Well there's a bright side to this story too, for all the people who constantly as "where are all the moderate Muslims condemning terrorism, they
need look no farther than this guy, Taj el-Din al Hilaly, Mufti of Australia:
Taj el-Din al Hilaly today said those responsible for the attack were not religious people.
"This is a very bad action. I condemn any terrorism attack. Australia is the land of peace," he told reporters at Sydney's Lakemba mosque.
He said that, even though a person from Bondi had died fighting for Israel, he did not want any of the Middle East conflict to be imported to
Australia.
"We will not allow any member of our community to go and fight for Hezbollah in Lebanon," he said.
"We refused to import these problems into Australia."
Still, attacks like this are disturbing, because I fear that as this war goes on, people will take out their anger with Israel on innocent Jews that
have nothing to do with the Israeli government's murderous campaign in Lebanon. Australian Jews cannot be blamed for the actions of the Israeli
state. American Jews cannot be blamed for the actions of the Israeli state. Only the Israelis themselves bear responsibility for Israel's actions.
I have to say I have heard a lot more anti-Semitic comments since this Lebanon thing began - here in northern New Jersey, where we have a significant,
well integrated Jewish population, this kind of talk used to be very rare. Now it is growing increasingly commonplace.
People must not confuse the State of Israel with ordinary, innocent Jews.