Mumbai - Victorian organisations media release

MEDIA RELEASE

VICTORIA'S JEWS AND MUSLIMS JOINTLY CONDEMN MUMBAI CARNAGE

John Searle, president of the Jewish Community council of Victoria and Ramzi Elsayed, president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, have jointly responded to the horrific massacres in Mumbai.

"We make this statement in a spirit of cooperation and friendship between our communities. We do so for the sake of our friends in both communities and for the sake of the larger society which our respective communities are building together.

The Jewish and Islamic communities of Victoria have been deeply shocked by the terrible violence that took place in Mumbai some weeks ago.

Together we condemn the attacks, express our sorrow that such senseless and ugly violence was perpetrated in the name of religion, and extend sympathy towards the families of all the victims of these horrendous acts, including those Australians who suffered in this attack.

In this we do not discriminate between faiths, between Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews and others who were slaughtered. Clearly these attacks were carefully planned, including the locations chosen. We note that the targeted murder and killing of innocent people because of their religion, nationality or background can never be justified.

Our communities join together to pray for a time when people will recognise G-d's sovereignty and the rule of peace, may it come soon."

Please address any queries to:

Geoffrey Zygier 03 9272 5579

Ahmed Imam 03 9328 2067

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Dr. Israeli’s insights also underscore the abject failure of Jewish diaspora leadership in confronting the menace posed by theologically-motivated Islamic Jew hatred. Despite being engaged in continual ad nauseum “dialogue” sessions, these feckless and craven Jewish leaders never demand any mea culpa from their Muslim interlocutors for the living legacy of doctrinal (and historical) Islamic Jew hatred whose ugly sequelae are evident on a daily basis in Europe. Relevant here in Melbourne?...I think yes!

Posted by Ronit on 2009-01-09 01:06:19 GMT

Politically correct semantics! Was there a board meeting to decide how to carefully "sculpt" the words in this article? Timing is poor, the sincerity is lacking and I would imagine that the two signatories are not representative, or should be speaking for all in the Jewish or Islamic community. Death of a loved one is always untimely; yet people rally immediately to offer succour. When murder is perpetrated on a global scale,there should be outrage (immediately). Therefore, the wait of three weeks is too late to have meaning and sympathy for the slain. Condemnation of terrorism and associated atrocities would be better said from the Islamic community only, given that: 1. Jewish people were targeted to be murdered and, 2. the atrocities were undertaken not in the "name of religion", but in the name of Islam. There is a marked difference in context.

Posted by Carol - Ballarat on 2008-12-17 11:54:09 GMT

Muslims committed first degree murder in the name of their religion to unknown victims solely because the victims were Jewish. John Searle’s “statement” is too little and too late. This play-acting at diplomacy impresses nobody and deters nothing. It proves JCCV is a toothless tiger with no mandate.

Posted by Ymr on 2008-12-16 07:19:15 GMT

What a lot of Crap the Islamic Council of Victoria has links on their web site to C.A.I.R from America , one of the most anti semitic and anti -Zionist Islamic organizations in the world. One of the CAIR executives director Nihad Awad is a strong supporter of HAMAS & CAIR support Hezbollah and all the other Islamic franchises These do gooder Jews need to do their homework , check up with A.I.J.A.C if they are too lazy or just Google CAIR /hamas/terrorists/anti semites/Anti Zionists ..or Google Cairwatch, Jihadwatch etc Imagine if the State Zionist Council of Victoria had links on their web site and supported known anti Muslim racist organizations what an outcry from the Muslims and there supporters at Al" Age ,SBS and ABC there would be .. You can identify a person by the company they keep or an organization with the Links they have with other like minded groups, Jews who make public statements with members of organizations that have links to supporters of Islamic terrorists who kill Jews as a pastime should do so in their own name. Whilst most Jews would like to hear from Muslim groups condemning the murder of Jews by Muslims it should be spontaneous ,genuine & not after they get criticized by Australians for their silence. The only Muslim groups JCCV or any other Jews representing the Jewish community should associate with should bethose Muslims groups that condemn "unconditionally all terrorism against all civilians in the name of Allah or because anyone of their "perceived" grievances they keep going on about . This Muslim group[ if they exist ] should also make it known they publicly accept Israel"s right to exist as a Jewish state side by side a Palestinian state . I wonder if the JCCV do gooders have asked their new Muslim friends if they will remove anti Semitic anti Zionist books form their Islamic book shops as a sign of good faith ......

Posted by Get real! on 2008-12-16 06:57:30 GMT

I would have felt much more comfortable if the Islamic Council of Victoria had issued a statement in their own name condemning the murder of Jews Christians Hindus and others by people who are waging violent jihad in the name of islam. No where in the statement is there any indication of the religious identity of the perpetrators. Ramzi Elsayed would have appeared more sincere, contrite and credible had he spoken out earlier and on behalf of his constituency. It was, after all, his co religionists who were the perpetrators and JCCV are representative of a group of victims who were especially targeted for torture and murder. Are these two representatives of their respective organisations really speaking on behalf of their constituencies? I wasn"t consulted! Why did it take so long (3 weeks) to condemn the murders and issue a media release? Who needed convincing? I also suspect the the wish "to pray for a time when people will recognise G-d"s sovereignty and the rule of peace" means different things to Jews than to Muslims.

Posted by gibora on 2008-12-16 05:31:13 GMT