Sydney’s largest mosque has received a violent message containing a call to kill Muslims on the eve of the city’s Ramadan celebrations, the third graphic threat directed at Lakemba Mosque in less than a month.
The message, delivered by post, included a reference to the Christchurch massacre and was reported to police on Wednesday as political leaders dealt with the fallout from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s anti-Muslim remarks.
Hanson used an interview on Wednesday to single out Lakemba in Sydney’s south-west as a suburb where she felt unsafe and unwelcome, after suggesting on Monday there were no “good Muslims”.
The Lebanese Muslim Association, the mosque’s custodian body, has called for more CCTV coverage and formal guarantees of extra police protection for thousands of worshippers set to gather in Lakemba, which also hosts the popular Ramadan night markets.
“I’m getting daily phone calls, mainly from women and the elderly, who say they are actually scared to walk the streets,” association secretary Gamel Kheir said.
The latest mosque threat contained a reference to Brenton Tarrant, the Australian terrorist who killed 51 Muslims in Christchurch in 2019, as well as a death threat aimed at a pro-Palestine activist. It follows an illustration of a mosque with people inside being burnt down, sent this month, and a screed sent in January.
NSW Police confirmed the message received on Wednesday had been sent for forensic examination. A joint investigation with the Australian Federal Police into the January letter led to a 70-year-old man being charged with threatening grievous bodily harm.
Hanson, who only recently returned to the Senate after being suspended for wearing a burqa in a stunt, did not respond to questions regarding her response to the mosque threats as well as her recent comments.
In a Sky News interview on Monday she said, “You say, ‘Well, there’s good Muslims out there’. How can you tell me there are good Muslims?”
On Wednesday, she offered a qualified apology if she had “offended anyone out there that doesn’t believe in sharia law, or multiple marriages, or wants to bring ISIS brides in, or people from Gaza that believe in a caliphate”.
The LMA said politicians from all levels of government had failed to adequately condemn Hanson, whose party has overtaken the Coalition in several major polls.
“Labor is running scared that if they stand up for the Muslim community they will lose support to her,” Kheir said. “We’re paying the price.”
A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declined to comment on Hanson’s Lakemba remarks or the mosque threats but referred to previous comments in which he called Hanson’s rhetoric divisive and prejudiced.
“Pauline Hanson is someone who never comes up with any solutions, just identifies and promotes grievance,” Albanese said on Tuesday, stopping short of labelling her comments as racist or hateful.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke called on Hanson to apologise for the “cruel” remarks about Muslims. Small Business Minister Anne Aly, the first Muslim woman elected to federal parliament, said the senator often used “racist language”.
Shortly after this masthead approached the NSW Premier’s office, Chris Minns issued a public statement celebrating the beginning of the Muslim holy month and describing Hanson’s remarks as a “racist intervention”.
“NSW is full of wonderful, great Australians of Muslim faith who care about our country,” Minns said, acknowledging the distress caused when police interrupted Muslim prayers during recent anti-Israel protests.
NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley said everyone had a right to feel safe at their place of worship. “During Ramadan, a dedicated police operation, managed by Operation Shelter, will run throughout the month, with high-visibility, proactive policing across Sydney,” she said.
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg labelled Hanson’s comments “disgusting”, while his Nationals colleague Matt Canavan, one of the first to criticise the Hanson interview, said they were “totally un-Australian”.
Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek speculated he might have sparked the senator’s comments about Lakemba by inviting her the day before to attend the suburb’s Ramadan night markets, which attracted more than one million people last year.
“I want to say that I too love this country and I love the culture,” the mayor told 2GB. “I’m a proud Aussie and a proud Muslim.”
Special envoy to combat Islamophobia Aftab Malik invited Hanson to join him for iftar, the evening meal that breaks the Ramadan fast, saying he would be happy to talk with her about the Koran, violent extremism, women in Islam, or any other questions she might have.
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