Free Republic

THE brutal nihilism of Islamist terrorism is a difficult concept for most of us to understand, but comprehend it we must. ..... Nothing underlined the denial and delusion of the political class more than the statement by the Australian Press Council chairman Julian Disney chastising media coverage of what he called the “Sydney hostage incident”. He was reacting to complaints about News Corp Australia’s Daily Telegraph and its special Monday afternoon edition linking the attack to Islamic State under the headline “Death cult CBD attack”. The perpetrator of this atrocity defined himself by Islamism; a self-styled Shia cleric, he objected...

As the Sydney siege unfolded in the Lindt cafe, a Channel Seven cameraman was watching it all through his camera lens and providing vital information and vision for police snipers. Veteran cameraman Greg Parker remained in the network's newsroom as his colleagues were all evacuated around him. He was accompanied by a member of the force's crack shooting squad, who asked him to keep filming as authorities assessed the movements of the crazed gunman and his treatment of the 18 hostages. The extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary measures. Usually, in any critical situation, the media would be ushered well away...

On Monday, Australian police stormed the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Sydney, where an Islamist terrorist named Man Haron Monis had taken dozens of hostages and held them for 17 hours. Three people were killed, including Monis, and several others were wounded. Monis, an Iranian immigrant, had a long criminal record, including 40 charges for indecent and sexual assault, as well as an outstanding charge for accessory to murder in the killing of his ex-wife. Before his death, Monis requested an ISIS flag, and forced hostages to hold up the so-called Shahada flag, which proclaims in Arabic, "There Is No God...

Australia is a "nation of victims" with citizens unable to properly protect themselves with weapons, pro-gun crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm has said. The Liberal Democrat said he wanted a calm, measured discussion about the right to "practical self-defence" in the wake of the deadly Sydney siege. "What happened in that cafe would have been most unlikely to have occurred in Florida, Texas, or Vermont, or Alaska in America, or perhaps even Switzerland as well," Senator Leyonhjelm told the ABC's AM program. "Statistically speaking" in those jurisdictions, "one or two of the victims" would have had a concealed gun, he said....

In the wake of the December 15 hostage situation in which an armed man held unarmed Australians at gunpoint for hours, former Sydney Deputy Mayor Nick Adams is calling for a gun ban to be lifted so Australians can defend themselves. Adams said he believes if there was ever a time Australians wanted to have a gun, it was December 15.

From the Sydney Morning Herald: The siege in Sydney's CBD and its terrible end received saturation coverage on American cable news, with at least one commentator lamenting Australia's tough gun laws. Speaking on Fox News after police stormed the Lindt cafe, Charles Hurt, a writer with the conservative newspaper The Washington Times and a Fox News contributor, said: "These people are hell bent to kill innocent people … In a free society there is nothing you can do about it. You can't prevent all these things from happening, which is why most Americans, when they see this stuff play out...

Relatives, friends and colleagues paid tribute Friday to Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash victims even before the airline released their names as it scrambled to contact the next of kin of the victims. For one Australian family, the crash represented an almost unbelievable double tragedy. Kaylene Mann's brother Rod Burrows and sister-in-law Mary Burrows were on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 when it vanished in March. On Friday, Mann found out that her stepdaughter, Maree Rizk, was killed on Flight 17. "It's just brought everyone, everything back," said Greg Burrows, Mann's brother. "It's just ... ripped our guts again."

The hostage saga in Sydney ended in dramatic fashion yesterday as Australian police and SWAT teams stormed a downtown café after a 16-hour standoff with armed hostage taker, Man Haron Monis. Monis, identified as a Muslim cleric with a criminal record that included sexual assault and accessory to murder, was killed during the operation as were two hostages, identified as a male and female in their 30s. Monis, an Iranian national, requested refugee status and asylum in Australia in 1996 and sought to repay Australia’s benevolence by engaging in a vituperative letter-writing campaign directed at the families of fallen...

THE Australian consulate in Manhattan is being protected by the New York Police Department's elite, special forces-type Hercules Team following the deadly Sydney terror siege. NEW York Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton are taking no chances. The metropolis' many iconic sites, including the Empire State Building, Times Square, Wall Street and Columbus Circle, have also been beefed up with extra police following the takeover of Sydney's Lindt cafe on Monday by Iranian immigrant Man Haron Monis. "We are taking appropriate precautions, making sure we are beefing up our presence at locations related to the Australian government...

ONE of our greatest handicaps in overcoming the pernicious threat of Islamic extremism is the emergence of Islamist denialism — a stubborn refusal to confront the reality of our dilemma. Even in the wake of this week’s death and trauma, there are deliberate attempts in public debate to ignore the jihadist flag, terrorist modus operandi, video demands on behalf of Islamic State and anti-West grievances. The ABC managed to run an online profile piece entitled “Who was Man Haron Monis, the man behind the Sydney siege?” without including the words Muslim or Islam and mentioning terrorism only in a quote...

“WINDOW two, hostage down.” In four chilling words, the nation’s worst fears had come true inside the Lindt cafe. ..... About 1.50am Seven Network news reporter Chris Reason, who was watching the cafe from the network’s studio with a police sniper, said the gunman appeared to become disturbed. He began shuffling hostages from one end of the cafe to the other. “The gunman appeared agitated, he didn’t know what to do with them," Reason said. “He was sort of corralling them down one end and then down the other and moving around sort of randomly." ..... It may have been...

MAN Haron Monis couldn’t have done more to make the deaf hear that the terror he unleashed in Sydney was in the name of Islam. As he walked into the Lindt coffee shop with his shotgun on Monday he wore a headband bearing the war cry: “We are ready to sacrifice for you, O Muhammad.” The Iranian-born cleric had already fought for Islam by sending jeering letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. On his Facebook page he’d posted jihadist porn and pledged his allegiance to the bloody caliphate of the Islamic State. And in that coffee...

AUSTRALIANS who support sharia law should “pack up their bags and get out of here” or else be stripped of their vote and welfare entitlements, Jacqui Lambie says. The Tasmanian Palmer United Party senator today said Australians who support Islamic law held “allegiance to a foreign power”, but refused repeated opportunities to define what she meant by sharia law. “I just say anyone who supports sharia law in Australia should not have the right to vote, should not be given government handouts and should probably pack up their bags and get out of here — that’s what I’m saying,” Senator...

Every now and then, there's a moment in television that's raw, unscripted and almost shockingly authentic. Our office stopped this morning as Sunrise newsreader Natalie Barr revealed one of the hostages killed in the Martin Place siege was Katrina Dawson. The 38-year-old mother of three children was a lawyer and the younger sister of barrister Sandy Dawson, who has worked with Channel 7. Barr's grief as she struggled to maintain a professional face moved some to tears. This is an awful morning for Australia, and it's the job of the media to report it as honestly and completely as it...

THESE are the six words that say it all. “I’ll be back at work tomorrow”. The words came from the 39-year-old officer who received a minor injury due to a shotgun pellet grazing his face during the Martin Place siege. The officer left hospital this morning.

Early this morning the Martin Place siege ended with the death of the lone gunman and tragically, the loss of two hostages – innocent Australians caught up in the horror of yesterday. Five other people – four hostages and a New South Wales police officer – have been injured. State and Commonwealth agencies are investigating. Understandably, there is lot of speculation but it will take time to clarify exactly what happened in Martin Place and why. What we do know is that the perpetrator was well known to State and Commonwealth authorities. He had a long history of violent crime,...

n New Year’s Day 1915, two men flying a Turkish flag attacked a picnic train on the outskirts of Broken Hill. A gun battle later took place and both attackers were shot dead. Four other people were killed and seven wounded. Follow the re-enactment of this historic event. GEORGE NEGUS: G'day. Another week here on GNT. And tonight, a fascinating look back at some of the trickier characters lurking in our national past. Some of course will have other theories. But maybe our convict past itself could be one of the explanations for our love/hate relationship with our historical villains,...

THE manager of the Lindt cafe who was fatally shot in the Martin Place siege is being praised as a hero, responsible for allowing others trapped in the cafe to escape. Tori Johnson, 34, was wrestling a gun from gunman Man Haron Monis when he was killed. It is understood the cafe manager decided to take action when the hostage-taker begun to doze off after the siege had been ongoing for 17 hours. He lunged at the gunman’s weapon, enabling others to flee.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Religious leaders and ordinary Australians sought to defuse communal tensions on Monday, after a siege at a Sydney cafe by a gunman who forced hostages to display an Islamic flag raised fears of a backlash against the country's Muslim minority. Within hours of the attack on the Lindt cafe in the centre of the city, a Muslim group reported that women wearing the hijab had been spat on and the right-wing Australian Defence League called on followers to protest at two major mosques. The protests did not materialise and little is known about the true motives of...

Sheik Haron Monis took several hosages today at the Lyndt Cafe in Sydney.Two hostages were killed along with the evil sheikh during the 16 hour ordeal. The hostage taker in Sidney is Sheik Haron Monis – A man who previously sent hate mail to Australian war widows.Sheikh Haron faced up to 14 years for taunting war widows. In the video the sheikh is sitting near the parliament building about a block from the Lyndt Cafe. Monis posed as a sheikh to grope unsuspecting women. He was on bail for more than 50 sexual assault charges. The holy sheikh was also...