Professor Raphael Israeli responds:

I was asked not to reveal where it came from. I honor that. I thank those who bring attention to the gloobal jihad for supporting me and I think Professor Israeli experienced shameless humiliation in Australia. Here is his explanation of what went down:

Robbers of Reputation

By Raphael Israeli

We can do no better than to seek the insights of Shakespeare if we want to truly understand the importance of a man’s reputation. In Othello, Iago says to the Moor that he who steals his purse steals trash, but he who robs him of his good name makes him poor indeed.

I was invited to Australia as scholar-in-residence at The Shalom Institute because of my carefully built reputation over a lifetime as an academic, an author and a man who is cautious with his statements, but who bases his conclusions on the reflection of the meaning of data.

My books have been published throughout the world. I guard my reputation jealously through hard work and meticulous research. Yet the Australian Jewish News’ misrepresentation of remarks attributed to me has endangered my reputation, and now I am portrayed as a racist and an extremist.

But worse, much worse, than this is the way in which some of those who invited me to this country, and other Jewish community leaders have sought to distance themselves from me. When interviewed by media about my alleged remarks, some community leaders didn’t ask whether or nor I’d been misquoted or misrepresented, but simply denied me thrice, telling the world that they vehemently disagreed with me and my statements. They were obviously more concerned about any damage that might be done to the reputation of the Jewish community, or to their relationship with the Islamic community, than they were about the truth.

So let me explain what happened when I was interviewed by the Australian Jewish News’ journalist. He wanted to speak to me, because I’m a Professor of Middle East Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and I have written a number of books about Muslim communities. My next book is about the Third Islamic Invasion of Europe. (the first was the Arab conquest of Spain and Portugal; the second was the Ottoman invasion in the 16th Century; and the third is happening today with unchecked immigration and virulent Imams whipping up anti-Western sentiment and antisemitism).

The journalist asked me whether European nations should limit Muslim immigration, bearing in mind that France is now 10% Muslim and this is a pattern being followed in other nations. I said that limitation of unchecked immigration was becoming part of European policy. He asked whether this should be the case in Australia. I said that it should be the case where-ever Muslim immigration causes a problem. He pressed me. “Should Australia limit Muslim immigration?” and I replied, “Yes, if it’s a problem”.

Suddenly, having stated precisely what your Prime Minister and Treasurer have already said, and what is happening in a number of nations, I am branded a racist, an extremist, and a purveyor of hatred.

I am old and savvy enough to know the danger of reckless statements. But it is difficult to protect oneself against the misrepresentation of one’s words, not in their substance but in their context and in the fashion they were extracted from me, when they become a front page story, regardless of the damage to a man’s reputation.

What distressed me to my very core, however, was the way in which the Jewish Board of Deputies rushed to defend their reputations in the media, making damaging statements about me and cancelling my many speaking engagements without doing me the courtesy of checking thus depriving audiences in Australia and New Zealand of any insights I might have been able to share concerning my research into the question which is uppermost in Jewish Australians’ minds.

Guarding the reputation of the Australian Jewish community is of great importance; but so is dealing in the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have been denied the support of my fellow Jews, on which I should have been able to rely. And worst of all, this incident is being viewed and considered around the Jewish world by those who might follow in my footsteps, and Jewish Australia’s reputation has been sadly diminished.