In its front page story titled “Troubling Times,”The Australian Jewish News (Sydney edition, Friday 22 June), accused The Australasian Muslim Times AMUST of veering “into anti-Semitic territory” for publishing three articles that were critical of Israel. The President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Mr Anton Block labelled the articles as “sinister”.
Throughout his rebuke of AMUST, Mr Block stated that, “AMUST’s columns chant almost the entire creed of contemporary anti-Semitism” and “The errors and mindless bigotry are too systematic to be excused as an editorial oversight. The entire edition is a disgrace.”
The Editor-in-Chief of AMUST, Mr Zia Ahmad stated that the severe accusations and harsh comments by Mr Block are unwarranted, unfortunate and highly offensive for a multimedia news platform that has worked tirelessly to promote and work towards community cohesion, harmony and peace in society.
“We publish articles on interfaith understanding and reports on events in our multicultural community including the Jewish community. We have published and continue to publish articles by several writers of the Jewish faith. In fact, one of our regular columnists is Jewish. Notwithstanding, we find it incredibly repugnant therefore, to be tarnished by and accused of anti-Semitism,” Mr Ahmad said.
Read the article by Mohamed Ainullah in the Australasian Muslim Times.