Many have been talking about the way that much of the the Muslim community in Australia has sought to defend the behavior of two Muslim NSW Health nurses on Bankstown, deflect accountability, and excuse inexcusable ethical failings.
These images (from this article), for example, are all over Twitter:
Haviv Rettig Gur's words echo my own thoughts and fears, but I worry that he and I both may be falling into Islamophobia. Haviv writes:
What if there really is a problem in the Muslim world, a crisis of modernity, of equality and democracy, minorities hounded into nonexistence, systematic oppression of women, rampant antisemitism? And what if this deep crisis is being carried into the West by Muslim diasporas?
I mean...he's asking the same question I'm asking lately, but his phrasing feels awfully similar to Tucker Carlson's "just asking questions," doesn't it? That makes me feel uneasy. I admire Haviv's work. I think he's intellectually honest and genuinely insightful. I don't think he's motivated by bigotry and I don't think he hates Muslims, but this phrasing and framing leaves me feeling uncomfortable.
Hend Amry, a Libyan-American who currently lives in Qatar, responds to Haviv:
just asking questions while I wipe them out
Haviv:
I’m wiping out Islam? That’s your answer? I admire Islam, I first seriously encountered it via medieval Jewish philosophers. I know a bit about the vast diversity it contains. And now, knowing that, reread the tweet and answer the actual point.
Hend Amry:
“What if there really is a problem in the Jewish world, a crisis of modernity, of equality and democracy, minorities hounded into nonexistence, systematic oppression of women, rampant Islamophobia? And what if this deep crisis is being carried into the West by Jewish diasporas?” We know what a Nazi sounds like, changing the subject doesn’t change it.
The false equivalence and Holocaust inversion lost her this argument.
Haviv Rettig Gur:
How dull and racist. Yes, let’s compare Muslims to Jews on this point. The greatest fights among Jews today are about Jewish mistakes and misdeeds. Jewish forums have been intensely debating Gaza for 17 months. How many Muslim forums and institutions have debated Muslim violence? Meanwhile, Jews everywhere are constantly told, often by Muslims, that they must distance themselves from other Jews or be deemed complicit. Jews everywhere have become legitimate targets for harassment on this point. Muslims are not similarly required to fret about the crimes happening within and in the name of their religion. (Many do, but they’re a small minority.) And to ask of them to criticize or distance themselves is deemed racist by the likes of Hend. This started as a comment on those murder-encouraging Australian nurses. What do we think? Did their own community respond as the Australian Jewish community would have responded in their shoes?
Haviv has what I think is a legitimate point, but perhaps he has missed the fact that some Muslim groups in Australia did respond with firm condemnation:
From SBS:
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Perth said the nurses' comments "not only violate the sanctity of human life, but also fundamentally contradict the teachings". [Full statement here] Imam Syed Wadood Janud of Perth's Nasir Mosque said the comments were "factually contradictory to what Islam teaches about the afterlife". "Islam teaches respect, compassion, and justice for all humanity, and such vile remarks have no place in our faith," he said in a statement. In the same statement, Ata Ul Hadi, a senior resident doctor at Armadale Health Service, said he was shocked that healthcare professionals could hold "such insensitive ideas about human life". "As a Muslim, I have a deep regard for the struggles, pains, and vulnerabilities of my patients. I strive every day to go above and beyond to ease their suffering," he said. "How anyone in the health sector could see their duty any differently is incomprehensible." The statement reiterated Islam is a religion of "peace, compassion and respect for all humanity", and said the community stands against hatred, bigotry and discrimination. Imam Kamran Tahir of Adelaide's largest mosque, Mahmood Mosque, was also critical. "The comments made by the nurses are completely against the teachings of Islam. Service to mankind is the essence of Islam," he said. "The fundamental qualities that we must all acquire to serve mankind are love for humanity and kindness in our hearts for others." ...
A joint statement by 24 Hazara [Afghan ethnic group] community organisations said the alleged threats against patients were "abhorrent" and that all individuals "deserve compassionate and equitable treatment" from healthcare providers. "These comments are deeply disturbing and fly in the face of everything we stand for as a community," the organisations said in a statement. "We believe in the inherent dignity and worth of every human being, regardless of their ethnicity or religion." The statement also said Hazara organisations were "particularly saddened" to learn that one of the nurses, Ahmad Rashad Nadir, had come to Australia from Afghanistan. It said that individual's comments "do not reflect the values of diaspora communities from Afghanistan." "Our community has always valued inclusivity and understanding," a spokesperson said. "This incident does not represent who we are."
Haviv is correct that if the roles were reversed, the international Jewish community would be nearly monolithic in its fierce condemnation of any Jewish clinicians who threatened patients based on religion, national origin, or ethnicity.
The Muslim world, however, is not monolithic. As Haviv himself wrote: "I admire Islam, I first seriously encountered it via medieval Jewish philosophers. I know a bit about the vast diversity it contains."
Muslim groups which seek to excuse Ahmad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh, groups who suggest the international reaction of revulsion to their behavior is inappropriate or driven by Islamophobia should be cordially invited to perform anatomically impossible feats of self-buggery - but that's not who all Australian Muslims are and it seems to me that we'd do well to support and amplify the Muslim voices who so clearly, without reservation, condemn their co-religionists' disgusting behavior.
These Muslim communities should not just be embraced as allies of Australia's Jews, but of all people everywhere who treasure liberal values and secular pluralism.
