The Muslim World League (MWL) denounced on Tuesday an attack on Jewish boys committed by Muslim students in Australia, calling it “appalling and barbaric.”
Last week Australian media broadcasted images showing a Jewish student pressured to kneel and kiss the shoes of his Muslim classmate.
According to local reports, the Jewish student who was in the video kissing the shoes of the Muslim boy was a 12-year-old from Melbourne.
In a separate incident, a five-year-old boy was allegedly called a “Jewish cockroach” and was repeatedly bullied, local daily The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
“This appalling and barbaric act is contrary to the doctrine of Islam,” Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, the secretary general of MWL said in a statement, noting that any person who does this is a disrespectful individual who wrongs Islam.
Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, the secretary general of the Muslim World League
In Islam, Judaism is considered a divine religion and Allah called the Jews and Christians “the People of the Book,” Al-Issa explained.
Al-Issa reiterated the MWL’s condemnation of any abusive behavior toward anyone based on their religion, culture, ethnicity or color. This includes abuse of Islam by extremists, even if the attacks are from within the Islamic community, he added.
The MWL statement was issued from Makkah on “behalf of all Muslims and countries affiliated with the organization's secretariat, branch bodies and global councils,” it read.
