"THE imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca, who has called for the annihilation of Jews, is scheduled to give the keynote address at the Australian Islamic Peace Conference in Melbourne this weekend.

The attendance of Abdul Rahman al-Sudais will come despite calls from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and several Christian groups for the imam to be denied entry to Australia.

Sheik Sudais, who has called for violent jihad, has been denied entry to the US and Canada after describing Jews as "the scum of humanity" and "pigs and monkeys". The 53-year-old's name and face do not appear on the event leaflets, which were posted on the conference Facebook page on Sunday evening.

Instead, they denote him as "Imam of Makkah" and show the Saudi in profile, with a cloth obstructing his facial features.

They also note that conference guests "are subject to visa approval as well as their personal circumstances". Federation of Islamic Councils assistant secretary Keysar Trad said there was no comparison to be made between calls for Dutch anti-Islam activist Geert Wilders to be denied a visa on his recent visit to Australia, and similar calls regarding Sheik Sudais.

"One person may have made comments in anger. The other has made it his personal mission to go around the world telling lies about Muslims," Mr Trad said.

An Immigration Department spokesman was unable to confirm whether or not Sheik Sudais had been granted a visa for privacy reasons, but he said anyone who wished to enter Australia must be assessed against character and health requirements.

"It is not illegal to hold radical views, but visitors to Australia should be aware we do have laws against inciting violence and racial vilification," he said.

Other invited conference guests include Australian Sheik Abu Hamza, who ridiculed laws that prohibit rape within marriage, and Sheik Assim al-Hakeem, from the United Arab Emirates, who has called for homosexuality to be punished by death and on his website compares gay people to "animals that seek only their sexual satisfaction through their weird ways".

Sheik Sudais is not listed among the speakers on the conference website, which touts the occasion as the "largest, biggest and best ever Islamic event in the history of Australia" and says it aims to build links with other faiths and the broader Australian society.

Conference organiser Waseem Rizvi, of the Islamic Research and Educational Academy, had previously been recorded boasting that Julia Gillard was among guests who had accepted invitations to speak at the conference.

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister yesterday confirmed she had received an invitation, but conference organisers had been advised she was unable to attend.

Ms Gillard will be in Melbourne on Saturday morning, attending an event at Essendon Airport, two suburbs away from the three-day conference. Conference organisers have declined repeated requests for comment from several media organisations including The Australian.

Mr Trad said Sheik Sudais was renowned for his recitations of the Koran.

"People can change and sometimes they say comments out of anger which they would retract when they calm down," he said.

"I would hope he would retract these comments and reconcile with the people he may have offended."

End of article. Here we have the unelected spokesman for Islam in Australia, Mr Keysar Trad, dissimulating and trying to deflect any criticism of Islam, as he regularly does. This Sheik is not alone in his views, as is noted in the article. Mr Trad calls Mr Geert Wilders' views as "lies' about Islam. How can they be "lies" when they are drawn directly from the utterings of people like Sheik Sudais, which in turn come directly from the Koran? Geert Wilders uses videos and quotes coming from Islamists themselves. Are the Islamists ashamed of their views, that they need to retract them in order to present a more reasonable image to the Western Society? Maybe Mr Steele could take a hard look at the real "hate peddlers" and not just focus on the, admittedly, extremist reaction to those people.

Belly - Are you completely stupid you say I never provided the source, to quote you further "I fancy no evidence can be found to support you claims. And that mate is providing me evidence of your extremist views."

NOW LOOK AT THE COMMENT DIRECTLY BELOW WHERE YOU ASKED FOR THE LINK.

HERE IS MY REPLY.
Belly - Do a search for "settlement outcomes of new arrivals" You should find it will be the first result.

Further from Denmark the Government issued a report suggesting migrants from non-Western countries cost the state $3.5 billion a year, while those from the West contributed $450 million in taxes. Now you see why Wilders was so concerned.
Posted by Philip S, Sunday, 10 March 2013 6:10:24 PM

An optometrist would be a good place for you to visit today.

Dear csteele,

It's only natural to react when the right
buttons are pushed - especially on such
emotive issues as those that arise on this
forum. I've lost it many times. Yet, at the same
time - I've also learned that no matter how
heated things can get - most people are decent
human beings - even though we don't happen to
agree at times.

We've seen that people in different walks of
life will interpret the same phenomenon -
whether it's a riot, a PM's policies, a
religious doctrine - in very different ways.
In other words, people tend to see the world from
a viewpoint of subjectivity - an interpretation
based on personal views and experiences. Inevitably,
like anyone else we're all guilty of some
measure of bias - the tendency, often unconscious, to
interpret facts according to one's own values.

I guess what we should try to recognise is that
subjectivity and objectivity are not two neat and
separate categories, they're really matters of degree.
By exercising scrupulous caution we can attempt to be
as objective as possible.

In my view you have always presented your opinions -
giving as objective an
account as possible. Your arguments are always well
reasoned and fair. And I enjoy reading them.
My earlier post was merely a plea to those who are
tempted to stoop to personal insults on issues to
try to refrain from doing so. I don't see you as one
of those people.

Dear Froggie,

Thank you for posting the article.

I have on many occasions on this forum railed against Saudi Wahhabism. I have asked repeatedly why we are kicking the crap out of a weak, blighted country like Afghanistan when it is the poison coming out of Saudi Arabia that was directly responsible for events like 9/11. I have exposed the fact that hundreds of millions of Australian dollars are being spent in Indonesia just to try and counter Saudi dollars poisoning Indonesian children. I have raised some of the brutal incidents of foreign workers being beheaded in Saudi Arabia for so called crimes that would have seen them free from sanction here. I have spoken of them funding hard-line Islamic groups and the amount of money that found its way into the hands of Al Qaeda.

Why do we let them get away with it? Purely because of the money. It is the reason George Bush Senior was sitting down with Osama Bin Laden's family for breakfast on the morning of 9/11. It is the reason they were spirited through out of the country through military controlled airspace.

It is not just the oil but the fact that Saudi Arabia is the largest purchaser of US armaments creating thousands of American jobs. This particular gentleman was a direct appointee of the Saudi Royal family therefore he still has access to the US and the UK.

New migrants, especially those we accept for humanitarian reasons, are always going to present us with challenges yet I am confident that as a country we can work through those difficulties and stand taller for having done so.

What I deeply resent is any one making that job harder and the likes of Wilders and this character have the potential to do just that.

I apologize, csteel. I seemed to have missed where you answered Phillip S & my questions. I can't find them anywhere.

May we have those answers again please?

I see the 3 Muslim apologists are all in agreeance again. You know, if you like the Muslim lifestyle so much why don't you all go & live your idyllic lifestyle in an appropriate Muslim country & take the pornographic & violent book you would die for with you.