Dear Aaron... I'm so glad to see a Jewish person actually recognizing the truth of this issue... it is a reaction TO discrmination and bullying from Ethnic and tribal people who have done 2 things:

1/ Claimed part of Australia for themselves
2/ Attacked an ICON of everything it is to be Australian... lifesavers.

Then, they are blaming 'us' to quote:

Moot, 19, of Bankstown, said his friend Issa, 17, suffered a neck injury after being assaulted by numerous "Aussies".

"I am going to gather as many people as I can. I am going to send text messages," he said.

"This is the last day they're going to have the beach, 'cause from now on heads are going to roll and blood will spill because what they did to my friend ... that was a dog act."

I think that says it all. They brutalize, insult, harrass, bully, and discriminate, and when it comes back to haunt them.... "I'm gonna get my mates" etc.. well Jesus once said.

"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

Personally, I would prefer 'symbolic' gestures of national solidarity than violent drunken ones. Sad to say, that the rampaging mob was not exactly something to be proud of. I'd rather see them to a peaceful march down Telopea street Bankstown, than pick on a few happless lebeanese silly enough to goto Cronulla.

IRF (broken record) YUSUF... we don't hate you.. when will your thick head accept this ? We are passionate, patriotic, and in some cases prayerful. But if you think the actions of a few Lebs will go unchallenged by the broader Aussie society, you are in dreamland.

If you want a 'merry and peaceful' Christmas, do a piece on the "Failure of Politicians to see the writing on the wall and do something about it 2 yrs ago"
If they had, we would not be having this conversation now.
Blessings

Irfan - "Muslim voters are just as concerned about ensuring governments act to protect families, to ensure the rule of law and to allow business to operate in a free market economy."

Your responses to legitimate questions raised on the "Some will not integrate" thread suggest that you are not one of those voters.
- First you raise the issue by suggesting that the Cronulla incident was just bad tabloid jouranlism - a media beatup.
- Then you suggest that the gangs are really cristian not muslim but offer no proof.
- Then you move into name calling and the suggestion that the kind of issues indicated by the gangs are not part of the "real world". Anybody who questions you is determined to hate muslims etc.

Kind of makes a mockery of your article. Judging by your posts it seems that you are OK with "Skippy bashing" (physical or verbal), it's only muslim bashing that bothers you. You don't express outrage at the harassment of non-muslim women and girls by these gangs and the intimidation of male Skippy's in their attempts to pick fights. Every post I've seen from you on the issue suggests that you think the reported behaviour is a non issue. I still have not seen any condemnation of the acts of those thugs who bashed the reporter following the arrests of the suspected terrorists.

For the record I was disgusted by what I saw of the actions of the crowds in Sydney on the media late last night. Grabbing anybody you find of "middle eastern appearance" and bashing them for the actions of the gangs is dispicable, likewise the pelting of ambo's and others trying to do their job.

My preference as previously stated was for the muslim community to take the initiative and make a stand on the behaviour of these gangs. That apparently did not happen. In light of the crowd behaviour yesterday it may have been to late for that at the beach but not to late for other action.

R0bert

The undercurrent of violence so prominent in these posts and the events in NSW last week are such that I am compelled to drop the mask of anonymity.

These events have been called un Australian - they are very Australian indeed - they been carried out in some instances under the Australian flag - sadly. We did it to the Chinese in our colonial past and we did/do it to the indigenous population.

I have long rejected the implied agression on these pages dressed up in psuedo intellectualism and touting potted anthropological theories regarding inherent racial tendencies to violence and other absurd assumptions. I have tried to do so with a modicum of humour; it has never been that funny but now it is less so.

There will be those claiming a sense of prescience now that the slow burn of racism has found its expression in overt violence. Instead of recognising the tensions and seeking a solution too many have simply poured the fuel of ignorance and prejudice on the problem.

These issues are too important not to stand up and protest against those who fear the different and the diverse. It would not be a foolish question to ask who is next - who will we choose next to despise based on misunderstanding and lies?

This is not a question of multiculturalism or integration. It is a question of our capacity to adapt to change. Like it or not our community is comprised of countless peoples with diverse cultural aspirations and diverse outlooks on life. The differences are part of us where they beocme a problem is our failure not the fault of those who are different.

The cultural cringe is far from something limited to the arts and science it remains deeply rooted in our sense of identity - or lack there of - that so many of us lack the confidence in our own institutions, our own culture and our own capacity to stand side by side with that which is different and hold our own when challenged.

Kym Durance aka Sneekeepete

Please to meet you Kym. Long an admirer of your articles.

I am really disappointed at how swiftly people have attacked Irfan for speaking out - just because he posts something that is controversial (Christian Lebanese) it would appear that those who previously supported a reasoned approach to debate have jumped on the anti-Islam bandwagon and are holding all Muslims responsible for the race riots at Cronulla.

Are extremist Christians given a lot more lee-way than an understandibly irritable Muslim? The answer would appear to be YES.

I don't know if the Lebanese youth at Cronulla follow Christ, Mohamed or the Simpsons. I do know that the situation at Cronulla is about disenfranchised youth with both sides eager to antagonise the other.

Have placed pertinent post on Con George-Kotzabasis' rant at:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=3938#23073

Sorry, R0bert, but it looks as though you only tolerated Irfan if he said all the "right things" according to you.

Disappointed but not surprised at fall-out from Cronulla riots. Just more hatred - no effort to work things out together.

Scout, clearly a point of disagreement here.

Irfan raised the idea of tabloid journalism in regard to the gang issue and when asked for explaination did not attempt to answer honest questions but rather tossed in the lebanese christian thing with no supporting discussion. When queried about that he started throwing insults around and attempted to trivialise the issue.

I think I've made it clear in the past that I don't want to take sides on the "muslim" issue (not sure how else to phrase that) but rather to see people treated fairly and so far in my view most of the unfair treatment has been dished out by the anti muslim lobby.

I hope that I have been upfront enough in opposing that group within the constraints of the post limits and a disinterest to get into flaming wars with the most unreasonable of the posters. I think I am asking the same of Irfan that I've asked of numerous anti-muslim posters when they have tossed in important unsubstantiated claims.

In my view Irfan's handling of this has been as biased and evasive as that of the anti-muslim lobby. If the gangs are genuinely from a christian lebanese background that is a significant factor in this discussion and is worth knowing about. At the moment the claim looks like an attempt to muddy the waters rather than an honest attempt to address the issue.

I really believe that where significant issues of ethnic/cultural crime ocurrs the most likely solution lies with their communities making a stand against the behaviour. If these gangs are from a muslim background we need muslim leaders speaking out against the gang bahaviours. If from a lebanese christain background then we need the leaders of that community to be at the front of the calls for this to end.

A heavy police presence and a bunch of vigilanties roaming the streets and beating up people of "middle eastern appearance" just adds to the tension. Any suggestions on how else to get this stopped without making it worse?

R0bert

When oh when, Boaz, will you get it into your head that your comments and observations are part of the problem, not part of the solution?

>>They brutalize, insult, harrass, bully, and discriminate, and when it comes back to haunt them.... "I'm gonna get my mates" etc.<<

Who are "they", Boaz? Do you not understand that this remark could equally well have been made by one of your white, christian friends? Did you in fact listen to them on the news last night - it was almost word for word the same.

I was told of the pending trouble on Friday evening, by an eleven-year-old from Bondi Junction, who advised me that "they're all sending text messages to each other to meet at Cronulla." How did he know, I wondered. "It's all around the school" he told me. Out of the mouths...

We - and by that I mean adults - set a bad example to kids by failing to abhor the "get them" mentality, in all its forms. Revenge is a very simple emotion, and as such is easily exploited by more intelligent people, who understand its power and use it to their own ends.

If we are to rise above the level of the pack animal, it will be through people with more smarts than the amoebae on display yesterday at Cronulla, accepting some of the responsibility that goes with the territory, and leading by example.

Trouble is, it suits our political masters to foment domestic terrorism. It is such a powerful vote-catcher.