‘Fuelling the fire of Muslim extremism’: top Muslim organisation blasts Peter Dutton

The Lebanese Muslim Association, which the Coalition blasted for taking part in a rally on October 7, has accused the opposition of failing to show ‘empathy’ to Muslim Australians.

Lebanese Muslim Association secretary Gamel Kheir. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

One of Australia’s most influential Muslim organisations has accused the Coalition of “fuelling the fire” of fringe parts of Australia’s Muslim community by having failed to show “empathy” amid continued war in the Middle East.

The Lebanese Muslim Association, which the Coalition blasted last week for taking part in a rally on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks alongside extremist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir, said Peter Dutton’s rhetoric fed into “the idea that they’re not accepted in Australian society”.

LMA secretary Gamel Kheir said it was the task of Muslim community leaders to “fight back” against radicalisation and extremism in the community, but he urged politicians to be “sensitive about their words, about the effects these words can have – then, at least, it doesn’t play into the narrative these impressionable kids seem to be hellbent on believing”.

Mr Kheir again defended LMA participation in the October 7 rally, where some speakers said “Zionism would be defeated … it would kneel” and that October 7 was a “good day” that could be “celebrated”.

“It was actually just a vigil and a form of prayer acknowledging the 50,000 or so deaths that have ­occurred since the 7th of October last year,” he said. “It was an amalgamation of 30 or so organisations, so it wasn’t the LMA standing with any one organisation specifically.

“The LMA is the oldest organisation we have in Australia under the Muslim banner. It is our objective to bring all these organisations under our fold in the sense of trying to at least control the narrative that gets told to the wider community.

“Now if it means that we have to deal with more fringe elements, regardless of what they or the wider media may think they are, whether they’re fringe or not, it is our objective to at least talk collaboratively and collectively as one voice rather than having all these competing voices.”

Mr Kheir accused the opposition of failing to show “empathy” to the Muslim Australian population and in doing so, fuelling the narrative that the system was stacked against them.

“Forget the foreign policy,” Mr Kheir said. “Why can’t he (the Opposition Leader) at least write a letter saying if your families in Palestine or Lebanon are suffering, we feel sorry, our hearts go out to you guys?

“Something that would show that there’s empathy from him in terms of what’s happening to our families in Gaza and in Palestine and now, Lebanon.

“The LMA as an organisation, it has been reached out to by Tony Burke, by Anthony Albanese, by Jason Clare, by Penny Wong – I can keep on going.

“Labor’s at least made the effort to call and to see how we are.

“That’s empathy. That’s human empathy.

“If my neighbour was suffering, I’d call my neighbour. Well, I’m Peter Dutton’s neighbour because we’re both Australian. At the very least, at the very least, make a phone call to the LMA.”

Mr Kheir said the Coalition had consistently failed to show “empathy” for Muslim Australians throughout the conflict. “When the protests were occurring, (Mr Dutton) called for people who protested to be deported,” he said. “What does that mean? That Australians aren’t supportive of the Palestinian cause? That all the people that are protesting are not Australian?”

Mr Kheir dismissed as “political expediency” when asked whether previous acknowledgments by the Opposition Leader had demonstrated empathy.

For example, Mr Dutton earlier this month said: “Nobody wants to see the loss of any life, regardless of their religion, of their background, of their heritage, and these terrorist organisations, as we’ve seen in Afghanistan and Iraq, they have no regard for young girls, for women, they have no regard for the rule of law”.

“Not one of his ministers has come out and made anything like the ALP has made,” Mr Kheir said. “Statements like, Israel’s got to be a bit more smarter in who it hits and how it hits.”

Mr Kheir also maintained that Mr Dutton had never apologised for a 2016 statement about Lebanese migration in the 1970s and ’80s – despite Mr Dutton’s claims otherwise. Mr Kheir also pointed to Mr Dutton’s scrutiny of refugees from Gaza.

He said Mr Dutton’s rhetoric “fuels the fire” of radical, right-wing elements of the Muslim Australian community as well as extreme right-wing neo-Nazis.

“It fuels the fire of the neo-Nazis saying, see, these people don’t integrate at all,” Mr Kheir said. “And it fuels the fire on the right wing of our side because they say, look, the Australians will never accept you. So it’s a very dangerous game. We are a weak community he can take advantage of.”

This sentiment particularly affected young people, he said, referring to the Wakeley church stabbing earlier in the year when a 16-year-old youth stabbed a bishop in the eye during a service.

“Do I blame a 16-year-old kid who’s impressionable, who’s feeling alienated?” He asked. “I’m not excusing it. Honestly, I’m not. But I think the government has an obligation to understand that there are kids who are falling between the cracks and we don’t need to reinforce what they already feel.

“Born in Australia, and somehow he felt a greater allegiance to overseas than he did to Australia. It’s scary – they’re not one-offs, they’re not alone. But the common theme is they don’t feel like they belong. Yet they’re born here.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday evening criticised Mr Dutton, saying she couldn’t “recall a single time over the past year that Mr Dutton has called for the protection of civilians, or for the upholding of international law”.

Mr Dutton has been contacted for comment.