Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi slams one of her OWN staff for appalling Instagram story about synagogue blaze
The chief of staff to Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi has been reprimanded for suggesting the Melbourne synagogue fire could have been a ‘false flag’ operation.
Antoun Issa, who previously worked at The Guardian before making the switch to politics in August, was ‘counselled’ about the ‘inadvisable’ comments by Senator Faruqi after sharing the claim on his personal Instagram page.
The fire at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea in the early hours of December 6 injured one person and caused significant damage. Masked men were seen pouring liquid on the floor beforehand and authorities have since declared it a terrorist attack.
‘We don’t know the full details of the attack,’ Issa said on Monday.
‘It could very well be a white supremacist or someone enraged by the genocide or a Zionist false-flag. They’ve done this before.’
Police said they have identified three suspects and according to Greg Barton, chair in global Islamic politics at Deakin University, ‘It’s likely they’ve found evidence of the suspects’ motivations but are revealing little to not compromise the investigation.’
Senator Faruqi has lashed Issa’s comments as ‘inadvisable’ and ‘inappropriate’.
‘I do not agree with it, and have counselled my staff member about it,’ Faruqi said in a statement to the Sydney Morning Herald, while Greens leader Adam Bandt also called the comments inappropriate.
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi (pictured) said the comments were ‘inappropriate’ and said she had ‘counselled’ her chief of staff Antoun Issa over the matter
Greens staffer and former journalist Antoun Issa (left) suggested the Melbourne synagogue fire could have been a ‘false flag’ attack in a post on social media
Issa told the publication he had intended the post to be a warning about not jumping to conclusions over who was responsible for the attack.
‘In hindsight, I regret this post and it was inappropriate,’ the chief of staff said.
‘This post was intended to be an academic exercise about the risks of ascribing blame for a crime before the police have come to their conclusions, especially given the prevalence of white supremacy and far-right extremism.’
Issa has previously shared pro-Palestine views on his social media.
It comes as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu issued a fiery response to the synagogue attack and slammed his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese over a perceived ‘anti-Israel’ view.
‘Unfortunately, it is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israel position of the Labor government in Australia,’ he said.
Mr Netanyahu took aim at the Australian government’s ‘scandalous decision’ to support a United Nations resolution that called on Israel to ‘bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as rapidly as possible’.
Mr Albanese has since fired back and said antisemitism has no place in Australia and he unequivocally condemned the ‘shameful’ attack.
Photos from the scene showed the Synagogue well alight (pictured) as firefighters battled to douse the flames as it ripped through the building
The aftermath of the fire on December 6 shows significant damage to the building
Flowers left outside the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea in Melbourne’s south along with a sign reading ‘we choose unity’
Mr Albanese has committed an extra $32.5million to increase security at Jewish community sites, including schools and synagogues, across the country.
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said the attack did not represent the Palestinian community in Australia, despite Israel’s military offensive in the Palestinian territory of Gaza in the Middle East.
‘We condemn that act. We stand with our brothers and sisters who are Jewish. (If) it is somebody that thinks they’re on our side… there is no room for that,’ he said.
