halal-certification-boss-widely-reported-as-having-left-sydney-cafe-just-before-jihad-siege-began-now-denies-having-been-there

December 18, 2014 11:53 am By Robert Spencer 16 Comments

Mohamed Elmouelhy and his wife Nadia, who apparently spells their last name El-Mouelhy, are the heads of Australia’s Halal Certification Authority. Lindt Chocolat Cafe had declined to go halal. Nadia El-Mouelhy was reported in three news accounts to have been on the scene of the jihad siege at the cafe, and the Daily Telegraph says that she had “left the siege site only minutes before the gunman stormed the cafe” — which apparently means that she had left the cafe just before the siege.

That would be remarkable enough in itself: a representative of an organization that is paid huge amounts of money by companies for halal certification leaves an establishment that refuses to pay just before that establishment is subjected to a violent, murderous attack. What makes this even stranger is that Mohamed Elmouelhy now says on his Facebook page that he and his wife were not there.

All three of these reports place Nadia, not Mohamed, at the scene. It is Mohamed who puts himself there in his denial, when he refers to the claim that he “was in Lindt Cafe with my wife and left minutes before The terrorist Struck.” He denies that either of them were there.

Maybe they really weren’t there, but if they weren’t, was someone impersonating Nadia El-Mouelhy for the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian? Or is Mohamed Elmouelhy lying, and if so, why? What does he have to hide?

And could the jihad attack on the Lindt Chocolat Cafe have been related to its refusal to go halal and pay for halal certification?

Will Australian authorities investigate any of this, or would that be “Islamophobic”?

(Thanks to Kenneth for all these links.)
“The fuse of public fury has been lit as terror comes to Sydney,” by Taylor Auerbach, The Daily Telegraph, December 16, 2014:

…“I think it’s pathetic,” said Halal certification authority boss Nadia El-Mouelhy, who left the siege site only minutes before the gunman stormed the cafe.
“This isn’t Islam, this is stupidity … disgust.
“I hope these people go away for a very long time.”…

“Sydney hostage crisis: confusion and concern among crowds at scene,” by Calla Wahlquist, Guardian, December 15, 2014:

…By midday the crowd in Martin Place had swelled to 300, and the rightwing anti-Islamic group Australia Defence League had put out a call on Facebook for its supporters to join them at the police line. One man tried to rile up the crowd by shouting that there was no such thing as a moderate Muslim.
Nadia El-Mouelhy, from Sydney, wearing a purple hijab, disagreed. “I am a moderate Muslim,” she told Guardian Australia. “If I took my headscarf off I would be just another member of the crowd. It’s just stupid. So stupid. You and I, we shouldn’t have to be here. This shouldn’t happen.”…

“Martin Place siege: Hostages taken in Lindt Chocolate shop by armed robber,” by Daniel Meers, Taylor Auerbach, Lema Samandar, Alicia Wood and David Meddows, The Daily Telegraph, December 16, 2014:

…A crazed man began chanting “there’s no such thing as a moderate Muslim” and other racist slurs punctuated by foul language.
Wearing a pink headscarf and midway through an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Nadia El-Mouelhy, chief executive of the Halal Certification Authority of Australia, fired back at the man: “I’m a moderate Muslim.”
A crowd numbering in the hundreds formed a circle around the man as his tirade continued.
Ms El-Mouelhy was tapped on the shoulder by a Sydney businessman who smiled at her and said “don’t worry about him darling.”
Smiling, she marched defiantly towards the racist and repeated “I’m a moderate Muslim and I’m disgusted by this” as police moved in to arrest him.