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(Algemeiner) George Brandis, Australia’s Attorney-General, has roundly rejected the comparison between Australian Jews volunteering for the Israeli Defense Forces and Australian Muslims joining Middle Eastern terrorist groups like the Islamic State.
Speaking on the most recent edition of “Q and A,” a current affairs program on the ABC network in which a studio audience poses questions to an invited panel, Brandis emphasized that there was no legal basis for such a comparison.
“There is no equivalence between the standing army of a friendly foreign state like Israel and a terrorist insurgency like ISIL,” Brandis declared. “I am not aware of a single instance of a Jewish man or woman who has seen service in the IDF, has come back to Australia, and has perpetrated a terrorist crime.”
Brandis was answering a question from Dr. Mohamad Abdalla, a professor in the city of Brisbane and a Muslim community leader, who spoke of “a double standard… how do you respond to the fact that is often raised by young Australian Muslims that there are other non-Muslim Australian citizens who fight in other countries that are committing war crimes?”
Though Abdalla did not mention Israel explicitly, presenter Tony Jones interjected to say, “I suspect you are talking about Israel and young Australians fighting for the IDF.”
Brandis’ response did not appear to persuade the majority of the audience, who made their skepticism heard as the Attorney General answered Abdalla’s point.
Later on in the program, Brandis revealed that 71 young Australians have fought in northern Iraq and Syria, while 73 people have had their passports cancelled to prevent them from joining the conflict. Brandis said that more than 15 Australians had been killed in the conflict in northern Iraq and Syria, where Islamic State terrorists have been engaged in a genocidal campaign targeting the Christian, Yezidi and Kurdish minorities.
