Australian Muslims Endorse 'Uncovered Meat' Imam

A Muslim cleric who whipped up a storm last year when he told his Sydney flock that women who don't wear the veil invite rape has been endorsed as the supreme leader of Australia's 300,000 Muslims.

Clerics from around the country meeting in Sydney decided Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, 67, should keep the post of Mufti of Australia that he has held since 1988....

Earlier this year al-Hilali raised the ire of Australians when he said Muslim migrants had a greater entitlement to the country than those who arrived at the time of colonial settlement.

'We came as free people, we bought our own tickets, we are entitled to Australia more than they are,' al-Hilali told a television station in his native Egypt....

Al-Hilali has denied the Holocaust, defended suicide bombers, described as 'God's work against oppressors' the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, and blamed Jews for 'all the wars and problems that threaten the peace and stability of all the world'....

'You go right through the decade, the sheik has been anti-Semitic, he has supported jihadists, he has made statements that are absolutely offensive to women, such as the 'uncovered meat' one - it wasn't just that he had a bad day last September,' Costello said.