12th March 2013
Dr Danny Lamm and Peter Wertheim, the President and the Executive Director of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, responded to news reports that an anti-Jewish Imam from Saudi Arabia, Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, is due to speak at an Islamic Conference in Melbourne.
We were surprised by Rachel Baxendale’s story in The Australian asserting that we had called for Abdul Rahman al-Sudais to be denied entry to Australia to attend an Islamic conference in Melbourne. We have not previously issued any statement about al-Sudais or the conference.
Whilst it is true that al-Sudais and several other advertised speakers from overseas have an appalling record of spreading bigotry and hatred against Jews, Sikhs and gays, and have been barred entry to Canada and the UK, we understand that al-Sudais at least is not in fact coming to Australia. It appears that a number of false claims have been made about who will be attending the conference.
Our approach all along has been to wait and see which speakers actually turn up and to assess what they say before we comment. We share the concerns expressed in the statement issued by the Jewish Christian Muslim Association of Australia opposing the introduction of hatreds from overseas into Australia. We agree that such hatreds have no place in our country, or indeed anywhere.
Contact:
Peter Wertheim AM | Executive Director
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888 e: [email protected]
