There goes that ‘moderate Islam’ again. This time, the same mainstream Muslim leader who told cheering crowds of mainstream Muslims outside Sydney’s largest mosque that he was ‘elated’ at the worst massacre of Jews since WWII is blaming the Joos for a wave of anti-Semitic attacks on Jews.
A prominent Sydney sheik has claimed there was a real possibility Australia’s violent wave of anti-Semitism had been “manufactured” by Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad.
That’s right, those wily Jews are at it again. This sort of deranged rhetoric is common in the Muslim world, where the anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, remains a best-seller. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas wrote his PhD on the theme that Jews had organised the Holocaust.
Remember: this are not fringe loony, at least, not in Islamic circles. These are elected leaders: in this case, the recent director of Australia’s peak Muslim body, a preacher at the country’s biggest mosque. This is ‘moderate’, mainstream Islam in Australia.
Although far-left pro-Palestine activists and radical fringe preachers have told their social media followers Australia’s anti-Semitic attacks were co-ordinated by Israel, it is the first time a relatively mainstream Muslim leader has made that claim.
Despite having no intelligence to back up his Mossad claim, [Sheik Ibrahim Dadoun] called on [ASIO director-general Mike Burgess] to “disclose” what he knew about the anti-Semitic attacks.
Dadoun is deliberately misconstruing a recent report from Burgess that warns hostile foreign states were operating in Australia. Unrelated, Burgess also noted his ‘grave concerns’ about anti-Semitism, which he said was ‘a hatred that defied logic’.
Well, ‘hate’ and ‘defying logic’ are Dadoun’s middle names.
“When will the ASIO boss tell Australians if the Mossad had anything to do with the wave of manufactured anti-Semitic attacks conducted by known criminals,” the sheik told his supporters on the weekend […]
“Given that Israel is seen as a ‘friend’ to Australia, it is highly likely, in fact plausible, and a real possibility that Mossad manufactured (the) wave of anti-Semitic attacks,” Sheik Dadoun said.
If that sounds barking mad to you, well, it is. It’s also mainstream Islam in Australia.
The sheik was a director at the Australian National Imams Council until late 2024, but still works for the United Muslims of Australia, which The Australian revealed had until 2023 enlisted the services of a prominent Hizb ut-Tahrir activist, a group Sheik Dadoun has himself been associated with.
A group that is also banned in many countries – including a great many Islamic countries – as a terrorist group.
He remains one of the imams of the UMA, however, and the coalition has slammed his continued involvement with that group – which received more than $3m in federal funding last year – calling on Anthony Albanese to stop grants to the body. Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said there was “zero evidence” for the sheik’s claims but that his standing in the community would unfortunately help circulate conspiratorial myths.
As if they’re not in wide circulation already. Not just in the Islamic community, but the ‘pro-Palestine’ left. But gibbering hatemongers like Dadoun are just the festering head of a poisonous boil that’s metastasised through the Australian Islamic community.
“This is precisely the level of insight we would expect from a man who looked at medieval savagery, rape, decapitation, abduction and reacted with glee,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said […]
“The problem is not that figures like Dadoun hold such views, it is that they hold positions of influence in their communities, which they use to spout conspiracy theories,” Mr Ryvchin said.
“This is creating a generational problem. The Jewish community is of course appalled by his comments but the condemnation should be led by other Islamic leaders, as well as politicians and civil society, to ensure such views never become acceptable.”
Don’t hold your breath, mate. As we’ve seen, Islamic leaders will instead fall over themselves to defend Muslim nurses who brag on video about killing Jews. Which tells us that such views are not just acceptable in the Islamic community, but entirely mainstream.
