JIHAD, or holy war, was not appropriate in Australia, but was acceptable in Iraq and other nations, a Melbourne Muslim cleric said tonight. On SBS TV’s Insight program, Sheik Mohammed Omran defended fundamentalism in the wake of ASIO raids on Islamic Youth Movement headquarters at Lakemba in Sydney this week. The raids followed an investigation into suspected terrorist Willie Brigitte, who has been deported from Australia and is being interrogated by French authorities. Sheik Omran said he had a close relationship with ASIO, and was opposed to all forms of local terrorism. He said two alleged leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah in Australia - brothers Abdul Rahman Ayub and Abdul Rahim Ayub, who left the country last year - had approached him for advice about attacking the Israeli embassy in Canberra in the lead-up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics. "I said to them, ’This is unacceptable in Australia’. I said to them, ’This is not how we work here’," Sheik Omran told SBS.
"This is our safe haven, go blow people up someplace else."
Reporter Sarah Ferguson asked: "Does that mean that jihad is appropriate in other places?" "Of course," Sheik Omran replied. Asked if it was appropriate for Muslim’s to join the holy war against coalition forces in Iraq, Sheik Omran said: "I would say, ’Yes’."
You got any laws in Australia that cover inciting violence?
Sheik Hilali, of Sydney’s Lakemba mosque, told the program that Sheik Omran’s views were dangerously radical. "It is not to the benefit of young people in any area to have a teacher like Omran ... not in Australia or any Arabic or Islamic country," Sheik Hilali said.
"What were you thinking, talking in public like that? I thought we agreed to keep it in the mosque."
Sheik Omran also defended Islamic Youth Movement leader Bilal Khazal, who has been investigated by Spanish and Lebanese authorities in relation to his alleged connections to a Lebanese terrorist group. "I’m sure he wouldn’t support someone to go and blow up a restaurant, especially if we know that restaurant is in a Muslim area and the people will go and eat there, even if it’s an American company, but the people who will eat there are not Americans," Sheik Omran said.
So if you only kill Americans it’s OK? Glad you cleared that up. |