[IsraelTimes] Sheikh Ahmed Zoud recently retracted claim that Jews are bloodthirsty and treacherous, but new statements raise questions as to whether he is using dog whistle to continue preaching hate
An Australian imam who recently apologized for a 2023 sermon vilifying Jews has now called for Allah to “kill all” oppressors, in language interpreted by some as coded antisemitism.
In December 2023, Sheikh Ahmed Zoud said in a sermon recorded at his Masjid as-Sunnah Lakemba Mosque in Sydney that Jews were bloodthirsty, treacherous “monsters” who “ran like rats” when Hamas launched its war on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Zoud said in the sermon, broadcast live on the mosque’s Facebook page, that “betrayal and treachery are among the characteristics of the Jews.
“From an early age, they raise their children on violence, terrorism and killing,” he added. “Jews remain Jews. They are not changed by the passing of time.”
Several months after the broadcast, in March 2024, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) filed a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), alleging that Zoud made derogatory generalizations about the Jewish people and used dehumanizing language, in contravention of the country’s Racial Discrimination Act of 1975.
Following the AHRC hearing and in resolution of the complaint, Zoud and the mosque both issued apologies in recent weeks.
“I recognize that my speech contained harmful, offensive and dehumanizing generalizations about Jewish people, falsely portraying them as inherently violent, treacherous, hateful, arrogant, scheming and collectively responsible for historical crimes and transgressions,” Zoud said in a written apology. “I did not intend to make such a sweeping generalization. I did not seek to harm Jewish people based on their race or religion.”
A separate statement from the Masjid as-Sunnah Lakemba Mosque “fully acknowledges that the comments about Jewish people (as distinct from the comments about the Israeli military and government) were not only inappropriate but can also breach Australian laws and offend, insult, humiliate, or intimidate Jewish Australians.” The mosque apologized for publishing the speech on its Facebook page, and said it removed the video when it became aware of the concern.
ECAJ said the “unreserved and unconditional” apologies included a commitment by Zoud not to make such statements again in the future. The representative organization for Australia’s Jews accepted the apology.
“This is a welcome admission of wrongdoing by Ahmed Zoud, and we hope that it will serve as an example for the future about the limits of freedom of expression,” ECAJ CEO Peter Wertheim said then.
However, The Australian has reported that Zoud in recent days issued a public prayer in which he called on Allah to “deal with the tyrants and the oppressors,” asking him to “count [them] one by one, kill them all and leave none of them behind.”
The newspaper noted that while Zoud didn’t mention Jews in his latest comments, he had committed in his apology not to use language that “could be interpreted as targeting Jewish people as a whole.”
ECAJ said the latter speech was “an entirely separate matter” from the prior complaint but expressed concern over Zoad’s continued attacks.
“We expect the terms on which that complaint was resolved to be honored,” Wertheim said in a statement Sunday. “In particular, we expect that Ahmed Zoud will adhere to the undertakings that he has given, and this includes not making or publishing any statement which makes derogatory generalizations about Jews, including statements which attribute to Jews, as a group, characteristics that vilify and demonize.
“If those undertakings are not adhered to, we will have no hesitation in availing ourselves of legal remedies to enforce them,” Wertheim added.
ECAJ has also filed a complaint against another Islamic preacher, Wissam Haddad (also known as Abu Ousayd), over speeches made at West Sydney’s Al Madina Dawah Center late last year. Haddad allegedly described Jews as a “vile people” and a “treacherous people,” and claimed that “their hands are in everywhere – in businesses … in the media.” A hearing for that case is scheduled for next month, ECAJ said.
Australia’s 120,000-strong Jewish community has faced relentless antisemitism since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. The country experienced more than 2,000 anti-Jewish incidents between October 2023 and September 2024, more than quadruple the number from the year before, according to ECAJ.
A wave of antisemitic incidents in Australia has sent shockwaves throughout the country in recent months.
In December, the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne was firebombed. In January, the former home of ECAJ Co-CEO Alex Ryvchin was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti, and two cars were set on fire in an attack many believe targeted him. In February, a video of two nurses in a Sydney hospital threatening to kill Israeli patients and saying they would refuse to treat them shocked the nation, and later that month, police discovered a trailer in Sydney packed with enough explosives to cause a mass-casualty event, believed at the time to be intended for a Sydney synagogue.
After left-leaning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese won a second term in elections last month, Jewish leaders have expressed hope that he will do more to fight antisemitism in the country during his coming term.
Why on earth would they expect something so unrealistic? Better to brace for him to act like he has a mandate to act worse.
No decisions to be made by Israel as well: no visits to Germany so long as this government is in office.
[ApolloNews] Chief of Staff Thorsten Frei has not ruled out the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he sets foot on German soil. He stated that they respect "the independence of the International Criminal Court."
The topic of Israel is causing conflict within the CDU/CSU: Following the anti-Israel speeches by Friedrich Merz and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul this week, there has been internal party criticism of the statements made by the Chancellor and Foreign Minister. A dispute that even Thorsten Frei, a close confidant of Merz and well-connected, apparently cannot resolve: In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the CDU's head of the Chancellery also failed to take a clear position on the question of the CDU's position on Israel and its war against the terrorist group Hamas.
The 51-year-old repeatedly evaded the question of whether Germany would defy the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and whether he would still be welcome in Germany. Frei initially only said: "The elected Prime Minister of Israel is, of course, always a dialogue partner of the German Federal Government" – no clear commitment. When the journalist asked him whether this would not answer the question, Frei simply replied with a postponement: "There is currently no visit to Israel planned; nor vice versa. Therefore, no decisions need to be made," Frei said.
The decision is certainly relevant now – especially because the coalition partner SPD is increasingly using harsher language against Israel and Merz, with his accusation that the Israeli army is breaking international law in the Gaza Strip, has at least caused decades of support for Israel and raison d'état to crumble ( Apollo News reported), if not even a historic low point in German-Israeli relations.
Frei also evades the commitment to Israel in the following questions: "In principle, Germany still respects the independence of the International Criminal Court and its procedural processes, as well as those of all other international courts," is the CDU politician's next response to the question of whether relations with Israel would ultimately take precedence over international law. Frei's answer, decoded, is: We will listen to the International Criminal Court's ruling, but since Netanyahu isn't visiting Germany, we don't even have to ask ourselves whether he will actually be arrested. That's not a convincing expression of solidarity.
[IsraelTimes] Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and other activists set sail from Sicily to Gaza on a ship aimed at protesting Israel’s war in the territory. Hope the bitch can float. Or not
The trip is organized by the Freedom Flotilla
…a project of Turkey’s IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a semi-official "charity" branch of the Erdogan government that links the government, the Turkish branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and pet jihadi groups like ISIS in Syria, or in this case Hamas. IHH puts together a Freedom Flotilla every few years, hoping for publicity like the Mavi Mara incident from the first one in 2010.
coalition, which for more than a decade has sent ships to the coastal enclave in declared opposition to Israeli blockades there.
Rima Hassan, a European Parliament member taking part in the new trip, said Friday the operation had “several aims: to condemn the humanitarian blockade and ongoing genocide, the impunity granted to the state of Israel and raise international awareness.”
Another Freedom Flotilla ship was blocked in Turkey in April after Guinea-Bisseau withdrew its flag, and the vessel was later struck by armed drones, according to its organizers.
In May 2010, another, much-remembered “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” organized by the same coalition was intercepted by the Israeli Navy. After the convoy refused orders to reroute to Ashdod, Israeli commandos boarded one of the ships, the Mavi Marmara, which was carrying over 600 passengers. After being met with violent resistance, the commandos opened fire, killing 10 Turkish activists. Ten Israeli soldiers were wounded during the attack.
An international flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and activists, including climate campaigner Greta "Pippi" Thunberg ...an autistic sixteen year old Swedish expert on climate change, though I guess she's older now... and "Game of Thrones" actor Liam Cunningham, set sail Sunday from the southern Italian port of Catania, aiming to reach the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip by sea in defiance of Israel’s naval blockade.
The boat, named Madleen, is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), a nonprofit group that has long sought to challenge Israeli control of maritime access to Gaza. Organizers say the mission is "not charity," but a form of nonviolent mostly peaceful protest against what they described as "Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes."
Thunberg, who rose to global prominence as a teenage environmental activist, broke down in tears during a presser ahead of the departure.
"We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity," she said. "No matter how dangerous this mission is, it is nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the lives being genocized [sic]."
Israel strongly denies accusations of "genocide," calling them a modern-day blood libel and part of a broader campaign to delegitimize the Jewish state. Officials maintain that the naval blockade, in place since 2007, is a necessary security measure to prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... , the terror group that rules Gaza.
The latest voyage comes after a failed flotilla attempt in June, when another FFC vessel, the Conscience, was struck by two drones in international waters near Malta. While the group accused Israel of being behind the attack, Jerusalem has not publicly commented on the incident.
The Madleen is carrying what FFC described as "limited... though symbolic" barrels of aid.
So this is just theater, another temper tantrum by attention-seeking idiots who don’t actually care if they drive the changes their screeching demands, so long as people pay attention to them screeching. What a bore.
Among the dozen international volunteers aboard are French-Paleostinian European Parliament member Rima Hassan, who has been barred from entering Israel, and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila.
The activists estimate the journey will take about a week, unless intercepted. Israel has previously halted similar flotillas attempting to breach its naval blockade.
Speaking Sunday, Avila framed the flotilla as part of a larger international push to pressure Israel.
"We are breaking the siege of Gaza by sea, but that’s part of a broader strategy of mobilizations that will also attempt to break the siege by land," he said, referencing the upcoming "Global March to Gaza," a protest initiative set to reach the Rafah crossing from Egypt in mid-June.
As of Sunday evening, Israeli officials had not publicly addressed the latest flotilla’s departure.
#10
Sneers Herb with the world-weary air
Of superior bears who don't care,
"Gotta not think of Greta!"
Sez Tolstoy, "It's better
To not pull his pigtails or stare."
[GEO.TV] The Palestinian resistance group Hamas said on Sunday it was ready to "immediately" hold a fresh round of negotiations for a truce in Gaza after recent talks appeared to hit a dead end.
"The movement affirms its readiness to immediately begin a round of indirect negotiations to reach an agreement on the points of contention," Hamas said in a statement after mediators Qatar and Egypt said they would intensify their efforts for a truce in the war-battered Gaza Strip.
That’s nice. What are you going to offer to make it worth it to Israel to stop killing your people and bouncing your rubble?
[NAHARNET] Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah on Saturday said ''the stances we're hearing from some of the government components do not only contravene the Ministerial Statement, but are against it and its total opposite.''
These stances ''evade the responsibilities that were pledged to the Lebanese people,'' Fadlallah added.
He noted that the first three clauses of the Ministerial Statement talk about post-war reconstruction, deterring Israel and taking steps to liberate Israeli-occupied Lebanese territory.
''But what have they done regarding these three clauses? Has the government implemented what it had committed itself to in the reconstruction file? There are five or six clauses that should be implemented before tackling the issue of defending Lebanon, which requires a national security strategy,'' Fadlallah added, referring to the thorny issue of Hezbollah's arms.
''Let no one ask us to implement the Ministerial Statement in a reversed manner, in a way putting the cart before the horse. Implement your obligations first and then request things from us, because we no longer have anything to offer to anyone in any form, neither in south Lebanon, nor outside south Lebanon, nor in any region, because we have offered what we have and we've implemented what we had committed ourselves to on all levels,'' the lawmaker went on to say.
''According to the constitutional and legal texts, the incumbent government is obliged to implement the stipulations of this Ministerial Statement, and we have no other words about anything else. When they implement these clauses we would talk about the other things,'' Fadlallah added.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
