Turnbull is repeating a common Leftist/Islamic supremacist talking point: that to discuss how jihadis use the texts and teachings of Islam to justify violence and make recruits among peaceful Muslims is “tagging all Muslims with the crimes of a few.” Turnbull also doubtless has in mind Trump’s proposed moratorium on Muslim immigration, which in the Left’s view is punishing all Muslims for the crimes of a few, although no one has come up with any plan for distinguishing jihadis from peaceful Muslims.
Turnbull also repeats another increasingly common talking point when he says: “Seeking to demonize or denigrate all Muslims or seek to alienate all Muslims and suggest they’re somehow not part of Australia, or shouldn’t be in Australia, is exactly what the extremists and terrorists are saying to the Muslim community.”
No one is actually seeking to demonize or denigrate all Muslims. I’ve been accused for years of saying that all Muslims are terrorists or terror sympathizers; no one has yet produced a quote from me to substantiate this claim, but it is nonetheless often made, because the claim itself is actually an attempt to discredit foes of jihad terror.
But Turnbull’s talking point here is that to speak honestly about the jihad threat is “playing into the hands” of jihadis. The idea is that saying that Muslims shouldn’t be in Australia will make Muslims who are in Australia think they’re not welcome, and lead them to join terror groups. It doesn’t seem to occur to Turnbull that if that is really what they would do, then they didn’t really have much of a problem with the terror groups in the first place — and that itself is problematic.
Turnbull’s formulation of this point is just a slightly more sophisticated version of what London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “We play straight into the hands of those who seek to divide us, of extremists and terrorists around the world, when we imply that it is not possible to hold Western values and to be a Muslim.” Khan’s statement assumes that Muslims will be more likely to join jihad terror groups because of what we say and don’t say, and so does Turnbull’s. In Turnbull’s world, as in Khan’s, we have to watch what we say, because saying the wrong thing will drive Muslims to jihad. It’s all up to us. The idea that Muslims might join jihad groups for reasons of their own that have nothing to do with what we do or don’t do doesn’t occur to them. It’s always the Infidel’s fault, and the Infidel’s responsibility.
“Aussie PM warns colleagues against ‘demonizing’ Muslim-Australians in Parliament,” Xinhua, September 16, 2016 (thanks to Lookmann):
CANBERRA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) — Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned Parliamentary colleagues that going out of their way to ostracize Muslims is ‘playing into the hands’ of extremist terror groups such as Islamic State (IS)….
“Tagging all Muslims with the crimes of a few is fundamentally wrong and it’s also counter-productive,” Turnbull told Macquarie Radio on Friday.
“Seeking to demonize or denigrate all Muslims or seek to alienate all Muslims and suggest they’re somehow not part of Australia, or shouldn’t be in Australia, is exactly what the extremists and terrorists are saying to the Muslim community.”
Turnbull’s comments come after controversial One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson took aim at Australia’s immigration policy. she called for a ban on Muslin immigration to Australia as the nation is at risk of being “swamped” by those of Islamic faith.
She was later joined by lower House MP George Christensen who questioned why some factions of the Islamic society are hesitant to embrace “Australian vales”.
“Why did they choose to come to Australia in the first place?” Christensen said in Parliament on Thursday.
“It is not necessary to travel halfway around the world to come to Australia and demand that Australians change their culture, their society and their laws to match those of their former homeland.”…
“We are the most successful multi-cultural society in the world, Australian Muslims are part of that successful multicultural society,” Turnbull told Macquarie Radio on Friday.