Jews and Muslims “Downunder”: Emerging Dialogue and Challenges · 109anti-Semitic publication, Nida ̓ul Islam, which includes provocative ma-
terial against Jews, is also readily available on the web. A number of Mus-
lim websites, such as “Islamic Sydney” and “MuslimVillage Forum,” al-
low anti-Semitic correspondence and chat. The Forum on MuslimVillage,
which receives 100,000 posts a month, mainly from adults ages 22–25,
also posts some pro-Jewish material, and some non-Muslims join and
post anti-Muslim material. However, the site is moderated, and the anti-
Muslim posts that are allowed through are not as problematic as the anti-
Jewish posts. In addition, the average reader would be Muslim and so
less likely to be influenced by anti-Muslim posts, whereas the anti-Jewish
material can “have the effect of normalizing anti-Semitism among Mus-
lims.”^41 The founder and administrator of the website, Ahmed Kilani,
does block some contributors, so more care could be taken with anti-
Jewish material. There have also been links between far right websites
and groups, such as the Australian League of Rights, and Muslim groups
and speakers.
There have been a number of instances where the Arabic press, which
is mainly run by Christian Arabs, has published anti-Semitic material
including promoting the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, resulting in legal
proceedings being undertaken by the Press Council of New South Wales
at the instigation of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies. The longest case
running was with the Christian Arabic newspaper An Nahar, but action
has also been taken against An Nahda, which revived the blood libel accu-
sation in 1986, and Al-Moharrer Al Arabi in 1994, in regard to an offensive
article entitled “Blood for Zion’s Unleavened Bread.”^42 In recent years,
An Nahar has been more pro-Jewish.
Jewish children and teachers in government schools with large Mus-
lim populations have experienced both verbal and physical abuse. While
anti-Muslim feelings in schools have been researched, no research to date
has been undertaken on anti-Jewish feelings among Muslim children in
high schools. To fill this gap, five teachers in schools with a high percent-
age of Muslim children in the southern and western areas of Sydney were
interviewed about their attitudes toward Jews in their schools, such as
a school in the Fairfield area with 265 Arabic-speaking children out of
a total school population of 873.^43 The teachers all reported a venera-
tion of Hitler and Nazism with statements such as “Hitler did the right
thing,” “Hitler did not go far enough,” a tendency to draw swastikas on
their desks, hatred of Israel, and general antipathy towards Jews. They