When you’re catching flak, as the saying goes, you must be over the target. And this suggests that Australia’s anti-Semitism envoy Jillian Segal is dropping some truth bombs right where it hurts.
The Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) has called for the resignation of anti-Semitism envoy Jillian Segal after it was revealed that a trust her husband is director of had donated to controversial conservative lobby group Advance Australia.
Firstly, “controversial” according to whom? To a great many people, Advance is exactly what it says: an independent, grassroots lobby group defending “mainstream Australian values”. The only ‘controversy’ is that manufactured by the left-dominated legacy media. If anything, Advance is a lot less ‘controversial’ than the media’s beloved left-wing lobby group GetUp! After all, it’s not Advance that has bullied and stalked female parliamentarians or been funded with money by Labor-aligned unions. In fact, even Labor now distances itself from GetUp!: “a bunch of student f—ing activists”, in the words of one Labor candidate at the 2019 election.
Secondly: well, so what? Segal’s husband isn’t allowed to have his own, private views?
There is no suggestion that Segal was aware of a donation or that it has affected her work.
The LMA, one of the most influential Muslim bodies in Australia, said in a statement that Segal’s position had become “untenable” and that “Australians are expected to manage conflicts of interest far less direct than this”.
“This isn’t about dictating a spouse’s politics. It’s about credibility, accountability and public trust,” the association said.
No, it’s about an extremist Muslim lobby group trying to take down an anti-Semitism envoy.
We can only speculate why.
Segal has distanced herself from the donation, saying in a statement that she had “no involvement”.
“No one would tolerate or accept my husband dictating my politics, and I certainly won’t dictate his,” she said. “I have had no involvement in his donations, nor will I.”
As for the Lebanese Muslim Association, they might want to look to their own backyard, first.
For instance, the LMA has often joined forces with Hizb ut-Tahrir, a proscribed terrorist organisation in many countries, including Germany, Egypt, Bangladesh, Pakistan and several Central Asian and Arab countries. Austria banned symbols of the group in May 2021. The British Home Secretary describes it as “an antisemitic organisation that actively promotes and encourages terrorism, including praising and celebrating the appalling 7 October attacks”.
Indeed, the LMA organised an anti-Israel protest to celebrate the first anniversary of October 7.
That sounds a lot more concerning than having a husband whose family trust donated to a perfectly legal, mainstream lobby group.
This is all of a piece for the LMA, which constantly downplays Islamic terror and seeks to portray Muslims as ‘the real victims’. For instance, when a Lebanese Muslim teenager stabbed a Christian bishop in a Sydney church, the LMA’s first response was to whine that mosques were ‘under threat’.
The LMA stridently defended the two Sydney nurses who bragged about killing Jews.
The LMA demanded the dismantling of the Abbott government’s deradicalisation programmes.
The LMA also runs the notorious Lakemba Mosque, ground zero for Islamic extremism in Australia. Its clerics have praised the October 7 attackers and called Jews “bloodthirsty monsters” and “rats”. The Lakemba Mosque has also hosted al Qaeda recruiter, Anwar al-Awlaki, described as “the No 1 terrorist threat to America”. The LMA’s Lakema mosque was also long the home of the notorious Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilali, a virulent anti-Semite and Holocaust denier, who infamously called non-Muslim women “uncovered meat”.
If these extremist scum are attacking the anti-Semitism envoy, then she must be doing something right.
