Amanda Keller and Brendan Jones have been working together for more than 10 years and are usually the best of mates.
But today, things got very heated between them when they discussed the responsibilities of Australia’s Grand Mufti Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed to condemn the actions of ISIS.
The pair were posing today’s topic for Sydney radio station WSFM’s “reaction line” on their show, Jonesy and Amanda in the Morning.
The question was: should Australia’s Grand Mufti have to publicly condemn every Islamic terrorist attack?
Listen to the discussion here… Post continues below.
The Grand Mufti has attempted to clarify his position after releasing a statement earlier this week that was criticised for not explicitly condemning ISIS for the recent attacks in Paris.
At the time, his Facebook post read:
Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, families and people of Paris and Beirut at this time of unspeakable horror.
We will continually stand united in peace with them against such heinous attacks of cowardice.
There are no words to truly describe the devastation of these acts but we will continue in solidarity and pray for peace.
Dr Abu Mohamed has repeatedly said that he doesn’t support the group and that they do not represent everyday Muslims.
But Brendan “Jonesy” Jones said he felt the Grand Mufti hadn’t said enough and questioned why a man who has been in Australia for 20 years cannot speak English.
“The whole argument here is, we want him to play a certain role. Non-Muslim Australians do. His role, he is head of the church — he’s not head of them politically, he’s not a spokesperson and other people are being spokespeople,” Keller told Jones.
The Grand Mufti has also pointed out that more than 500 Islamic spokespeople have condemned ISIS from its conception.
“But after all that, they [the media] ask us for comment after every terror act, so we condemn, we apologise, we forgive, but why? It is as if we are the ones who are responsible,” the Grand Mufti said, reports SBS.
Jones said that he is of the opinion that, yes, actually, the Mufti should make a statement in condemnation each time a terrorist attack takes place.
“Islam, in case you haven’t noticed, has a giant PR problem at the moment. And what they need is someone who would fix all of this by renouncing all the atrocities that are going on at the moment…
“Say I’m a Catholic. So George Pell comes out and bangs on about paedophiles and says, ‘We don’t stand for that,’ that’s fair enough, that’s what I would expect from him.”
He would? George Pell has been labelled “almost sociopathic” and his position in the church called “untenable” by a Pope-appointed advisor for his repeated denials of covering up child sex abuse in the church. Great example, Jonesy!
He went on: “If I was a Muslim, I would be hoping that my leader would come out and say, ‘Well, we don’t subscribe to what these guys are doing’.”
“But he’s done that, he does it every time,” Keller told him, exasperated.
“There are spokespeople for the Muslim community, that’s not always his job. That’s not his job — that’s what he’s saying, that’s not his job.”
Jones then admitted he doesn’t really know what a Grand Mufti is. Keller explained that he’s the head of the Islamic church in Australia, to which he replied, “Bang, say what we want to hear!”
“So every time there is a priest convicted [of paedophilia], we want the Pope to come out and tell us…” Keller began.
“Yes, I would expect that from those guys,” Jones said.
“Well, they haven’t for so many years and they still don’t!” Keller said.
Jones then starts going on about how George Pell isn’t going to come and lop his head off or load himself up with explosives, which is, as Keller informed him, “not a helpful discussion, Brendan.”
“He’s representing Muslims, he’s not representing you and me,” Amanda told him. “This is against the ethos of ‘how about we all try and get along’. You’re falling into ISIS’s hands! They want an “us and them” and you’re doing it, you’re doing their job for them!”
Jones denied this, but then he said that there’s a division between the Muslim community and the Anglo community — which left me wondering where people from all the other communities that make up our society stand in the mind of Brendan Jones.
“Don’t you dare call me an apologist for Islamicists, don’t you dare!” Keller said to Jones before trying to reiterate her position once more.
So the reaction line question was posed and humungous surprise: the majority of talkback radio listeners agree with Jonesy, who Amanda easily managed to argue into a corner.
At least he now knows what the Grand Mufti is.
Top Comments
English is a very hard language for people to learn. As an experienced ESL teacher for adult migrants, they have so many barriers to learning. It's literally not as easy as ABC. My students were 30 and above and are in the lower level. The higher level ESL classes usually have young adults. So what makes it difficult? Age. Yes, by their middle age they do have problems with learning. They cannot absorb information quick enough, they cannot link concepts in a foreign language. They above health, mental and psychological barriers. They are nervous, embarrassed, shy, and not confident. And it's not easy to make people of this age more confident or less embarrassed.
I am a Muslim, born and raised in Sydney. And I became an ESL teacher for adult migrants to teach them the language of this country. And as I taught many students, I have been challenged and confronted with many students who have difficulty learning, one way or another. I make my lessons easy-going, relaxed and fun as much as I can. But I can tell you now that not all teachers are the same. There are some really horrendous ESL teachers with horrendous methods ie just giving students pages and pages of work in a foreign language without teaching them the basics first. And students lose confidence and don't learn anything in this environment. How do you know he hasn't attended English classes and just had a really crappy teacher which inhibited him from learning?
Please give Us a break! We already have spokespeople who are more media savvy and also represent us, ie Waleed Aly. At the very least accept his statements on behalf of the Muslim community and stop attacking us front, right and centre.
The Catholic/Christian church has been sweeping peodofilia under the rug for ever and continue to do so. Brendon Jones is just another ignorant young earth creationist. No better, no worse than any other religious, sky daddy worshipping fool! #stupidhumans