McCORMACK CONDEMNS SHEIKH’S ANTI-SEMITIC COMMENTS

Member for Riverina Michael McCormack has condemned the violent anti-Semitic rhetoric of the recently-appointed principal of New Madinah College at Young, who in a social media post exhorted for Zionists to “burn in the lowest pits of hellfire”.

The outburst of Sheikh Abdulghani Albaf has stunned community leaders, including Hilltops Mayor Brian Ingram, who has branded the Sheikh’s comments as highly inappropriate.

“Young does not need a Sheikh coming to town and be making these sorts of anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic comments that he has been making in mosques, in social media and in society,” Mr McCormack said.

“What we need is for people to lower the temperature, what we need is for everybody to try to get along; what we don’t need is a Sheikh, a very controversial one at that, influencing our children with divisive, extremist ideas, radicalising children, who are our future.

“I have spoken with Mayor Brian Ingram this morning, I have spoken with the Member for Cootamundra, Steph Cooke, and like me they are very worried about the Sheikh’s comments.”

Mr McCormack has called on leadership of the mosque at Young to step up and say exactly what they think about this situation and if the Sheikh steps one toenail out of line again then his appointment should not stand.

“Even NSW Deputy Premier and Education Minister, Prue Car, has come out today and criticised the Sheikh’s latest rants,” Mr McCormack said.

“It is beyond bizarre, this is not Australian, it certainly is not regional Australia. “What we need now and going forward is harmony, unity and social cohesion and we should all work towards achieving that.

“We don’t need these sorts of people coming into our communities and upsetting everybody – in this case a Sheikh from Sydney.

It potentially leads to a level of raised violence, discrimination and tension and we don’t need that in our communities.”

ENDS

Paul Pfitzner