Gunman’s slur on fallen Jewish digger
JUST returned from Canberra where his son, fallen Digger Greg Sher, was honoured at the Australian War Memorial, Felix Sher was shocked to be confronted with media images of Man Haron Monis – the terrorist behind the Martin Place hostage tragedy – who had targeted Felix and his family with abusive mail five years ago.
JUST returned from Canberra where his son, fallen Digger Greg Sher, was honoured at the Australian War Memorial, Felix Sher was shocked to be confronted with media images of Man Haron Monis – the terrorist behind the Martin Place hostage tragedy – who had targeted Felix and his family with abusive mail five years ago.
In 2009, the self-proclaimed “Sheikh” Haron Monis, a 50-year-old Sydney cleric, had made a hateful phone call and sent a number of letters to Felix and his family, and to the families of other fallen soldiers in the Afghanistan campaign, calling Private Sher a “murderer” and comparing him to a pig.
“Some Jews who blame Hitler for violations of human rights are not much better than him,” Haron Monis wrote. “When the body of a murderer of civilians is sent back to Australia, we must not respect the body, such a body does not deserve a respectful ceremony.”
He added, “A Jewish man who kills innocent Muslims, civilians is not a pig. He’s a thousand times worse. Some people don’t eat the meat of pig but they are dirtier than pig. What’s the point when some people don’t eat pork while their behaviour is worse than dirty animals?”
Monis was convicted last year and placed on a two-year good behaviour bond for targeting the grieving families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
In one of his letters to Felix Sher, sent only months after his son was killed in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, he wrote: “I feel bad that you have lost your son, but I don’t feel bad that a murderer of innocent civilians has lost his life.”
Iranian-born Monis was bailed in December 2013 after being charged as an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife Noleen Hayson Pal, and was later charged with more than 40 offences relating to indecent and sexual assault.
Like millions of Australians, Sher heard the news on Tuesday morning that Monis was behind the terror attack. “I shouldn’t have been bowled over but I was taken by surprise anyway,” he told The AJN.
He added, “I’m going to be writing to the [NSW] Justice Department to ask why he was let out on bail following the allegation that he was involved in the murder of his ex-wife. This is the kind of person that we’ve been exposed to, as have other military families.”
PETER KOHN
Private Greg Sher. Photo: Defence Department.
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