Australia Funds Imams While Ignoring Jihad Calls
The Albanese government has handed $27 million to the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) via a closed, non-competitive grant, with a further $1.1 million added in January 2024 to “support communities affected by the Israel-Palestine conflict.” On paper, this is about security for mosques, schools, and Islamic centers. In reality, it is funding an organization whose top cleric, Ibrahim Abu Mohamad, endorsed a fatwa calling for jihad against Israel, urging financial and military support for fighters and instructing Muslims to defy governments blocking aid to Gaza.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke defended the grants, citing safety for Jewish and Muslim communities. Yet he has said nothing about the fatwa itself. This is not neutrality. It is siding, by omission, with extremists, prioritizing political optics over the safety of Australians. ANIC and Mohamad have remained silent.
Let us be clear: threats against Israel are threats against Jews. The chant “globalize the intifada” has been heard at multiple protests, synagogues have been firebombed, and yet those responsible are often released on bail. Meanwhile, Jewish communities live under constant threat while extremist rhetoric goes unchecked.
The danger is immediate. On October 9, 2023, just 48 hours after Hamas’ attacks, the deadliest attacks on Jews since the Holocaust, pro-Palestinian protesters shouted “gas the Jews” and “F*** the Jews” on the Sydney Opera House steps. A day earlier, Sheikh Dadoun, the Bankstown imam, celebrated the attacks as “a day of courage, a day of pride, a day of victory,” calling mass murder an “act of resistance.” Let us be unequivocal: raping, murdering, dismembering civilians is not resistance. Taking hostages is not resistance. Shooting parents in front of their children is not resistance.
Calls for jihad are not theoretical. They threaten all Australians. In 2017, Islamist extremists attempted to blow up an Etihad flight from Sydney. Only intelligence from Israel’s Mossad prevented catastrophe at the check-in desk, literally seconds from disaster.
Has everyone forgotten the Lindt Café siege in Sydney in December 2014 where ordinary Australians were held hostage and two tragically lost their lives. Do Australians need a reminder that intifadas included Islamists boarding busses or entering shopping centers with suicide bombs attached to themselves, blowing themselves up and murdering innocent civilians? Is that what we want on a Saturday afternoon at the football or catching the tram with the family on a Sunday afternoon?
Hate preaching continues domestically. Wissam Haddad, aka Abu Ousayd, urged followers:
“Towards the end of times, when Muslims will be fighting the Jews, the trees will speak, the stone will speak and they will say, O Muslim, O believer, there is a Yahudi behind me, come and kill him.”
Imam Ahmed Zoud, at Lakemba, called Jews “bloodthirsty, treacherous monsters” and later prayed for Allah to “kill all oppressors.” Contrast this with reality: Jews do not firebomb mosques, attack Muslim businesses, or incite violence.
Globally, Islamic jihad is a proven threat, from Paris to London, Buenos Aires to Melbourne. Yet the Albanese government continues to prioritize votes from over a million Muslims and the radical left over the safety of Australians.
Groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir openly advocate a global Islamic caliphate under Sharia law. Parts of Europe, from the UK to Sweden, already see Sharia dominate in some communities. Sharia law is incompatible with Western values: gender equality, democracy, freedom of speech and press, liberal dress codes, LGBTQ+ acceptance, and humane criminal justice. These are precisely the values Israel defends and yet Burke’s silence and the government’s funding decisions protect those who would destroy them.
Australia’s generosity abroad raises further questions. Over $100 million has been donated to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Much of this aid, as investigations have revealed, ended up in the hands of Hamas, not in the service of Palestinian people. Meanwhile, domestically, taxpayer money flows to organizations whose leaders actively call for jihad and celebrate mass murder.
This is not a political issue. It is a matter of national security, social cohesion, and moral clarity. Australians deserve a government that defends freedom and safety, not one that funds extremists, ignores fatwas, and pretends that hatred is harmless. Anything less is complicity.
Tony Burke and the Albanese government may posture about multiculturalism and community support, but the evidence is clear. Funding extremist-aligned groups while ignoring their violent rhetoric endangers Australians and empowers those who would destroy our values. Multiculturalism does not include hate aimed at us; this is not part of the deal.
Australians deserve a government that defends freedom and safety, not one that funds extremists, ignores fatwas, and pretends that hatred is harmless. Anything less is complicity.
The question is not “can we afford to act?” It is, how long can we afford not to? Our lives are not a game of roulette Albanese!
