Family First has called on the Albanese Government to explain why the organisers of and speakers at last night’s Hizb ut-Tahrir-linked rally in Bankstown should not be investigated for advocating terrorism in breach of the Criminal Code.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, which rejects Western democracy and seeks an ISIS-style Muslim caliphate, is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK and is banned in many Muslim nations including Indonesia and Malaysia.
Family First’s National Director and NSW Upper House candidate Lyle Shelton said premier Chris Minns had rightly accused the organisers of “celebrating terrorism”.
“What is the difference between ‘celebrating terrorism’, as the Premier has said they were doing, and ‘advocating terrorism’, which is a criminal offence?” Mr Shelton asked.
“Why is terrorism being ‘celebrated’ at a rally in Sydney with links to a terrorist organisation?”
Arguably there is no Australian more famous for advocating terrorism than one of the rally’s speakers, the infamous ‘I am elated’ Sheik Ibrahim Dadoun.
While Jewish women were still being raped and the bodies of the butchered still warm, Dadoun proclaimed on October 8 in western Sydney that he was “smiling … happy … elated”.
After thousands of Hamas terrorists and Gazan civilians invaded southern Israel killing, raping, kidnapping and looting, he proclaimed on the streets of Sydney: “It’s a day of courage, it’s a day of resistance, it’s a day of pride, it’s a day of victory”.
Last night Dadoun proclaimed to a crowd chanting “from the River to the sea”, a genocidal reference to eliminating all Jews in Israel, that by celebrating the October 7 terror attacks they were “thorns in the throat of Zionists sympathisers”.
Last night’s “Glory to our Martyrs” rally promotional material said the event was “honouring two years of resistance”.
“That ‘resistance’ has involved terrorist tactics of using Gazan civilians as human shields, the murder of and deprivation of liberty of innocent Israeli hostages and the stealing of United Nations aid so it could be diverted to feed a terrorist army,” Mr Shelton said.
“If celebrating a barbaric terrorist organisation’s use of terror tactics as ‘resistance’ is not ‘advocating terrorism’ under the Criminal Code, then what is?”
Mr Shelton said speaker after speaker asserted Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, something not even Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong claim.
Mr Shelton said the rally organisers seemed to be calling for a one state solution that involved the elimination of the State of Israel by terrorist means if necessary.
“We’re now in a new paradigm where the Zionist state is being questioned on TV,” Dr Ziad Basyouny, a former Muslim-votes-backed candidate at the May federal election said.
“When was the last time in the last 30 years that you’ve seen that happen?”
Mr Shelton said it was unAustralian to seek the elimination of Israel, a State set up in the wake of the Holocaust in 1948 by the United Nations with the strong support of Australia.
“This ‘questioning’ of Israel’s legitimacy as a nation is the direct result of Hamas’ barbarity. It seems Dr Basyouny thinks the ends have justified the means.”
Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, a conveynor of Muslim Votes, reportedly took aim at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for saying Israel has a right to defend itself.
“This is the beginning of the end of Zionism … it’s only a matter of time,” he said.
Mr Shelton said it appeared Sheikh Wesam Charkawi was suggesting the terrorist attacks of October 7, which were being “celebrated” last night, were the “beginning of the end” of the state of Israel.
“Again, if this is not advocating terrorism as a means to achieving a political goal, what is?”
The Daily Telegraph reported:
“Another speaker, Bilal, spoke of ‘taking back control of Muslim armies’ in the Middle East and blasted US President Donald Trump’s peace proposal. Our Muslim armies, do you not see, do you not feel what is happening on the ground in Palestine?’ he asked.”
Mr Shelton called on ASIO and the Australian Federal Police to investigate attendees following media reports that “one woman at the protest….bore a placard sporting the red inverted triangle of Hamas while a child sported a shirt bearing with the mantra ‘death to the IDF’.”
“If Islam is a religion of peace, why do the organisers of the Glory to our Martyrs rally not distance themselves from supporters like these? Why do they tolerate speakers such as Bilal glorifying Muslim armies? What ‘religion of peace’ needs an army?”
“Why do they not say ‘there is no place in Islam for a child wearing a shirt calling for the death of young Israeli soldiers defending their nation against terrorists’?”
Mr Shelton renewed Family First’s calls for the Australian Government to follow the lead of the UK and moderate Muslim nations and proscribe Hizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist organisation.
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