Gad Amr: A positive example for Muslims in Australia
Gad Amr has been an Australian citizen for over twenty years. He’s never been to court and has never been investigated or accused of any criminal activity.
Gad Amr is also Muslim.
Usually the stories in the media regarding Muslims take on a sharply negative tone. The religion itself seems to carry an abundance of nutjobs self styled clerics who every few months seem to feel the need to remind Australia just how outspoken they can be.
In the face of extreme provocation, it is refreshing to see that not all Muslims give in to the violent sociopath stereotype.
The following is a report from the ABC’s Media Watch program. The two main players in the video are Simon Fuller, a (now ex) Channel Nine camera man and Gad Amr, father of Omar Amr.
Omar Amr is up for charges in relation to riots that occured at a Bob Jane Tmart store in Oakleigh after an Easternats. For those of you not familiar with Easternats thing a crowd of bogans standing around cheering cars doing doughnuts (yes it’s as exciting as it sounds).
Instead I want to draw attention to how his father, Gad Amr, handled himself. In the face of such direct provocation it’s nothing short of admirable that Gad kept a cool head and maintained overly polite requests that Simon Fuller and co. leave him and his son alone.
Personally I hate it when we hear about some crime and the only shots the media get are of criminals hiding behind clothes but in this case they clearly got the shots they were after. What seems to follow is then inexplicable vindictiveness on Fuller’s behalf.
Gad Amr seems completely wise to this and even stops his son Omar from engaging Fuller knowing full well they are only there for a reaction. When this fails out comes Fuller with the terrorist remark and even then, despite the Muslim stereotype Gad goes off to find police rather then directly confront Fuller.
This shows an incredible amount of self restraint and willpower. I’m a big believer of earning respect and in my eyes Gad Amr has definitely earned it. This, ladies and gentlemen is how you handle yourself with dignity.
Take note Muslims of Australia it’s people like Amr that we should be hearing more about. Instead of putting up crazy fundamentalist posterboys, why not take some time to promote people like Gad Amr.
With Islamic crazies in Somalia recently banning music, movies, musical ringtones and bras (seriously wtf?), it’s easy to see how tipped the scales are in terms of irrational, violent and violent Islam vs. the calm, rational and very sensible image portrayed by people like Gad Amr.
There clearly are decent muslims out there, so how about letting your voices heard every once in a while?
April 14th, 2010 at 11:22 pm Phil(Quote)
Simon Fuller is a tool. Big time. He even waited for Gad Amr to turn his back and walk away before calling him a terrorist.
Coward much?
April 14th, 2010 at 11:38 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Whilst I’m not calling Fuller a hero or anything, I think it was more a ‘oh crap ‘fuck you’ didn’t work and I’m not going to get that classic muslim reaction. Quick say something more provocative!’ reaction.
Still no excuse and quite damning as a reflection Australian media itself. From what I understand he wasn’t even there for a tabloid show like A Current Affair or Today Tonight, he was there for the nightly news.
This in itself should be raising a few eyebrows.
April 15th, 2010 at 9:04 am legal rights?(Quote)
I saw the clip on channel 7 and I though here we go again; but seriously after looking at that clip… I just wish there is some legal action that can be taken against Simon Fuller. Just Shocking!
Can this behavour be proved as Harassment or something?
April 15th, 2010 at 11:21 am Daniel(Quote)
Recommended reading on this topic: People Like Us: How Arrogance Is Dividing Islam and the West, by Waleed Aly.
April 15th, 2010 at 1:46 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
@legal rights?
I’m not a lawyer but in the Media Watch clip Gad Amr was releasing statements via a lawyer. I assume if there is any avenue for legal action against either Fuller, Channel 7 or 9 that it would be pursued.
I imagine Fuller’s behaviour warrants harassment but whether it’s enough to sue over I’m not too sure.
@Daniel
Thanks for that Daniel, looks interesting. Not too keen on paying $50 USD for it on Amazon so I’ve put in a notification request at the Book Depository if they ever restock it. Not holding my breath though.
April 16th, 2010 at 3:35 am Gi(Quote)
I agree with your views entirely and that Gad Amr acted amicably. But i strongly disagree with your comment about his son, “Omar does look like your typical meathead who’d get involved in riots at a bogan car event.”
This comment contradicts your views about stereotyping people, and about making false assumptions. I actually found Omar Amrs actions also very commendable as he stood up for his father, and made no aggressive actions towards the journalists, instead it was he who suggested to find the cops.
If he’s as you described him, ‘meathead’ the first thing he could of done is smash the camera; but instead decided to go to the police.
April 16th, 2010 at 4:05 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
It’s been noted that the Easternats Oakleigh riots were heavily influenced by alcohol and that there was a lot of high quality footage of the incident. If the police have charged Omar then I’m pretty confident they’ve got a pretty strong case against him.
My comments without the charges and high probability of footage existing of him participating in the riots might be stereotyping, with them however I’m just stating the obvious. You can just picture a baseball bat in one hand and a can of whatever ethnic bogans are drinking these days in the other.
As for Omar keeping his cool, I think you’ll find that people behave slightly differently when they are sober and have just walked out of a court over serious charges as opposed to being drunk late at night and and spurred on by mob mentality. Perhaps if he was as restrained as he was with Simon Fuller on the night of the Oakleigh riots he wouldn’t have been in court to begin with.
My opinion of Omar Amr’s character remains unchanged.
April 16th, 2010 at 4:10 am Gi(Quote)
Hmmm, you sound like another Fuller!! Are you related by any chance??
April 16th, 2010 at 4:12 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
How is stating that due to the circumstances under which events have unfolded there’s a strong probability that Omar Amr will be found guilty, in any way the same calibre as calling someone who has done nothing wrong a ‘fucking terrorist’?
April 16th, 2010 at 4:16 am Gi(Quote)
Because you’ve made the same assupmtions as Fuller did. Mr Amr was called a terrorist because of the way he looked (Arab) and being a muslim. You’re now calling his son a rioter just because of the way he looks. To me you’re not any better.
April 16th, 2010 at 4:24 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Fuller’s comments were not based on anything other then appearance.
My comments on Omar Amr are weighted by the fact that police have hauled him in over participating in a riot in which an abundance of high quality video footage exists. That and he was at a bogan revhead event.
My opinion of Omar is the same for anyone else who attends Easternats type events too.
Also not all Arabs are muslim, way to racially profile there. Unless Gad Amr told Fuller he was muslim prior to the events unfolding on camera, the comment was made purely on the speculation of Gad’s appearance alone.
April 16th, 2010 at 4:34 am Gi(Quote)
You’ve just contradicted yourself and proven my point, as you’ve stated “purely on the speculation of Gad’s appearance alone.” TOO MUCH SPECULATION GOING ON!!
Whether Omar Amr is found guilty or not is not the point or issue. It’s your remarks about having to look and be a certain way. It’s those kind or remarks that are defamatory and defaming. Furthermore from your remarks, if i see any guy walking down the street half shaven with a baseball bat in his hand, then he must be guilty of being a bogan.
Have you ever thought he might be on his way to a baseball game??
April 16th, 2010 at 4:39 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
How is it speculation given the circumstances? I repeat, the police have dragged Omar Amr in for allegedly participating in the Easternats riots. A lot of high quality footage was shot of the riots so for them to do so it’s a logical conclusion they have a strong case against him.
Fuller speculated on appearance alone, I commented on Omar’s appearance after learning of the above circumstances.
Seriously, do you even live in Australia? If I see a guy walking down the street in Australia (in Oakleigh of all places), half shaven and armed with a baseball bat of bloody course I’m going to think he’s just robbed the local servo or beat the crap out of someone.
On his way to a baseball game in Australia? Please.
April 16th, 2010 at 10:52 am Gi(Quote)
Omars appearance has nothing to do with his circumstance!!
The young man has just been released, hasn’t seen daylight in days, no sleep, starving and probably hasn’t had a change of clothes in days. Then to have cameras and microphones shoved in his face all the way down and across the street, i think is more than anyone can handle. The way he handled the situation and under the circumstances, is to be commendable.
Whether Omar Amr is found guilty or not is not for you to judge, and certainly not based on his appearance.
Furthermore there are baseball games played in Australia, and in fact just to keep you up to date, ever heard of the The Australian baseball team?? Obviously not, but i bet you only see BASEBALL BATS!
April 16th, 2010 at 12:48 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Of course not, his alleged involvement is what got him into his circumstance. That doesn’t mean it’s not a fair call to suggest he’d look right at home at a bogan alcohol fuelled car event.
Sorry but now who’s speculating? I think you’re confusing being held in custody by Victorian police with the Gulags.
I agree, however that doesn’t change the fact that Omar looks like the sort of guy who’d be right at home with a baseball bat in his hand smashing shop windows. I’ve got nothing against his behaviour on the day Simon Fullerhad a go at his dad. His dad was an innocent victim though, whereas I believe Omar isn’t.
Mind you that isn’t to say that if Fuller directed his comments at Omar that’d be acceptable. Just that in spite of showing law abiding behaviour on the day, I think he is probably guilty of participating in the riot.
Judge? Of course not, I don’t have any legal standing. Have an opinon over? Well this is OzSoapbox… good luck going around telling people to not have opinions on anything.
Hahah yeah ok, I salute the Australian baseball team and the one game they probably play each year. Must be a tough gig playing a sport nobody in the country cares about.
Honestly, you’ve got more chance of being assaulted with a baseball bat then driving past a baseball game being played in Australia.
April 16th, 2010 at 3:39 pm Phil(Quote)
@GI, Omar is a meathead. The fact that he is in court being charged with riot and affray proves that. Any one who ends up in court for that is a meathead.
And yes his father is an upstanding citizen and obviously had an effect on his son behaviour in front of Simon Fuller the douchebag.
April 16th, 2010 at 11:14 pm Douglas(Quote)
Sorry to interrupt Creole Creams still on the shelves at Coles …ok as you were
April 17th, 2010 at 11:58 am Lina(Quote)
Thanks Douglas, good to know that creole creams still available, I need some right now!!
I think it is quite irrelevant what a person “Looks like”, assumptions about people based on appearance are nothing more than proof that the media has affect our perceptions and beliefs.
Omar Amr was arrested for “allegedly” participating in the riots, that is fact. However, an allegation is exactly that; an allegation, it is not a condemnation of guilt.
I personally commend Omar for not lashing out physically at Simon Fuller, which is exactly what Fuller seems to have been fishing for. I totally agree with this statement made by ozsoapbox:
As an Australian Muslim myself I was more appalled and offended by the way the prime networks presented the so called news of this story, than the terrorist remark made by fuller. I am not excusing Fuller’s behavior but I am a little concerned that Fuller has become the scapegoat of a much more serious issue.
I am also almost certain that Fuller was just doing his job, as he kept claiming, whilst harassing and provoking Gad and Omar Amr. You have to wonder what kind of employer instructs employees to do their job in this way??????????????????
I think these employers need to be as accountable as Fuller. All three prime networks edited the footage to show a tiny portion of the truth showing Gad Amr calling Fuller ” a bloody idiot”. Seriously, as an observer it looked more like Amr harassing Fuller, not the other way around. Not until one views the full sequence of events does one form an immense respect for Gad Amr’s patience and restrain.
Mr Gad Amr is an outstanding Australian citizen and a positive example for not only Australian Muslims, but all Australians because Muslims are not the only target of defamation in this country. All minority groups would benefit from Mr Amr’s example of restrain when faced with provocation for a negative “hold it against you and your kind” reaction.
April 18th, 2010 at 1:15 pm RA(Quote)
most of the time this type of journalisms are not exposed, and the media try to potray muslims in whatever way they like to in front of the mass people…it’s good that this has been disclosed..thanks for sharing.
April 18th, 2010 at 5:51 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Agreed, it’s worrying that the networks themselves haven’t been blamed for their coverage.
Instead of worrying about filtering our internet, exposing this kind of one sided heavily misleading style of reporting the news is what the broadcast regulators should be worrying about.
April 27th, 2010 at 4:19 pm Ibrahim(Quote)
An excellent post. I just want to clarify that there are only a few nutjob clerics out there; most clerics (unfortunately not so outspoken) neglect to spread the true disciplines of islam. I hope you won’t judge the religion and its followers by a few idiots. Thanks for putting this up.
Sorry I meant most clerics do spread the true disciplines of Islam, but they’re drowned out by a bunch of warmongers who try to take advantage of people’s frustration. Islam is a very peaceful and forward religion.
I apologize on behalf of my fellow Muslims about the few idiots who spread negative and astonishing rulings. People neglect to mention that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had a very high regard for peaceful and neighbourly Christians and Jews. It’s a shame that a few idiots take silly steps to alienate the muslim community.
April 28th, 2010 at 2:53 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Thanks for the input Ibrahim. Although it was a nice gesture I’m not suggesting the rational believers of Islam need to start apologising en masse for the crazy contingent of Islam.
What I’d like to see is a stamping out of it.
Take the catholic church for example and all the child abuse stuff flying around at the moment. Random catholics around the world aren’t neccesarily apologising for the actions of the church but the church as a whole seems to be doing an ok job at expelling those responsible (despite previous failures to do so).
I’d love to see this happen more in Islam. What tends to happen is the Islamic crazies get a platform to air their nonsense and the religion in itself as a whole for the most part does nothing. There seems to be a lack of universification in the Islamic religion, especially on general consensus on the crazies ruining the religion’s image worldwide.
From an outsider perspective this strongly comes across as silent approval.
April 28th, 2010 at 10:27 pm Ibrahim(Quote)
Personally, and this may be true, I feel that the popularity of stereotyped western attitudes and “impiety” (drinking, gambling, etc) that attracted quite a few weak Muslims over the last century has made it seem like anything remotely liberal-sounding is a concession to the West.
That’s not true–for example few people know that “jihad” had strict rules including zero collateral damage (to kids and women as well as plants and vegetation), but nowadays fanatics use the term jihad to signal some kind of idealized “holy war”.
And few people know that in Islam’s original sharia governance included equal rights for non-Muslims (the dhimmi tax known as “jizya” was only a tax paid for military services, because the defence consisted of Muslim soldiers protecting Muslims and non-Muslims alike) and freedom of religion. But nowadays people use the term sharia when they want to stone some alleged adulterers (without any proof) and stir up a frenzy.
It’s a shame because from everything I’ve been taught (and I’m a fairly by-the-book Muslim despite being raised in Canada) Islam has a lot in common with the west. It says in the Quran that while Muslims should never compromise their beliefs and values, that we should reach out to non-Muslims by finding common ground.
There are plenty of decent scholars out there but imho quite a few feel guilty upon criticizing the suicide bombers’ and terrorists’ so-called jihad because they think it’s a concession to, say, Israel or the West. It’s not, because suicide, slaughtering innocents and “collateral damage” has no place in Islam anyway.
It’s worth noting that the early extremists in the seventh century were referred to as “the dogs of hell” by the Prophet (S.A.W) because of their inhumanity and extremism. I think just as moderate scholars try to stamp out irreligiosity like extramarital affairs, etc, they should also make a collective effort to drown out the voices of extremism.
It’s a shame that many Muslims particularly in third world countries aren’t educated abt Islam annd end up taking anything a religious-looking fanatic says for granted.
Also I’m not trying to apologize for the radicals, but as Muslims it is our duty to try and spread the real message of Islam as best we can. Thanks for bringing this up!
May 4th, 2010 at 11:00 am et(Quote)
Ibrahim demonstrates there are Muslims who are level headed and dont seem to have a point to prove. They want peace as much as the rest of us do. The spreading of “the real message of Islam” is important to not only their own people, but to help us understand. It is the same with all cultures….stay focused on the real message and not a constant message of fear and hate.
May 4th, 2010 at 11:07 am et(Quote)
Again, the Judicial System needs to be squashed, burned and reformed to be inline with the crimes that are committed. Going to court these days isn’t as scary to a criminal anymore because of all the loop holes that can be found. True to sentencing should not only be given to the most hideous crimes, but for even the simplest ones. No chance of parole until the time is served! Community work should be scrapped to, that is a joke. Make the crims scared again and this might change their minds.
May 4th, 2010 at 12:38 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
@Ibrahim
This is in itself perhaps the biggest tragedy of Islam. The fact that, as you mentioned, the Islam that gets bandied about today is quite a big departure from what was originally taught.
In other religions when differences in teachings like this occured seperate arms of the religion were formed. Yet this doesn’t appear to be so in Islam. Is there a reason for this?
Also what happens if a ‘moderate’ muslim starts discussing religion with a fundamentalist? Love to be a fly on the wall for that one
.
May 4th, 2010 at 2:00 pm Ibrahim(Quote)
One of the problems imho is from the lack of education, including religious education, among Muslims nowadays. Islam in terms of spirituality is a largely individual religion in that we don’t have priests, confessioners etc…basically it’s up to a Muslim to do their best in life. Scholars and religious leaders are mostly just there to help, as experts you could say.
Unfortunately in the latter days of the Islamic civilization a lot of local cultural traditions got mixed up with Islamic ones. For example, the genital mutilation that occurs with Muslim women in Africa has no grounding in Islam; there is a “weak” ie unreliable hadith where a woman who wanted to circumsise was allowed to, but in general that sort of thing, especially against the person’s will, is not allowed and has been called “Islamic” by its defenders.
One branch of “fundamentalists” who get blamed a lot nowadays are the so-called Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia. They cop a lot of criticism, a lot of it probably justified, but I can only speak of my own experience and when I lived there I found that their society, despite having its flaws, was religiously very well-grounded. There wasn’t the sort of baseless superstition that fools uneducated Muslims in other parts of the world; largely the Muslims there were a well-knit community who did have their problems (the saudi upper class are famous for being filthy-rich and a bit snobbish) but didn’t resort to religious extremism.
Unfortunately some of these “Wahhabis” have supported extremist acts, which is a shame, but I think if the proper, uncomplicated teachings of Islam can somehow be well-taught to rich and poor Muslims, we have a hope.
Re the “moderate” discussing with the “fundamentalist”, it happens more often than you’d think.
May 4th, 2010 at 6:03 pm Lina(Quote)
Thank you Ibrahim for clarifying a point that I have wanted to address but unfortunately have not had a chance to do until now.
Ozsoapbox Said:
It is important to point out here that Islam is very different from Catholicism in that we do not have a political and religious hierarchy as does the Catholic Church. The church speaks through the Church as both a political and Religious body as an entity in itself regardless of its followers.
Islam, as Ibrahim pointed out is very much an individual religion. We have no leaders and no body to speak on behalf of Muslims. Each individual Muslim is an advocate for Islam. This is why Muslims often feel the need to clarify and apologise for the actions of others. Ibrahim’s apology here is the equivalence of the “Church voice” on any issue. This equivalence may not be fully understood by the Western world and non-Muslims but it our Islamic responsibility as Individuals within Islam.
Furthermore, there are many Islamic Scholars that are continuously speaking out in public forums against these religious crazies, but the Western World media chooses to highlight the crazies and not their opposers. Again we get back to the issue of the mass media and what they choose to portray and how they choose to portray it. You have to ask yourself who’s agenda are they serving and why? We get only 10% of the truth and 90% propaganda and hype. That 10% never includes the voices of Muslims such as Hamza Yusuf or Yusuf Islam (both Anglo Muslims) who are constantly condemning the actions of these extremists who have truly lost the plot of what Islam is.
May 4th, 2010 at 9:21 pm et(Quote)
Excellent comments Lina and Ibrahim
December 31st, 2010 at 6:47 pm whatevs(Quote)
If you dont like cameras shoved in your face after you are released from court then move to a country where they dont even know what a camera is say, Afghanistan.
There is such a thing as freedom of the press and freedom of speech, if you dont like it move to another part of the earth that will soak your bleeding heart in rose petal oil.
Omar should have had his arse kicked by his dad for even being implicated in the riots let alone shouting at camera crews who were merely doing there job. If someone call me skinny or fat or short or ugly or a racist terrorist or anything else for that matter, that’s fine, I will not get angry to the point where I need to shout at someone to get them to respect me.
Yes Simon provoked the man but Australia got to see what the response was and the response was not quite what we expected so that all turned out ok.
I for 1 dont care about people that fall foul of the law getting their names and faces splashed all over the media so we can expose them for the rats that they are. So I hope you get your day behind bars Omar.
July 8th, 2011 at 3:45 am Walid(Quote)
I appreciate your honest report on the situation. Shame that mainstream media is on a crusade to vilify Muslims left and right.
I’ve favourited your website.
Cheers.