DAR AL HARB - AUSTRALIA: SHEIK AL HILALI, OF THE UNCOVERED MEAT FAME, HAS BEEN ENDORSED BY AUSTRALIAS MOSLEMS

Australian Muslims endorse controversial cleric

Sydney - A Muslim cleric who whipped up a storm last year when he told his Sydney flock that women who don't wear the veil invite rape has been endorsed as the supreme leader of Australia's 300,000 Muslims. Clerics from around the country meeting in Sydney decided Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, 67, should keep the post of Mufti of Australia that he has held since 1988.

Prime Minister John Howard last year urged Muslims to dump al- Hilali, as did New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma.

Earlier this year al-Hilali raised the ire of Australians when he said Muslim migrants had a greater entitlement to the country than those who arrived at the time of colonial settlement.

"We came as free people, we bought our own tickets, we are entitled to Australia more than they are," al-Hilali told a television station in his native Egypt.

Howard called on Muslims to show a willingness to join the mainstream by ditching their controversial leader.

Al-Hilali, an Australian citizen, has been censured before for his extremist views and each time the Muslim community has closed ranks behind him.

He made international headlines when he told the congregation at Sydney's largest mosque that a woman in revealing clothes was herself to blame for sexual assault "because if she hadn't left the meat uncovered the cat wouldn't have snatched it."

After the remarks, 34 Muslim community organizations signed a petition urging al-Hilali to defy calls for him to stand down.

Al-Hilali has denied the Holocaust, defended suicide bombers, described as "God's work against oppressors" the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, and blamed Jews for "all the wars and problems that threaten the peace and stability of all the world."

Speaking after the cat comments, Treasurer Peter Costello, deputy leader of the ruling Liberal Party, demanded that Muslims respond to public outrage and denounce al-Hilali.

"You go right through the decade, the sheik has been anti-Semitic, he has supported jihadists, he has made statements that are absolutely offensive to women, such as the 'uncovered meat' one - it wasn't just that he had a bad day last September," Costello said.

The show of support for al-Hilali is likely to draw further demands that Australian Muslims reaffirm their commitment to democracy, freedom of religion and the rule of law.

Tom Zreika, president of the powerful Lebanese Muslim Association, said he expected the vote to keep al-Hilali would be controversial. "Look, it's going to be tough," Zreika told national broadcaster ABC. "He's said things without, you know, taking the necessary checks and, you know, we live with the consequences."


Why does this vote not surprise me?!?

Why is it that one feels the need to compare moslems to The Borg when one considers how they act?!?



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1) Australian Muslims endorse controversial cleric