What Can We Learn from the Sydney Hostage Taking

Seventeen hostages were held for more than 16 hours in Sydney's Lindt Chocolat Cafe by a gunman who had a flag bearing an Islamic declaration of faith that has been used by jihadists. Sydney police say three people have died, including the gunman, during the hostage crisis that ended when officers stormed the downtown cafe. Police said the gunman was killed in a confrontation with police early Tuesday morning and that a 34-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman also died. Four other people were injured. Heavily-armed police entered the cafe after they heard a number of gunshots from inside, according to New South Wales state police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, who said during a news conference that "police decided to enter because they believed that at that time, if they didn't enter, there would have been many more lives lost." It is not yet clear whether the two killed hostages were caught in crossfire, or shot by the gunman. Among the four wounded was a police officer shot in the face. ~~~~~ International media have described the gunman as a "lone wolf" well-known to local authorities because of his one-man street protests and serious criminal charges under New South Wales law. Media have named him as Man Haron Monis, 50, a self-proclaimed Moslem cleric who was previously convicted of writing hate letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. He was later charged with the sexual assault of a woman in 2002. NSW police say the gunman's act was not a concerted terrorism event or act. "It's a damaged goods individual who's done something outrageous," his former lawyer, Manny Conditsis, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. His beliefs are "just so powerful that it clouds his vision for common sense and objectiveness," Conditsis said. ~~~~~ Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said : "It is profoundly shocking that innocent people should be held hostage by an armed person claiming political motivation." Lindt Australia thanked the public for its support : "Our prayers are with the staff and customers involved and all their friends and families," the company wrote in a Facebook post Australia has been on high alert in its three largest cities - Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane - since September when jihadist threats surfaced. One man arrested during a series of raids in Sydney was charged with conspiring with an ISIS leader in Syria to behead a random person in downtown Sydney. ~~~~~ International media has also been highlighting messages of solidarity to Moslems by Australian social-media users offering to accompany anyone who felt intimidated on public transit. The Twitter hashtag "IllRideWithYou" had been used more than 90,000 times by early Tuesday, as tweeters tried to allay fears of anti-Islamic attacks on Australia's streets. The #IllRideWithYou hashtag has now gone global, with uses being reported in the US, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. It started when Sydneyite Rachael Jacobs wrote on Facebook that she had seen a woman on the train remove her headscarf and offered to walk with her. Kristen Boschma, a social media manager in Melbourne, printed out a sticker with the hashtag and stuck it on her bag. Her photo of the sticker was retweeted hundreds of times. That spurred a Twitter campaign in which users offered to travel on public transit with those in Islamic dress who felt insecure. Users were encouraged to supply details of their travel routes to ensure their online gestures were practical. Boschma said she wanted to send a message of support "not just for the Moslem community, but for anyone who feels a bit scared or insecure about taking transport or being out and about." Boschma said she hoped the siege would prove "galvanizing rather than polarizing" for Australia. ~~~~~ Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said it well : " Australia is a peaceful, open and generous society" that won't change because of what happened in Sydney. And, indeed, the act of Man Haron Monis seems to be that of a mentally unstable individual who was a copycat seeking attention and possibly acceptance by ISIS, whom he wrote he followed on his Facebook page. That does not make ISIS less responsible for the violence and death that stalked Sydney. But it was heartening to hear Professor Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, the Australian Grand Mufti of Islam, issue a statement on behalf of the Moslem community : "The Grand Mufti and the Australian National Imams Council condemn this criminal act unequivocally and reiterate that such actions are denounced in part and in whole in Islam," the statement read. The Arab Council of Australia also issued a statement saying it was "horrified" by the hostage taking. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the Sydney incident made me think, and not for the first time, of the four Iraqi children, all under 15, who were beheaded by ISIS because they refused to convert to Islam. We should always be cautious in accepting as true every horror story coming out of the Middle East. Some are internet hoaxes, but the report of the four children's beheadings has been published by the UK Daily Telegraph and confirmed by the Reverend Canon Andrew White, head of the only Anglican church in Iraq. White described in a recent interview some of the atrocities committed against Iraqi Christians by ISIS, including the beheading of the four children who told their killers, “We love Yeshua [Jesus], we have always loved Yeshua.” Canon White, known as the “Vicar of Baghdad” because of his church there, St. George’s, talked about the murders during an interview in Israel this month with the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). Canon White, who was being hunted by ISIS jihadists in Iraq, was ordered to go to Israel several weeks ago by his religious superior, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in part because Canon White has multiple sclerosis that somewhat impairs both his speech and his ability to walk. White told CBN that it has become "impossible" for Christians to live in northern Iraq, which has fallen under ISIS control. In 2003, there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq. Today, there are 250,000 - and many of them have been driven out of their homes in northern Iraq. ~~~ We still have not heard any concerted Middle East condemnation of the ISIS effort to eradicate Christianity in Iraq and Syria. It speaks volumes about the indoctrinated docility of Middle East Moslems, as well as of their fear of ISIS. The tough stand of the Australian Grand Mufti is perhaps a lesson for us Christians. It is not all of Islam that favors or condones by its silence the radical terrorist political Islam of ISIS. It is a characteristic of Middle East Islam, kowed by a lack of political freedom and a history of tryannical sectarian leaders fighting each other for territorial conquest.