Published: 6 June 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Dr Jamal Rifi has been attacked in pro-Hezbollah media outlets in Sydney and Lebanon over his role as a board member of Project Rozana, an organisation that helps sick and injured Palestinian children receive medical treatment in Israeli hospitals, and provides training to Palestinian health workers.
Project Rozana was founded by the Australian Jewish businessman Ron Finkel.
In an exclusive interview with The Jewish Independent yesterday, Dr Jamal Rifi said Hezbollah had two aims in its campaign. “They have attacked me to get to my brother, who is a retired Major-General in the Lebanese Internal Security Forces, and has become an outspoken critic of Hezbollah operating as a government within a government in Lebanon.
“They want to minimise the impact of his criticism on their followers by labelling him the brother of ‘the traitor’,” Dr Rifi said.
“They also wanted to send a message to all Australian Muslims: anyone who interacts with Jews in this country will be monitored, and named and shamed.
“Hezbollah is a foreign entity trying to interfere in the fabric of Australian life.”
“[Hezbollah] want to minimise the impact of my brother's criticism on their followers by labelling him the brother of ‘the traitor’.”
Dr Rifi said he and Project Rozana were not the only target of these attacks, saying Muslims who attended the NSW Premier’s Iftar dinner last month were also singled out.
Dr Rifi told The Jewish Independent his involvement with Project Rozana was humanitarian, not political. He said his aim was to improve the quality of life for sick Palestinians. He emphatically rejected accusations that he was “normalising” relations with Zionists.
“My position is very clear: I am an Australian of Lebanese descent; I deal with my Jewish friends here as Australians of Jewish background; I don’t deal with them as Israelis.
“They wanted to send a message to all Australian Muslims: anyone who interacts with Jews in this country will be monitored, and named and shamed."
“These people in the south of Beirut want to dictate to me who I am allowed to engage with, or talk to. But I will stand up against Hezbollah.”
Dr Rifi said that before joining Project Rozana, he had contacted officials with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. “They told me they were aware of everything Project Rozana does and they had no concerns about it,” he said.
The attacks on Dr Rifi, in media outlets here and in Lebanon, began in the lead-up to a Project Rozana fundraising dinner in Sydney on May 22, and they included calls for a boycott of the event. Following their publication, the Palestinian ambassador in Australia, Izzat Abdulhadi, released a written statement supporting him and his involvement.
The ABC reported this week that Dr Rifi has taken legal action in his birth country, Lebanon, to clear his name against the smears against him. He can no longer visit the country out of fear he will be arrested for visiting Israel, which is illegal for Lebanese citizens.
He is uncertain about his prospects of success in convincing Lebanese courts to accept that his role is humanitarian, not political. “It depends on how much influence Hezbollah exercises in Lebanon’s military courts. We have a judicial system but we don’t have justice in Lebanon.”
The attacks were not the first against Dr Rifi, who said that he had been targeted by “keyboard warriors” for several years now. “I have always had my personal detractors. But after 2014 I refused to read anything that was sent to me online. I needed to maintain my sanity and emotional well-being.”
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Dr Rifi said he would work to clear his name as long as he needed to. “You have to play with the cards you’re dealt with. I have very shit cards now. There is nothing worse than being labelled the enemy of your people. [My accusers] need to know Project Rozana has nothing to do with normalisation or politics.
Ron Finkel told The Jewish Independent that the “vicious and dangerous personal attacks” against Dr Rifi were driven by the politics of hate. “Those who are shrilly railing against Jamal and Project Rozana are solely defined by what they are against. They offer no positive alternative that would support the building of Palestinian civil society through health.
“Theirs is the politics of hate; Project Rozana promotes policies of hope. That is the ethos of Jamal Rifi. It is an ethos that we, the members of the Board of Project Rozana, fully embrace.”
READ MORE
Australian Muslim doctor Jamal Rifi takes legal fight to Lebanon after 'being labelled a Zionist' (ABC)
One of Australia's most progressive Muslim leaders is taking legal action in Lebanon to clear his name after being labelled a "collaborator" with Israel. Sydney GP Dr Jamal Rifi said he was the victim of a smear campaign orchestrated by Hezbollah and its supporters.
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Photo: Dr Jamal Rifi (ABC)
