Middle Eastern crime without Muslims

Last night, I received a call from the producer of a Sydney talkback radio show. She asked me if I wanted to make any comment about comments made by one Dr Jamal Rifi which were quoted in the Daily Telegraph.

Dr Rifi is a GP based in Belmore, and was at one stage (and perhaps still is) a Commissioner of the Community Relations Commission. He at one stage was a broadcaster and board member of the Voice of Islam radio station that was at one stage broadcasting from the offices of the Islamic Council of NSW in Chullora.

Dr Rifi allegedly told the DT that the reason Lebanese Australians were reluctant to dob in the perpetrators of much of the Middle Eastern gang violence was because they feared retribution from gangs and did not have any confidence in the police to protect them.

I haven’t read the actual article, which as far as I know was not on the DT website. What I have said above is merely hearsay from the producer of the talkback show mentioned in the first paragraph.

I am always amused by attempts by some elements of Lebanese Christian denominations to paint the problem of crime gangs as one strictly limited to the Lebanese Muslim communities. The same claims are also made by reconstructed Marxists and senile pseudo-conservative monoculturalists whose views were heavily promoted on the op-ed pages of the Australian in the immediate aftermath of the Cronulla riots.

The basic message was simple – those bloody Muslims gang-rape our women, assault our lifeguards, plant bombs in our nuclear facilities and turn our suburbs into crime hotspots.

Of course, the fact remains that many of the most notorious Middle Eastern gangsters (both behind bars and outside prison) were and are from Christian denominations. Further, we know that a number of thugs and war criminals associated with the former South Lebanon Army have been granted asylum in Australia, despite their possible involvement in torture and other crimes against humanity.

And today’s Sydney Morning Herald reveals a side of Middle Eastern (and nominally Christian) crime that people living in the Fairfield city have known of all along. And this time, it is Peter Debnam who should be worried about possible criminal elements being used to stack branches in his party.

The Assyrian Iraqi community are mainly based in the City of Fairfield. They are active in small business and in local politics. A number of Assyrians are on the Fairfield City Council.

Some Assyrians are seeking the creation of a separate Assyrian state inside Iraq. Their cause presents an added layer of sectarian tension in a nation where, since February 22, at least 20,000 people have been killed in sectarian violence.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that every community has its rotten apples. The Lebanese Muslim communities are not alone in this regard. Indeed, Assyrian gangs play a prominent part in Sydney’s Middle Eastern crime scene.

In recent times, the Religious-Right faction led by Liberal MLC David Clarke has attempted to use Assyrian churches and community organisations as a recruiting ground for branch stacking purposes. Whether Clarke is directly involved remains to be seen. But people close to Clarke have openly expressed support for the idea of a separate Assyrian homeland independent from the rest of Iraq.

It would be wrong to suggest that Assyrian Iraqis have no role to play inside any mainstream political party just because some amongst them are engaged in criminal activity. However, the fact remains that political parties represent an attractive cover for criminal elements seeking false respectability.

Yet regardless of the stacking activities of the Religious-Right faction of the NSW Liberals, the fact remains that criminal elements from within Middle Eastern communities are not limited to Muslim Lebanese. But good luck if we hear about “Christian crime gangs”.

© Irfan Yusuf 2006