'We don't want your dirty money'

The ongoing genocide in Gaza has had at least one inconvenient side-effect for its domestic enablers: Labor and Liberal politicians are increasingly unwelcome at masjids around the country.

On Monday, Liberal MP Jason Wood tried to address the congregation of the Omar Farooq Mosque in Melbourne’s outer southeast. While the masjid itself is in Doveton, the size of the congregation for Eid saw prayers take place on the volleyball courts at the nearby Dandenong Showgrounds.

Footage from the evening shows hundreds of congregants standing up and shouting Wood down, forcing him to eventually leave through a side door.

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Disability rights advocate Abdulah Hamimi was in the congregation when the incident occurred. He says people took exception to Wood’s praising the Australian Defence Force’s participation in the war in Afghanistan, especially given the masjid primarily serves the local Afghan community — “Afghans knew what was in the Brereton Report before it even came out,” he says. Wood was also one of the most vocal proponents of the Turnbull government’s “African gangs” scare campaign.

“Jason Wood’s not a popular person here, given his history and what people know about him,” Hamimi says. “He really doesn’t know how to read the room; I’m not sure who’s giving him PR advice.”

Wood was accompanied by Zahid Safi, a former refugee born in Afghanistan who is running as the Liberal candidate for Bruce, the outer-suburban Melbourne seat held by Labor’s Julian Hill. According to Hamimi, Safi “didn’t say a word” during his appearance with Hill.

In Sydney, meanwhile, congregants at Lakemba Musallah staged a mass walkout on Tuesday after learning that federal immigration minister and local MP Tony Burke was in attendance.

Hamimi says the incidents with Wood and Burke are indicative of a growing impatience within many communities that politicians are still invited to address congregations.

“Events like Eid garner thousands of people. People don’t come for the politicians. This is our platform; our time; our prayer. It’s not a place that Muslims want to be exploited for political purposes,” he says.

“It’s incredibly disrespectful for a politician to come along and delay the prayer so we can hear lectures about multiculturalism. These are the same people who vilify migrants and fuel Islamophobia and whose hands are still dripping from their complicity [in genocide], but they think they can come to these events with smiling faces and open hands.”

While this sentiment has been present in Muslim and other migrant communities for some time, the genocide in Gaza has brought it to a head. Sydney pro-Palestinian groups, including Stand For Palestine Australia, have staged protests outside masjids and been prolific on social media in criticising community organisations that host politicians like Burke and education minister Jason Clare.

These groups have, in turn, been criticised in major media outlets that give ample and sympathetic coverage to Burke and Clare. Daily Telegraph columnist Joe Hildebrand called activists targeting Burke “a traitor to their cause,” while the Australian Financial Review categorised leaflets and flyers criticising Burke and Clare’s record on Gaza as a “smear campaign”. On Monday the Sydney Morning Herald ran a long and friendly interview with ‘Friends of Tony Burke’ campaign founder Dr Jamal Rifi, described throughout as a “community leader”.

But a growing body of congregants across Australian Muslim communities are increasingly impatient with the “community leaders” who invite politicians to their events. On Sunday, the leadership of Leppington’s Al Madinah Masjid welcomed Peter Dutton, who announced $25,000 in funding for the mosque to upgrade its security cameras. Hours later, the masjid released a statement to the Daily Telegraph emphasising that Dutton’s appearance was not an endorsement on their part.

In the wake of Wood being forced to leave the Dandenong Eid prayers, one of the masjid’s executive committee members publicly revealed they had resigned over the decision to allow Wood and other politicians to attend.

“I cannot align myself with a committee or association who does not share the same sentiment as the wider Afghan & Muslim community regarding the Palestinian cause,” former committee member Sami Sadat stated in an open letter. “I have always believed that Eid should remain a religious and community-focused event.”

“They’re not community leaders. They’re community managers,” Hamimi says. “Whenever something happens in the community, rather than gauge community sentiment to try and understand, these people are often the first one to bring in authorities. They’re the first to police their own communities. The community’s grown and changed over a long time, but a lot of these same people still occupy the same positions they were in 30 or 40 years ago. They have a disconnect with the sentiment on the ground.”

That’s why, he believes, someone like Jason Wood thought he could turn up at Eid prayers and be welcomed.

“When Jason Wood comes along and says ‘Peter Dutton’s offering you $6.5 million to build your mosque’, he thinks this is some sort of tribal politics where the ‘leader’ gets a handshake and everyone just follows,” Hamimi says. “There’s an assumption that the community doesn’t have a mind of its own, can’t make rational assessments, and has no principles or ethics. But people don’t want funding that comes with strings attached, or that’s given by that kind of person. We don’t want your dirty money.”

Fundraiser for Noor and Hoor Hammad

While Noor and her family are struggling with the skyrocketing costs of basic living expenses in Gaza, Noor’s mother’s health is deteriorating. An emergency back operation for which she was scheduled was postponed due to the war, and she is now unable to walk or stand.

If you’ve got anything to spare, please consider giving some money to help Noor and her family.

Don’t Talk About Palestine: a fundraiser for Gaza

Sydney! I’m throwing an event in April to raise money for this fundraiser I’m organising. Don’t Talk About Palestine will bring together some amazing speakers to tell their stories of being silenced and punished for speaking out against the genocide, and to discuss ways of pushing back. All proceeds will be donated to Palestinian crowdfunding pages. Click through for more details and to book tickets.