farmdoc's blog post number 127

An Op-ed piece in last Monday’s Jerusalem Post starts with: ‘Aafia Siddiqui, 36, is a Pakistani mother of three, an alumna of MIT and a PhD in neuroscience from Brandeis University. She is also accused of working for al-Qaida and was charged last week in New York City with attempting to kill American soldiers’. The piece, titled ‘The West's Islamist infiltrators’, also catalogues several other recent American cases of attempted infiltration, and lists several other countries including Australia that have been subject to infiltration attempts. The writer, a Stanford University academic, wonders what catastrophe must occur before government agencies seriously confront this internal threat. Me too. The following day, the Daily Telegraph reported that two 23-year-old British Muslims were sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on terrorism charges involving the royal family. Then on Thursday the Age reported that Australian authorities are trying to stop a viciously anti-Semitic satellite TV station – al-Manar, owned by Hezbollah – broadcasting into Australia from Indonesia. Australian Arabic Council chairman Roland Jabbour (pictured) said it was hypocritical for a government that believed in free speech to ban al-Manar. Oh is that so, Mr Jabbour? There is a line; and you, sir, have crossed it. I await with interest the results of ACMA’s enquiries. I fear the presence in Australia of a fifth column. And those concerned do nothing to reassure me there isn't one.