New Madinah College principal investigated for ‘anti-Semitic’ comments after AJA exposes him
By Rachel Holdsworth
ABC Riverina
In short:
The federal government has launched an investigation into “anti-Semitic” social-media comments made by a school principal.
The federal government has launched an investigation into the appointment of a principal at a private school in southern New South Wales, following “anti-Semitic” comments on social media.
Principal of New Madinah College in Young, Sheikh Abdulghani Albaf, has been condemned by the federal and NSW governments and the Australian Jewish Association over Facebook comments spanning several years.
A post attributed to Mr Albaf said “Zionists should burn in the pits of hellfire” and the “Zionist Terrorist State of Israel needs to be destroyed”.
The posts were on his Facebook page, which has more than 2,000 followers.
In a separate comment posted yesterday, Mr Albaf said “Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism”.
Several Facebook followers have thrown support behind Mr Albaf on his posts, calling for the end of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
The posts have been brought to the attention of the federal Education Minister, Jason Clare, who issued a statement to the ABC.
“There is no place for the poison of anti-Semitism and this sort of hate, plain and simple,” he said.
Mr Clare said he had now instructed his department to investigate the school’s compliance with the Australian Education Act, including the “fit and proper person requirements of the act”.
A statement issued by NSW acting Education and Early Learning Minister, John Graham, said the state’s Education Standards Authority was “currently reviewing the issues raised and will report back to the Deputy Premier and Education Minister”.
“The NSW government expects leaders of all schools to set an example of tolerance and respect,” the statement said.
“Anti-Semitism has no place in our schools.”
‘Extremist statements’
Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory said he was disappointed to see the “extremist statements” from the principal.
“These [Facebook posts] were in a public social media profile,” he said.
“So there wasn’t any attempt to make it private, so students could have accessed that.
“So we have real concerns about the content of what is being taught in the school.”
Mr Gregory said criticism of Israel was not automatically anti-Semitic “but that’s not at all what we are dealing with in this case”.
“Talking about how they are going to burn in the lowest pits of hellfire, this is crossing the line … it’s demonising Jews.”
Riverina MP Michael McCormack said Mr Albaf should apologise over his comments.
“He needs to pull his head right in, he needs to understand that he’s got a very responsible position in the community,” Mr McCormack said.
“[The community] doesn’t need comments like this, doesn’t need people coming there stirring up trouble, and doesn’t certainly need these sorts of comments radicalising children.”
According to its website, the New Madinah College is an Islamic school where students learn about the Qur’an, the Arabic language and Islamic values and principles, as well as core curricular subjects from kindergarten to year 10.
The ABC contacted Mr Albaf through his Facebook page for comment, but his response was “I’m currently away and unavailable to comment or interview”.
The ABC also contacted the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, but it declined to comment.
