A prominent figure in the Lebanese Islamic community in Sydney, Dr Jamal Rifi, believes that his "friend" Prime Minister Scott Morrison "doesn't hate Muslims".
Speaking to SBS Arabic24 on Tuesday, Dr Rifi said he wanted to set the record straight about the prime minister, following the resurfacing of a 2011 report which accused Mr Morrison, the then opposition immigration spokesman, of encouraging colleagues to use community concerns about Muslim migration for political gain.
Mr Morrison has consistently denied the allegation by unnamed sources who spoke to Fairfax Media.
Dr Rifi, who was repeatedly mentioned by the PM during an interview with Waleed Aly on Ten's The Project on Thursday, believed any comments made by Mr Morrison during the meeting were taken out of context.
Dr Jamal Rifi and Prime Minister Scott Morrison Source: AAP
"He [Scott Morrison] talked about the issue back then because he wanted to address it and deal with the matter constructively," Dr Rifi said.
During the interview with Mr Aly, Mr Morrison again denied the accusations made in the Fairfax report, saying: "I've always been deeply concerned about attitudes towards people of Muslim faith in our community."
"I was acknowledging that there were these fears in the community and that we had to address them, not exploit them," he added.
Dr Rifa said his friendship with the prime minister dated back to 2009 when he accompanied Mr Morrison, who was then the federal member for Cronulla, on a 6-day trip to the Kokoda Track, along with NSW MP for Blaxland Jason Clare and a group of Muslim youngsters from both electorates.
"The physical and emotional effort was enormous but as a result, we built friendships and new bridges; That was the first time I met the PM,” Dr Rifi said.
Over the past 10 years, Dr Rifi has accompanied Mr Morrison on numerous visits to mosques and said he witnessed the prime minister engaging in discussions with Muslim youths.
"We gave him books about Islam and Muslims in Australia."
The resurfacing of the 2011 report came amid concerns from Australia's Muslim community about Islamophobia following the Christchurch attack.
The Grand Mufti of Australia and New Zealand Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed called for new laws to protect Muslims, while more than 400 people signed a statement directed at the Liberal Party, in which they accused politicians of the Coalition of creating a political climate that had "demonised the Muslim community".
The statement read: “We remember when Liberal Party senators lined up to kiss, hug and shake hands with Pauline Hanson – a woman who has referred to Islam as a ‘disease’ – following her openly Islamophobic return speech to Parliament.”
Dr Rifi affirmed that his defence of the prime minister was based on “facts” and “history”.
“Pointing fingers at the prime minister and accusing him of hating Muslims is wrong," Dr Rifi said.
"This man does not hate Muslims."
Dr Rifi was an attendee at a meeting with the prime minister following the Bourke Street stabbing attack in 2018, which was boycotted by Australia's most prominent Muslim leaders.
The meeting was called amid tensions within the community over Mr Morrison's appeal for Muslim leaders to do more to tackle radical Islam.
