Anger in Muslim heartland and ‘ALP to blame’
A prominent Lebanese Muslim community leader has questioned Penny Wong’s fitness to serve and said Labor had itself to blame for Muslim voters abandoning it as he encouraged the community to vote with its ‘conscience’.
The face of Australia’s largest Lebanese Muslim organisation has questioned Penny Wong’s fitness to serve and said Labor had itself to blame for Muslim voters abandoning it as he encouraged people to vote with their “conscience” amid pro-Palestine independents looking to topple the ALP.
It comes as the community, which is centred in large part in southwest Sydney, grapples with Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, particularly those with families in the country’s south and capital, Beirut.
The conflict’s escalation widens the political front in Labor’s heartlands, where a diverse Muslim community frustrated with its stance on Israel-Palestine now reels from airstrikes in Lebanon.
Lebanese Muslim Association secretary Gamel Kheir – speaking in his capacity as a community leader – said the Labor government was refusing to acknowledge “groundswell” Muslim support away from the party amid its “political vacuum” on criticising Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.
He said he “questioned” Senator Wong’s position, given that it appeared to many community members that she cared more about the display of Hezbollah flags at rallies on Sunday than what was happening in Lebanon.
“The government rushed to condemn Russia, (has previously) rushed to condemn China, but tiptoes around Israel,” Mr Kheir said.
The LMA does not endorse parties or candidates, given it is a not-for-profit, and Mr Kheir refused to back any major party amid community anger over the government’s “silence”. He instead encouraged community members to “vote with their conscience”, saying history would “condemn” those leaders and governments who remained silent. “There’s community anger squarely at the two major parties and they can try and deny it all they want,” Mr Kheir said.
“We’re endorsing morality and telling (members) to vote with their conscience.”
He said the government appeared to be “deflecting” from what was happening in Lebanon after Senator Wong criticised the display of Hezbollah symbols at Sunday’s rallies, something he said would be inappropriate for him to comment on given he was a Sunni Muslim.
“It says a lot that they’re more concerned with a flag than they are about saving lives and getting 15,000 Australians out of Lebanon,” he said.
The Australian Federal Police has said it will investigate at least six Melbourne people who allegedly displayed prohibited terrorist symbols at a rally on Sunday and NSW Police are investigating activists who refused to remove Hezbollah flags in Sydney on the same day.
In Sydney, there is a large Lebanese Muslim community across the Labor-held electorates of Watson and Blaxland, where ministers Tony Burke and Jason Clare are under pressure from The Muslim Vote and Muslim Votes Matter campaigns.
In Watson, independent candidate Ziad Basyouny is looking to topple Mr Burke, who holds the seat with a 15 per cent margin, but which is also made up of about 25 per cent voters of the Muslim faith.
The LMA is politically diverse as is the wider community.
Lebanese Muslim leader Jamal Rifi is spearheading a Friends of Burke campaign to gather support for Mr Burke and Mr Clare, pointing to the pair’s “pro-Palestine” credentials and community advocacy.
On Monday, the NSW Electoral Commission confirmed that Labor had returned a majority on Canterbury-Bankstown Council at the recent local elections. The council takes in swathes of Watson and Blaxland.
Mr Kheir said almost all political parties were failing to understand why there was a “groundswell” of community support for the “Muslim vote” movements and independent candidates.
“There’s a vacuum, we’re not being heard and the (government’s) double-talk has to stop,” he said, adding that there was a “revolution” against the major parties. “The established parties are profiting from the war in their silence and complicity.”
Amid the possibility of an invasion of Lebanon, Mr Kheir called the situation a “disaster”, with the community at a “total loss”, adding that Western governments should, and could, stop the conflict.
“(The government) constantly talks about Israel’s right to defend,” he said.
“Well, does (Lebanon) also have a right to defend itself?”
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