Australia Must Reject Terrorist Glorification |
In the last day, we have seen mourning ceremonies and rallies linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran following the death of Ali Khamenei, a ruler whose regime has been condemned globally for repression, executions, the suppression of women, and the sponsorship of militant proxies. Australians are free to hold views about foreign leaders. But when sympathy for an autocratic theocracy is expressed without moral scrutiny, we should ask: what exactly is being defended?
Even more troubling is what is happening at the cultural margins and sometimes in plain sight.
At Lakemba Night Market over the weekend, footage circulated of a mother encouraging her young child to stomp on a photograph of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One may fiercely oppose Netanyahu’s policies. Many do. But teaching a child to enact ritualized hatred is not political education. It is conditioning. It is indoctrination.
Children are not born with geopolitical grievances or hate. They inherit them. Children in Gaza have been taught to hate and aspire to jihad and martyrdom, and then we imported approximately 3,000 of them without proper vetting processes.
When inflammatory rhetoric from certain clerics goes unchecked, rhetoric that frames global conflicts in religious absolutes or casts entire populations as enemies, the cultural damage compounds. Figures such as Wissam Haddad and Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun have previously drawn scrutiny over controversial sermons and statements. Whether their speech crosses legal thresholds is for authorities to determine, and sadly we have seen a lack of enforcement. But the broader issue is this: are we failing to confront radicalization early, or are we waiting for its consequences? The evidence suggests the latter. It took the murder of 15 innocent Australians on Bondi Beach for the Prime Minister to act. He still appears to tolerate the intolerable, though some steps have been taken. How many more Bondi’s will occur before Australia finally draws the line, as countries such as........