This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jul/24/george-christensen-says-munich-shooting-validates-admittedly-incorrect-remarks
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| George Christensen says Munich shooting validates 'admittedly incorrect' remarks | George Christensen says Munich shooting validates 'admittedly incorrect' remarks |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| George Christensen has pointed to unfounded claims the Munich shooter was motivated by Islam to claim vindication of his own incorrect claims an incident at a Sydney police station was a radical Islamist terrorist attack. | George Christensen has pointed to unfounded claims the Munich shooter was motivated by Islam to claim vindication of his own incorrect claims an incident at a Sydney police station was a radical Islamist terrorist attack. |
| The federal MP for the Queensland seat of Dawson on Saturday shared a blogpost that said the 18-year-old behind a mass shooting in Germany was an Iranian Muslim and that this explained his motivation. | The federal MP for the Queensland seat of Dawson on Saturday shared a blogpost that said the 18-year-old behind a mass shooting in Germany was an Iranian Muslim and that this explained his motivation. |
| On Friday an 18-year-old, named as Ali Sonboly, killed nine people at a Munich shopping centre before killing himself. | On Friday an 18-year-old, named as Ali Sonboly, killed nine people at a Munich shopping centre before killing himself. |
| Sonboly was German-Iranian, and said by police to be obsessed with mass killings and in possession of a book on school shootings. Friday was the fifth anniversary of the Utøya youth camp massacre in Norway, which left 77 dead and was perpetrated by Anders Breivik, who Sonboly was also said to have a strong interest in. | |
| Sonboly also appeared to have targeted youth and had a photo of Breivik as his WhatsApp profile picture. | Sonboly also appeared to have targeted youth and had a photo of Breivik as his WhatsApp profile picture. |
| Related: George Christensen threatens to vote against Coalition's superannuation changes | Related: George Christensen threatens to vote against Coalition's superannuation changes |
| No connection between Sonboly and Isis or Islamist extremism has been found but Christensen suggested otherwise, sharing the post from a website named “Jihadiwatch” on his Facebook page. | No connection between Sonboly and Isis or Islamist extremism has been found but Christensen suggested otherwise, sharing the post from a website named “Jihadiwatch” on his Facebook page. |
| The Jihadiwatch post, headlined “Munich jihad murderer was 18-year-old Iranian Muslim”, quoted a news article that said Sonboly’s motives were unclear. | The Jihadiwatch post, headlined “Munich jihad murderer was 18-year-old Iranian Muslim”, quoted a news article that said Sonboly’s motives were unclear. |
| “No, it isn’t. And as long as you keep telling yourselves that, you’re just inviting more attacks like this one,” it responded. | “No, it isn’t. And as long as you keep telling yourselves that, you’re just inviting more attacks like this one,” it responded. |
| In his own post Christensen added the statement: “In a world gone mad, it took less than 48 hours for my admittedly incorrect remarks regarding the Merrylands police station attack to become valid in wake of commentary by the political and media elite on the Munich attack.” | In his own post Christensen added the statement: “In a world gone mad, it took less than 48 hours for my admittedly incorrect remarks regarding the Merrylands police station attack to become valid in wake of commentary by the political and media elite on the Munich attack.” |
| He then added a comment noting a witness who was in the bathroom at the time of the attack heard the shooter cry “allahu akbar”. | He then added a comment noting a witness who was in the bathroom at the time of the attack heard the shooter cry “allahu akbar”. |
| Related: George Christensen retracts 'radical Islamists' claim over Merrylands incident | Related: George Christensen retracts 'radical Islamists' claim over Merrylands incident |
| Christensen, an outspoken conservative politician who has supported radical anti-Islam groups, could not be reached for comment but, when questioned on Twitter, pointed to the eyewitness report as “glaring evidence” the Munich attack was linked to “radical Islam”. | Christensen, an outspoken conservative politician who has supported radical anti-Islam groups, could not be reached for comment but, when questioned on Twitter, pointed to the eyewitness report as “glaring evidence” the Munich attack was linked to “radical Islam”. |
| He dismissed the lack of any connection between Sonboly and Isis, saying the terrorist group was not “the sole bearer of radical Islamic ideology”. | He dismissed the lack of any connection between Sonboly and Isis, saying the terrorist group was not “the sole bearer of radical Islamic ideology”. |
| On Friday Christensen had to retract premature claims an attack on a police station in Sydney’s Merrylands was motivated by Islamist extremism. | On Friday Christensen had to retract premature claims an attack on a police station in Sydney’s Merrylands was motivated by Islamist extremism. |
| On Thursday a 61-year-old man parked his car in the driveway of the Merrylands police station and set it alight with gas bottles inside the car before driving into the carpark’s roller door. The man suffered serious burns and has been placed under arrest. Police said the motivations of the man, reportedly a Czech national known to police, were not clear. | On Thursday a 61-year-old man parked his car in the driveway of the Merrylands police station and set it alight with gas bottles inside the car before driving into the carpark’s roller door. The man suffered serious burns and has been placed under arrest. Police said the motivations of the man, reportedly a Czech national known to police, were not clear. |
| Some news organisations had initially reported the incident as terrorism-related and Christensen had quickly jumped online to question “how quickly some idiot is going to inanely say this has nothing to do with Islam or talk about a religion of peace or blame those who oppose radical islam on even Australia as a whole for marginalising some ‘disaffected youth’”. | Some news organisations had initially reported the incident as terrorism-related and Christensen had quickly jumped online to question “how quickly some idiot is going to inanely say this has nothing to do with Islam or talk about a religion of peace or blame those who oppose radical islam on even Australia as a whole for marginalising some ‘disaffected youth’”. |
| Shortly after police said there was nothing to suggest a link between the incident and terrorism, Christensen retracted, but maintained his point was “not lost”. | Shortly after police said there was nothing to suggest a link between the incident and terrorism, Christensen retracted, but maintained his point was “not lost”. |
| “Surprisingly for Merrylands, this incident may not have been a terrorist attack as the ABC originally reported it to be. News is still rolling in, so we will see,” he wrote. “But the point I make in this post is not lost: why is it every time there is a terror attack (here or overseas) we get the same platitudes from the Left and the political & media elite.” | “Surprisingly for Merrylands, this incident may not have been a terrorist attack as the ABC originally reported it to be. News is still rolling in, so we will see,” he wrote. “But the point I make in this post is not lost: why is it every time there is a terror attack (here or overseas) we get the same platitudes from the Left and the political & media elite.” |