| Submit your comments on this article |
| Down Under |
| Australian police probe 3rd threatening letter to country’s largest mosque ahead of Ramadan |
| 2026-02-19 |
| [IsraelTimes] Australian police say they have launched an investigation after a threatening letter was sent to the country’s largest mosque, the third such incident in the lead-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began yesterday in Australia. The letter sent to Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s west yesterday contained a drawing of a pig and a threat to kill the “Muslim race,” local media report. Police say they had taken the letter for forensic testing, and would continue to patrol religious sites, including the mosque, as well as community events. The latest letter comes weeks after a similar message was mailed to the mosque, depicting Muslim people inside a mosque on fire. Police have also arrested and charged a 70-year-old man in connection with a third threatening letter sent to the Lakemba Mosque’s staff in January. The Lebanese Muslim Association, which runs the mosque, tells the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) it had written to the government to request more funding for additional security guards and CCTV cameras. Some 5,000 people are expected to attend the mosque each night during Ramadan. More than 60 percent of residents in the suburb of Lakemba identify as Muslim, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemns the recent string of threats. “It is outrageous that people just going about commemorating their faith, particularly during the holy month for Muslims of Ramadan, are subject to this sort of intimidation,” he tells ABC radio. “I have said repeatedly we need to turn down the temperature of political discourse in this country, and we certainly need to do that.” The threats targeting the mosque follow the Bondi mass terror shooting on December 14, in which gunmen killed 15 people attending a Hanukkah celebration. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |