Menzies House

Not even true to themselves

According to many observers Brother Razvi brings new meaning to the term, "honour among thieves." His apology for the no-show of his key attraction, the speaker who would attract the bulk of paying attendees, came but a day before kick-off.

Advertised as "Australian Islamic Peace Conference" stalls were offered to other church groups.

Dutch politician Geert Wilders received no such easy ride with the media. GC.Ed.-at-Large.

BROTHER Waseem Razvi, the organiser of the Australian Islamic Peace Conference, opened the event in front of about 2000 faithful yesterday with two apologies.

Advertised keynote speaker Sheik Abdul Rahman al-Sudais -- the imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca, whose invitation had drawn opprobrium from Jewish, Christian and interfaith groups concerned about his calls for the annihilation of the Jews and descriptions of them as "pigs and monkeys" -- could not make the Melbourne conference "for personal reasons".

Some Christians who had approval to hire a stall giving away Bibles at the Islamic ‘Peace Conference’ at the Melbourne Showgrounds this weekend have had this approval withdrawn. The Christians, from various churches around Melbourne, had been offered a 6 x 3 metre stall for $600. The Islamic Research and Educational Academy (IREA) contacted them last night and said that the Bible stall could not go ahead because it would be “unsafe”. 

Read more:http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/sheik-a-no-show-at-islamic-event-for-personal-reasons/story-e6frg6nf-1226598628474

Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey

NEIGHBOURS are divided over a proposed "halal housing" development in Sydney's west.

While some feared it would lead to friction with Muslims, others welcomed the plan.

Qartaba Homes is promoting its 145-lot subdivision at Riverstone, near Rouse Hill, as Australia's "very first project of its kind for the Muslim community", The Daily Telegraph revealed yesterday.

The developer yesterday insisted people of any religion were welcome to purchase land.

Read more:http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/muslim-enclave-plan-sub-divides-residents/story-e6freuy9-1226550691027

Time to wake-up Australia

The military arm of Hamas has been listed on our books as a criminal organisation since 1995. Dr Mohamed's visit displays his arrogance and contempt for Australians. When will our leaders put end to this divisive attitude by Muslim leaders and "scholars" who then preach against us? GC.Ed. 

Australia's Grand Mufti meets Hamas

"I am pleased to stand on the land of jihad to learn from its sons and I have the honour to be among the people of Gaza where the weakness always becomes strength, the few becomes many and the humiliation turns into pride," he told local news agencies.

"We came here in order to learn from Gaza. As I said in my speech, we will make the stones, trees, and people of Gaza talk, in order to learn steadfastness, sacrifice, and the defence of one's rights from them.

Read more:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/australias-grand-mufti-meets-hamas/story-fndo28a5-1226545439343

Of trust sullied

Only paedophiles and sexual abusers would argue against the government’s call for a Royal Commission into institutional sexual abuse. Following the initial excitement of yet another Gillard, lousy performance diversion, this popular initiative to hunt down and deal with all wicked “priests” may have, at the outset, failed to foresee the complexities and the many byways to wrongdoing. The commission’s designing architects will quickly learn that sexual abuse is not the exclusive domain of the Catholic Church.

However, Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney did within hours of the commission announcement call a press conference to sing the government’s praise. In mounting his charge for glory to the church and government approbation, has placed his church in the front line of enquiry.

That no other institution or alleged sources of such abuse were mentioned or came forward—George Pell was the lone piper. Amidst what would certainly be no small amount of panic in the ecumenical catacombs of confidence, Cardinal Pell, like his namesake the Red Cardinal songbird, began to sing a tune not of contrition but perhaps more of relief. Will it be a welcome confession of truth, or the fear of uncontrolled consequences?

Nevertheless, George Pell is not noted for statesmanlike deliveries. In April this year he shocked the Executive Council of Australian Jewry with his remarks about Jews saying they were ‘intellectually lesser than the Egyptians, including Jesus Christ.’ Maybe in vino veritas hold true with church wine.

And, where are the feminists?

Much has been written lately on the wearysome matter of Islam. Although, little if any about the suffering of women under that regime of love and peace. The following should have feminists of the West jumping up and down with rage. Sadly, not a squeak can be heard. Shame on them.

A 27-year-old Tunisian woman who alleges she was raped earlier this month by two policemen now stands accused of indecency, her lawyer said. The woman was called by a judge to confront her two assailants on Wednesday, but in an unexpected development, the judge decided to pursue the victim for “outraging public decency” attorney Saida Garrach told Al-Monitor. 

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/are-womens-rights-threatened-in.html#ixzz27jsxeEqQ

(Thanks reader Abe.)

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation seeks blasphemy laws

“We are living through a period of unease," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last week. "We are also seeing incidents of intolerance and hatred that are then exploited by others. Voices of moderation and calm need to make themselves heard at this time. We all need to speak up in favor of mutual respect and understanding of the values and beliefs of others.”

Read more: www.globalpost.com

Free speech has a sharp edge

 Free speech is just that, even though it can be a double-edged sword. That’s how democracy works.

The Sydney Morning Herald has published an article from guest author, Uthman Badar, spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir , an Islamist group banned in most Muslim countries. As scores of Fairfax journalists swell the lines at CentreLink, their comments about “guest” author fees would be interesting, especially given the following:

‘Uprising in the Muslim World’ Khilafah Conference 2011 in Sydney on July 3, 2011. About 1,000 Australian Muslims attended the conference hosted by the controversial Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir which called for the creation of a global caliphate or Islamic government. 

In his address, spokesman Uthman Badar said, “Australian troops fighting in Afghanistan are "fair game" and Muslims "have an obligation" to target them.”

Return of the missing post

I was more than surprised at the deletion of Andy’s post. It was the result of resizing type, large fingers on a small keyboard and an operator on training wheels. While I can restore the article, I can’t retrieve the comment, which are now at rest, somewhere in cyberspace.

I know your time and thoughts put into comments are substantial and without your participation it would be a boring website. I hope you can remember the nature of those comments and repost. Mea Culpa! GC.

If they call you an Islamophobe, don’t worry. You’re in good company

I’m not anti-Islam, I’m anti-Islamist and there’s a huge distinction. I don’t care whether my neighbour claimed there were thirty gods or no God, as long as the neighbour neither picked my pocket nor broke my arm.

Radical Islam, though, picks pockets and breaks arms and that’s why we must find a way to stop it.

The underlying problem with radical Islam is that it is both political and religious. It teaches that the two cannot be separated. The Islamists believe that man-made laws are inferior and must be replaced with “God-given” Islamic or sharia law and that all governments worldwide should be Islamic.