Thursday, January 18, 2007

Radical Islamic cleric sparks outrage in Australia

From Ynet News, 18/1/07, from Associated Press ....

In series of videotaped lectures Sheik Feiz Mohammed urges children to become martyrs for Islam, says Jews pigs on their way to hell

A radical Australian cleric drew widespread condemnation Thursday over videos in which he encourages children to become martyrs for Islam and ridicules Jews as pigs. Sheik Feiz Mohammed, head of the Global Islamic Youth Center in western Sydney, made the remarks on a series of videotaped lectures for sale in Australia and overseas.

“We want to have children and offer them as soldiers to the jihad,” the Australian-born cleric said on a portion of one of the tapes, aired on Australian television. ... “...Teach them this: There is nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a mujahid,” or holy warrior.

He also ridicules Jews as pigs, snorting and saying they will go to hell.

The sheik, who has spent the past year living in Lebanon, was not immediately available to comment. Calls went unanswered Thursday at the youth center, a volunteer-run organization that sponsors pajama parties, ping pong matches and rock climbing expeditions for young Muslims.

....His remarks have sparked a firestorm of condemnation in Australia.

Kevin Rudd, the opposition Labor Party leader, said the sheik should not return to Australia.
“These are appalling statements and they have no place in Australia,” Rudd told reporters. “As I see it Sheik Mohammed’s statements add up to incitement to terrorism.”

A senior government minister, Kevin Andrews, agreed. “All good-minded people, regardless of their religious beliefs or faith or none, I believe, would find these comments to be reprehensible and offensive - that is certainly the view of the Australian government,” said Andrews, the minister for workplace relations.

The chairman of the non-government Community Relations Commission, Stepan Kerkyasharian, said the sheik should be investigated under Australia’s strict anti-terror laws for possibly inciting violence....

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