Australian political and cultural life has taken a shocking turn for the worse, with journalist Andrew Bolt revealing that he has had to move his family to a safe location after receiving death threats from supporters of the Islamic State. He revealed this information as he was interviewing Pauline Hanson for Sky News.
Andrew Bolt has been very assertive in his criticism of the ideology of Islam and its links to terrorism for many years. These threats appear to have come directly as a result of his recent criticism of the Grand Mufti of Australia for making implied threats of violence.
From the Australian:
“The Grand Mufti of Australia has just proved that Pauline Hanson is right to feel threatened by Islam in this country,” he wrote in Melbourne’s Herald Sun. He criticised the Mufti for warning in an open letter that criticism of anti-gay comments by Sheik Shady Alsuleiman risks inciting Islamic extremism.
“Again and again, whether the Mufti means this or not, the clear inference is that if we criticise Islam or his clerics we risk death,” he wrote.
“What free society can tolerate such an implied threat or danger? How can the Mufti not see that the true responsibility for Islamist terrorism lies not with the victims but with the perpetrators — and with the faith which seems to licence them to mass murder?”
What is astounding about this is that Andrew Bolt has criticised the Mufti for saying that criticism of Islam could inflame to violence and terrorism, and threats of violence and terrorism have been levelled against Andrew Bolt as a result.
At this point, the expression Q.E.D. is appropriate.
The XYZ will continue to report on this story.
Update: Here is a video of a segment of Bolt’s interview with Hanson.
Photo by purple camel 