‘Underhanded’ Waleed Aly comment rankles man in Project report

Waleed Aly has responded to criticism that he made a ‘racist’ remark during Tuesday’s episode of The Project.

The Project reported on a gym in Caulfield, in Melbourne’s south-east, that offers combat technique training by a former Israeli soldier, including with firearms training.

Avi Yemini said “It teaches you how to overcome the fear to change yourself when you’re under attack from being the victim, to becoming the aggressor.”

But a terrorism expert said it wasn’t necessary for members of the community to undergo such training in Australia, describing it as dangerous and pointing towards the risks of civilians interfering in police operations.

Following the report The Project panel were equally dubious as to its merits in Australia.

“I feel very uncomfortable about that story,” said Gorgi Coghlan. “We’ve got the AFP here for a reason.”

“I think their intentions are good,” said Peter Helliar, “but as (Steve Price) said, we just don’t have guns here.”

But the comment by Waleed Aly later drew criticism from program’s founder, Avi Yemini.

“If I rocked up with my mates Mustafa and Hamoudi, do you reckon they’d let us train? Aly asked.

Yemini has since branded the comments racist, saying a Muslim had been enrolled in the same class and labelling his comments as ‘underhanded.’

Aly told Daily Mail Australia, “If I’d said “do you think that Jewish business would ever accept Muslim clients?” then I would have apologised immediately and unreservedly.

“But I wouldn’t, and I didn’t. The fact they were Jewish didn’t even occur to me during the discussion.

“My question was about the suspicion that generally surrounds Muslims, which would no doubt be heightened in the context of military training.

“If anyone thinks Jewish businesses exclude Muslims, they’re wrong, and I’d like to take this chance to set them straight.”