Hezbollah sleeper cells in Australia?

May 10, 2013 by J-Wire Staff
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Jewish leaders have renewed calls to ban Hezbollah’s political wing amid revelations that the Shi’ite organisation may have sleeper cells operating in Australia.
Both the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said they were urging the government to ban Hezbollah in its entirety, according to a report in Haaretz .

Dr Colin Rubenstein

Dr Colin Rubenstein

The Australian government first proscribed Hezbollah’s military wing in 2003. But its political wing is still recognised in Australia, irking Jewish leaders, especially after a report last week in The Australian revealing that three sleeper cells may be operating here.

“AIJAC has been calling for the complete banning of Hezbollah for some time, and still does,” Dr Colin Rubenstein was quoted as saying by Haaretz.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has also lobbied “very recently” for a total ban, the ECAJ’s Peter Wertheim said.
Australia may have followed the “erroneous thinking” of the British government in distinguishing between the military and political arms of Hezbollah, Wertheim said.

Peter Wertheim

Peter Wertheim

“The falsity of that proposition has been made especially evident by further Hezbollah terrorist attacks around the world and its brutal defense of the criminal Assad regime in Syria.”

Both organisations also criticised the ongoing transmission of Al-Manar TV into Australia via an Indonesian satellite. Al-Manar is banned in France, Germany, Spain and the United States and has been twice banned in Australia but Arabic-speaking Australians can still subscribe for its content.

“It is utterly anomalous that, despite a 2010 ACMA report into al-Manar, which found it breached regulations, glorified terrorists and promoted antisemitism, and despite our other counter-terror laws, a television station owned and operated by a terrorist organisation, and used to mobilise support for that organisation, still remains legal here, according to ACMA,” Dr Rubenstein was quoted as saying.

“We are hopeful that a ban on Hezbollah in its entirety will make it unequivocally clear that al-Manar is not legal here, and also provide additional leverage to help Canberra to convince the Indonesians to take action, in their own interests as well, against Indosat’s broadcasts of the station.”

Comments

3 Responses to “Hezbollah sleeper cells in Australia?”
  1. Peter says:

    Any known links between al-Mabarat benevolent Society, Arncliffe, and Hezbollah?

  2. Matt says:

    The same reason we know Bulgaria was ordered by Iran, it is extortion Australia and the EU and others allow the political wing to operate and collect monies for the resistance. In exchange for no terror attacks in those countries, no money changes hands between the governments and Hizbullah the principle is the same. Of course there are special circumstances in which Hizbullah will activate sleeper cells in those countries as seen in the EU. That political wing also allows them just like other governments that use embassies to establish sleeper cells in those countries. Bulgaria almost got them banned, so the attack was a priority for Iran to risk that occurring, considered by Iran as a major priority and thus by Hizbullah to be special circumstances, in which they would risk a full ban.

  3. John says:

    Why is it only the Jewish Community worried about terrorism and Hezbollah? Why aren’t the Law abiding non extremist Muslims concerned about the alleged existence? How are the Jewish Community so well informed about the alleged existence of a Hezbollah cell operating in Australia? Why isn’t the MSM reporting this if it was considered a threat?

    These are the questions I am left with after reading this article.

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