up last August, following the London terror attacks, t
o advise the Government on issues concerning Australians of Islamic backgrounds.

The ICPA's Dr al-Shelh said Mr Kara-Ali was not an "official member" of his organisation.

"He just comes to the mosque and sees all the people around and walks out," Dr al-Shelh said.

Two ICPA member were linked last year by a UN inquiry to the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. [/b]

 

[Proud Aussie]

Muslim advisers 'muzzled'
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...55E2702,00.html

So the muslims zealots can't get along with each other. Now they are not allowed to speak to the media. What a bunch of children. I guess if there is no media attention to the group they will be able to get on with the business of discussing important muslim issues, ie, terrorism, sharia, jihad, fatwah, crime, conversion of Australia to Islam.

THE Immigration Department has gagged John Howard's Muslim advisory body in an attempt to conceal disunity among its members.

As fractures within the Muslim Community Reference Group began to surface last week, the De
partment of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs ordered an urgent tele-conference to impose a "co-ordinated approach" to dealing with the media.

DIM
A is responsible for the 14-member group, set up in August to advise the Government on issues concerning Australians of Islamic background.

While only 11 group members took part in the tele-conference last Thursday, the message was to be followed by all.

According to seven members who spoke with The Australian on the condition of anonymity, DIMA advised members to turn down media inquiries or refer them to chairman Ameer Ali.

The tele-conference minutes reveal that DIMA said group members could speak to the media only after gaining the chairman's consent. "Spokespeople should ensure that the views given to the media should have the agreement of the whole group," the minutes read.

A DIMA spokesman confirmed that a tele-conference was held to discuss a "range of issues" a
head of the group's meeting in Canberra next week, but he denied members were gagged.

"The department simply encouraged the group to engage with each other prior to the forthcoming meeting ... We were in no way attemptin
g to silence the group or any member of the group," he said.

Dr Ali said he was not at liberty to speak about the tele-conference. "I don't want to talk about it because we have decided not to give an interview on anything," he said. [/b]

 

[Proud Aussie]

PM's Muslim advisors meet in Canberra
February 27, 2006 - 11:55AM

Well hooray! The muslim brains-trust finally meets.

I absolutely cannot wait to hear the earth shattering resolutions that this latest waste of money produces.

Maybe we will have the word "islamophobia" added to the dictionary. Or maybe added to medical text books?

Prime Minister John Howard's hand picked Muslim advisory committee is meeting for the first time and is expected to discuss recent comments by the government on Islamic extremism.

Mr Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group is meeting in Canberra over the next two days.

It is expected it will discuss recent comments by Treasurer Peter Costello who on Sunday accused some new Australia
ns as regarding the pledge of allegiance as a formality.

Last week, he attacked "mushy multiculturalism" and likened abiding by Australian laws and values after migrating
here to taking shoes off when entering a mosque - a sign of respect.

Muslim leaders have accused him of promoting Islamophobia and said the government was running an anti-Muslim campaign.

But immigration parliamentary secretary Andrew Robb, who will be the meeting, said the Muslim community needed to confront extremism amongst its ranks.

"We can't have a situation where everyone is pussyfooting around the fact that there have been some terrible incidents in the last three of four years in the world with September 11, with the Bali bombings, with the London bombings," he told ABC Radio.

"And they're all grown out of that tiny fringe group of Islamic extremists and people are anxious."

There have also been problems within the group. The Imam
of the Lakemba mosque, Sheikh Taj Aldin Alhilali, has threatened to walk out of the meeting if youth leader Mustapha Kara-Ali is not expelled from the committee.

But president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, Malcolm Thomas, said there were differen
ces of opinion in all organisations and the problem would be addressed.

"I think we need to keep things in perspective," he told ABC Radio.

"If we have a look at how the political parties handle dissent within their ranks, we've seen what's happened with McGauran in the National party, we've seen what's happening in Victoria with Robert Doyle, we've seen what's happening with Simon Crean.

"So there's dissent or a difference of opinion in just about any organisation.

"So we will address the issue and come to some sort of resolution."

When asked if it was in danger of derailing the group he replied: "No, of course not".<!--QuoteEnd
-->

 

[Proud Aussie]

Muslims demand to see Costello
By Jewel Topsfield, Canberra
February 28, 2006
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/mus...1020024460.html

What a surprise! The muslim zealot brains trust "demands to see costello". 14 of the idiots and that is all they come up with? Lets argue (fight) with a man who dares to express the opinion of the majority of Australians.

If Costello agrees I recommend he take a large group of body guards, wear body armour, talk to them through a screen (or video link) and have an evacuation procedure in place.

And at the bottom of the article we are reminded that there are only 300,000 muslims in Australia. Yet it is rediculously easy for me to find stories about them to post here
.

THE Prime Minister's hand-picked Muslim advisory group has demanded a meet
ing with Peter Costello following his controversial call to Muslims to obey Australian laws or face being kicked out of the country.

Anger at Mr Costello's comments last week spilled over yesterday at the first meeting of the group, which was set up six months ago after the London bombings to advise the Federal Government on ways to stamp out extremism.

Fuelling Muslim unease, Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday that most Australians found burqas, the head-to-toe covering worn by a minority of Muslim women, "confronting".

"I don't believe that you should ban wearing headscarves but I do think the full garb is confronting and that is how most people feel," he said on radio.

The head of the 14-member Muslim community reference group, Dr Ameer Ali, said the grou
p had asked to meet Mr Costello after he told the Sydney Institute last week that the citizenship pledge should be "a big flashing warning sign" to Muslims wanting to live in Australia under sharia law.

"It looks that he is not te
rribly clear in his thinking about what sharia law means," said Dr Ali, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.

"The view of many members is that we already have sharia laws in this country. If you go to the civil court and the criminal court, lots of what we consider as criminal and what is illegal, is also illegal in sharia law. So what is he talking about?"

Sharia is a religious code for living that prescribes how Muslims should conduct their lives, just as the Bible offers a moral system for Christians.

Dr Ali said women in the group also wanted to meet Liberal backbenchers Bronwyn Bishop --who last year called for a ban on Muslim headscarves in state schools --and Danna Vale, who recent
ly warned that Australia was "aborting itself almost out of existence" and risked becoming a Muslim nation.

Youth representative Mustapha Kara-Ali said Mr Costello's comments were the prime issue raised by many in the group.

"All members agreed on the need for politicians to
be very careful with the use of language," Mr Kara-Ali said.

He said Muslims were offended when extremists were called Islamic or Muslim extremists. "What we're proposing is for them to be called extremists, nothing other than that. Islam should not be linked in any way "â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�Å¡¦ because extremism is not a representation of Islam."

Immigration parliamentary secretary Andrew Robb, who attended the meeting, conceded that concerns were raised about recent comments by politicians.

"They have felt that some of the things said on both sides of the Parliament "â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�Å¡¦ could have been better put," he said.

But he said the acts of extremists who have
"abused Islam as a pretext for atrocities" had alarmed Australians and that fear had to be dealt with.

Mr Robb said aiming employment programs at young Muslims could prevent fanaticism.

"Fifty per cent of the 300,000 Muslims in Australia are 24 years and younger, and there are big pockets of unemployment and that leads to frustration and anger and aimlessnes
s," he said.

Mr Robb did not know whether Mr Costello would meet the group.[/b]

 

[Proud Aussie]

Mufti slams advisory group
By Richard Kerbaj
March 06, 2006
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...5E29277,00.html

Very strange article about Sheik Taj Din al-Hilaly. He soundly criticizes the 14 member muslim brains-trust. Maybe as he was not invited?

He plans to set up his own group to stamp out extremism. This sounds good, lets see you do it.

He threatens to personally deport muslim extremists. He seems to overestimate his own power and authority. Of course this is Australia, John Howard is the elected PM. Only the government can deport foreigners.

AUSTRALIA'S Islamic spiritual leader has demanded a meeting of moderate an
d radical imams after slamming John Howard's hand-picked Muslim advisory body as "stillborn".

Sheik Taj Din al-Hilaly accused the Prime Minister of setting up
the 14-member Muslim Community Reference Group to disseminate government "propaganda" under the guise of an elite Islamic body.

He said its members did not have the insight or community links to stamp out Islamic extremism in Australia.

"What kind of people have they (the Government) chosen?" he said during an interview conducted in Arabic.

"Either the Government thinks that we're blind to accept (most) of the 14, or the Government itself is blind."

The 65-year-old mufti said he wanted to express his love for the country he has made his home since 1982.

"The love for Australia and belonging to Australia is in my blood," he said.

He said he was planning
to convene a meeting of the nation's moderate and radical imams as soon as practicable to debate the issues of Islamic extremism and try to put an end to it.

"Those who agree with us (and become moderates) will be considered a part of our community," Sheik Hilaly said. "And those who don't agree, I will personally report them to
the relevant authorities and have them deported."

Sheik Hilaly admitted that small pockets of the Muslim community subscribed to extremist ideologies.

He said the reference group would not be able to directly confront extremists because there were no radical members from whom the advisory body could gain an insight.

Sheik Hilaly, a reference group member who has never personally attended any of its meetings, criticised the body for its lack of "transparency and vision".

"All the group me
mbers do is travel business class to Canberra without achieving any results," the mufti said.

"Ask any of them what they've achieved, and they themselves don't know. That's a waste of time and government resources."

Sheik Hilaly's comments come after the reference group's chairman, Ameer Ali, recently expressed a lack of confidence in some of its members who he said lacked "expertise".

The reference group was set up six months ago in the wake of the London bombings to advise the Federal Gov
ernment on community-related concerns and to improve connections with the 300,000-strong Australian Muslim community.

Sheik Hilaly said the decision to set up the reference group reflected the Government's desire to "impose" who it believed should represent the Muslim community.

"But how can I trust a Government which claims to want to benefit the society when its ope
n policy was to fight Saddam Hussain in Iraq, but it's secret policy was to approve payments to his regime," Sheik Hilaly said, referring to the AWB wheat scandal.

"We must rely on ourselves and the honest Australian public to build our Muslim community and rid ourselves of these liars (within the Howard Government)."

Fractures within the group surfaced last month when The Australian revealed that Sheik Hilaly had threatened to withdraw his allegiance and "break up" the group unless another member, Mustapha Kara-Ali, whom he accused of having connections to a "radical" organisation, was kicked off the group.

But Sheik Hila
ly had one of his representatives attend last week's reference group meetings in Canberra, despite Mr Kara-Ali's attendance. The sheik said this was an attempt to express his concerns about the youth representative.

During the meeting, Andrew Robb, parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Immigr
ation and Mulicultural Affairs, Amanda Vanstone, said specific employment programs for young, unemployed Muslims were needed to ensure religious extremism did not take hold in Australia. Mr Kara-Ali has repeatedly rejected accusations that he is linked to the controversial Islamic Charity Projects Association, but has refused to distance himself from the ICPA which has been accused of being a violent cult organisation.

Mr Kara-Ali yesterday said that should the mufti continue his "ill-informed and baseless accusations", he would sue him.

The Australian recently reported that DIMA, which has responsibility for the Muslim advisory body, had gagged the 14-member group.

The reference group chairman,
Dr Ali, who also heads the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, refused to comment yesterday. A spokeswoman for Mr Robb last night said the minister had nothing further to add to the statement he made at last week's group meeting.

<!--QuoteEE
nd-->

 

[Proud Aussie]

Be wary of media, Muslim body told
Richard Kerbaj
March 07, 2006
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...55E2702,00.html

Entertaining but otherwise wasted advice to the muslim non-leaders.

MUSLIM leaders have been given strict instructions by the Immigration Department on how to handle the media, including warnings they should never apologise, never be caught lying and should show female journalists the same respect as males.

In the crash course on media management, the 14 members of John Howard's Muslim advisory committee, who have bickered openly for months - mostly in The Australian - were warned not to trust the media as "nothing i
s off the record" and the microphone, tape recorder or camera is "always on".

In the draft Muslim Community Reference Group handbook, obtained by The Aus
tralian, the Muslim leaders are told: "Don't lie, don't bluff, don't panic and don't apologise."

The group, which includes a range of community leaders picked by the Howard Government last year, is told in the manual: "If you know you will have to lie during an interview, don't do the interview. [Q.How can you tell that a muslim non-leader is lying? A.His mouth is moving.]

"Sooner or later the truth will come out, and you will lose all credibility."

And the guidelines, prepared by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, have advice on how to deal with women.

"Tim
es have changed - many journalists are women," the handbook says. "Deal with them in the same manner and with the same respect as you would their male colleagues."[Muslim men show no respect to their own women. How could they show respect to a female non-muslim reporter? Of course a female reporter is not a muslim. She has a job.]

Despite the training, several group members have defied DIMA's guide by openl
y attacking each other and the group itself in the media. [Very slow learners.]

The group's chairman, Ameer Ali, said recently some of its members lacked "expertise". And The Australian revealed yesterday that one of its senior members - the nation's Muslim leader, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali - considered the body "stillborn", saying it lacked "transparency and vision".

The minister overseein
g the advisory body, Immigration Department Parliamentary Secretary Andrew Robb, defended the advisory committee yesterday, and dismissed Sheik Hilali's description of the group as "irrelevant". It was a positive aspect of the reference group to have differing views, he said.

"He (Sheik Hilali) clearly does not seem to understand the group's particular role," Mr Robb said. "And to be honest, with the best will in the world, a 65-year-old sheik cannot give me the perspective of a 22-year-old Muslim. And I want both."

Sheik Hilali attacked the members of the advisory group and suggest
ed they were being used by the Government to disseminate "propaganda".

But youth sub-group chairwoman Iktimal Hage-Ali said yesterday that while she respected the Mufti, she disagreed that she was being used by the Howard Government.

"Everyone has the right to their own views, but the work of the youth sub-group is progressing reall
y well," she said.

"He is the Mufti and I respect him, but in regards to his comments I have to disagree with him because I feel as the chair we are doing a good job.

"I am an optimist and I refuse to believe I am being set up by the Government. If I started to feel like I was only there as a rubber stamp, I would resign, but that's not how I am feeling."

Sheik Hilali also said he was planning to convene a meeting of the nation's moderate and radical imams in a bid to stamp out extremism.

Speaking in India yesterday, the Prime Minister gave a cautious welcome to such a move.

"If he is now setting himself against extremism, if he is an ally within the
Islamic community of the cause of moderate Islam, if he is prepared to argue against radical Islamic thought, I welcome that very warmly," Mr Howard said.

According to the handbook, while the group members are told not to treat the media as "the enem
y", an anonymous quote in the media guide warns the Prime Minister's 14-member team: "Treat the media as you would any other watchdog. Stay calm, be friendly and never turn your back." [/b]

 

[Proud Aussie]

Islamic clerics to train at university
Richard Kerbaj
March 16, 2006
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...55E2702,00.html

The muslim brains-trust finally speaks. And what marvellously sage advice they have.

Muslim clerics will be trained at Australian universities. Universities in Australia are funded by, you guessed it, Whitey! Brilliant stuff.

ISLAMIC clerics will be trained in Australian universities under a proposal by Muslim leaders to prevent students being radicalised by fundamentalist teaching in the Middle East.

Home-grown imams will be able to study in Melbourne and Sydney, using a curriculum that emphasises spiri
tual rather than political Islam, under the plans being drawn up by an arm of John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group.

Joumanah El-Matrah, who co-ch
airs one of seven sub-groups in the Prime Minister's Muslim advisory body [Seven sub-groups? There are only 14 of these idiots involved. Why not just make 14 sub-groups and acknowledge that these muslims are incapable of working together]., said the clergy courses would offer a mainstream alternative for religious training outside the hothouse environment of training centres in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where many aspiring imams travel.

"The course will offer a meaningful alternative within Australia for young Muslims who are interested in developing some training in Islam, or their interest in becoming imams," she said.

"In time we think the graduates of the course would create a vision of what it means t
o be a Muslim here, in a way that is conducive to this community."

It is understood preliminary approaches have been made through the federal Department of Education to established universities in NSW and Victoria with a view to starting courses as early as next year.


The plan comes after The Australian revealed in December that Muslim clerics would be subject to a strict code of behaviour under a proposal being devised by Islamic leaders to rein in inflammatory language. The Muslim community's image has suffered greatly in recent years because of the extremist ideology preached by some imams.

Firebrand Melbourne sheik Mohammed Omran was criticised by Mr Howard and moderate Muslim leaders for calling Osama bin Laden a "good man" and labelling as a US-government conspiracy the attacks of September 11. And in a lecture delivered to more than 1000 people last year, Faiz Mohammed, from the Global
Islamic Youth Centre in Sydney, said rape victims had only themselves to blame.[These quotes should be printed every day on the front page of every newspaper until Whitey wakes up to this muslim filth.]

Ms El-Matrah, who manages the Islamic Women's Welfare Council of Victoria, said the proposed clerical training would range from undergraduate to PhD levels and be carried ou
t by local and visiting imams.

"What we're looking at is a standard course, one to operate out of Victoria and one to operate out of NSW," she said.

"(While) there are already Islamic courses in both states ... they are not courses that are designed for imams.

"You can have brilliant people from overseas, but the cultural context in which they've done their training is radically different from Australia.

"I think it's important to note that all other religions in Australia have similar sorts of degrees alrea
dy."

Melbourne's most prominent Muslim cleric, Fehmi Naji El-Imam, who co-chairs the clergy training sub-group with Ms El-Matrah [This cracks me up. A sub-group of the original 14 needs to be co-chaired? Maybe because one is a woman?], said he would ensure only moderate theologians were hired to lecture students.

But Ms El-Matrah warned that the proposal should not be seen as a means of eradicating or undermining Islamic extremism.

"We don't want pe
ople to think this is going to fix all of the community's problems," she said.

"The course won't be set up to undermine these (extremist) people. But what I imagine is that the more people there are that are fluent in Islam, the less power people like, say, Benbrika, are going to have."

Muslim cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika is among 19 Melbourne and Sydney men awaiting tria
l on terrorism-related charges following federal police raids in November. The Australian revealed last year that Mr Benbrika was self-taught and had no formal qualifications.[/b]

 

[Proud Aussie]

Bosses to be urged to hire Muslims
Thursday Mar 23 06:16 AEDT
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18572078-421,00.html

This muslim brains-trust never fails to give me material to present here.

Once again Whitey is expected to take special action to accommodate muslims. This time employ more muslims to reduce muslim unemployment. This in turn will prevent muslim men becoming radicalised. As usual this inplies that the reason for high male muslim unemployment is employers (whitey) not the muslims themselves. Supporting the bleating of these professional victims

Notice too that we are talking about muslim men. Muslim women are of course not permitted to work. Here lies the first clue of why unemployment is high among muslim men. They will not work for or with women.<
br />
Muslim men will not work for non-muslims. Oh, they may take em
ployment with a non-muslim boss but they are insolent, lazy and do not actually work for the infidel.

Then there is their faith. They need to pray 5 times a day. Regardless of their job. If it is prayer time it is "down-tools" to pray. Afterwards they need to discuss the holiness of their prayers, usually over a cigarette (very post-coital in my opinion). All up 20-30 minutes of lost work time 5 times during the working day. Suggest that perhaps they could pray before and after work and perhaps only pray 2-3 times during the working day? Whitey is being racist again.

At the end of the working day there is ALWAYS a reason that a young muslim man cannot work paid overtime or at the least make up the productivity lost due to praying. There is soccer or church. ALWAYS!

In the food industry. The holy muslim beard requires a hair-net to be worn. Again, the hair net is considered to somehow lessen
the holiness of the beard. It is not worn. The employee is endlessly warned then disciplined only to have
their muslim lawyers scream discrimination.

The real reason muslim men have high unemployment? They are muslim men.

Muslim brains-trust and their directives be damned.

Bosses will be urged to hire Muslims under a scheme to prevent young Islamic men becoming radicalised.

The plan will involve the departments of Employment and Immigration and Multicultural Affairs in conjunction with an arm of Prime Minister John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group, According to The Australian newspaper.

The plan will aim to tackle unemployment within Muslim hotspots in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth through workplace programs.

The plan is outlined in the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs' draft national action plan, obtained by the Australian.<b
r />
Employment Minister Kevin Andrews said the plan, called Better Connections, would not be limited to Muslims but would be part of 33 workshops his department would run to target high unemployment rates in parts of Australia.

Parl
iamentary secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Robb, was quoted as saying that meaningful employment "denies the opportunity for extremists to get a toehold".[/b]

 

[Dr William Pierce]

This time employ more muslims to reduce muslim unemployment. This in turn will prevent muslim men becoming radicalised.
[/b]

How exactly does employment stop Muslims from becoming radicals? I imagine that Osama, as a child of a construction magnate and with his engineering degree, could have easily landed a high-paying career. But, of course, he didn't. Muslims don't want jobs, but would rather subvert sovereign nations by direct action or by over-burdening their welfare states.