did you know retired army general who defended said he is against a time i served for since. world covers a story of tough choices and determined to. go to you. this time on al-jazeera. a lot of the whole robin watching al-jazeera these are all top news stories syrian rebels and their families are began arriving in the dia region south of damascus after making a deal with the government a convoy of buses carrying about four hundred fighters and their families was allowed to leave the rebel on clay chin and travel to deer and it led the rebels

last gen to the syrian government and its allies after heavy fighting earlier this month zaha has more from beirut. it is the last rebel pocket in the southwestern countryside of damascus it is a military gain for the syrian government and its allies they launched a massive military campaign two months ago the rebels were trapped in a small area they had no other choice really but to surrender we've seen this happen before intense bombardment and then program and forces impose a siege so the rebels have no choice but to surrender or die really but this is this is the portents of this is not just a military game for the government it is again for iran iran expanding its influence in a corner of syria very strategic corner of syria it lies between the syrian israeli and lebanese borders which means iran's allies on the ground are moving closer to

israel and israel really has been voicing a lot of concern about this as of late talking both to the russians as well as the americans telling them that they will not accept it round of moving closer to their borders in fact a few weeks ago they stepped up airstrikes in syria they weren't just targeting what they believed were arms convoys destined to the iranian ally hezbollah movement but what we understand one of those strikes targeted close to an iranian military base a base that was being set up by iran and so it was a warning message from israel so not just another military game for the government again for iran and possibly it could be a source of tension in the near future iran's interior minister has called on people to avoid illegal gatherings following two days of anti-government protests hundreds of people joined demonstrators in several cities on thursday and friday over the government's economic policies the interior minister. they will create

problems for themselves under the citizens according to state media fifty two people were reportedly arrested on a rally in the second largest city of. meanwhile started a large. government run is got underway state t.v. showed crowds of the couple tehran holding banners and support of supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei the rallies month the anniversary of the end of the unrest that shook the country in two thousand and nine following a disputed election. russia's supreme court has rejected opposition leader alexina valley's appeal against the ban on him running for president next year the valley's been barred because of a fraud conviction he says is politically motivated he's now calling for supporters to boycott the vote president vladimir putin is widely expected to win a fourth term. the indian government has launched a diplomatic protest after the palestinian ambassador to pakistan appeared on stage alongside the main suspect in the two thousand and eight by attacks they joined thousands at friday's rally in the role of india to condemn the u.s.

recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital. egypt's former president mohamed morsy has been sentenced to three years in prison on charges of insulting the judiciary for a speech he made while in office morsi has been tried in several cases after he was deposed following mass protests and a military coup in twenty thirteen he's already serving a twenty year sentence in another case on charges of inciting attacks on protesters and twenty twelve the top appeals court in september upheld a separate twenty five year term on charges of harboring national security by leaking state documents to cattle. the zambian president has called on the military to help fight a cholera outbreak that's killed at least forty one people in the capital the starker. look good sense of urgency measures are needed to try to stop the epidemic from spreading including closing some markets more than one of the half thousand people of contracted the disease in september the number of cases decreased in october but new infections have surged in recent weeks those were the headlines

here on our dear i'll be back with more news in thirty minutes but next on al-jazeera once upon a time in punchbowl do stay with us. various characters try to get on to get away from the war that was happening at the top. and they came here to restart their lives. as a margaret when i first arrived at this rally i like it i i struggled. it was very difficult. i wanted to give us the data but it. was a part of the beginning very sick for the last.

few decades lebanese families come to a stranger to build a better life and escape the destruction of. that many demonized in a new land. to. get rid of this multiculturalism the first that is going to die so that. then after fifteen years of immigration from lebanon anglo and arab australia is divided by the first gulf war they're being confronted with a choice between doing either our own restraint because up to now the multicultural story is both. our first. order to answer this question are going to struggle through there's going to be stars trailer and i shouldn't be asked about this. on my odyssey to accept there's a study. about the case about this so well. in one thousand nine hundred a tiny criminal minority become drug dealing gangsters defying the law lose games

we believe was. in two thousand and one. terrorism raises fears that arab australians are an enemy within the compound that terrorist supporters are able to nominate five years later and our attention explodes into one of the most infamous race riots in a strain in history look at the people who bought into the weekend it now that we have been in the eye for shock effect for state t.v. it's for people from good storm could not love a chance to know. what happened on that sunday in kuala is a black or for a country. i'm i live in a.z. one stone is what i'm on it none i am a strong and i am lebanese i am muslim i'm up

a majority. i'm all that they want this is a story of what it's like to be live in a nice and cool astray. we have a strategy and this is the heartland in cities where we belong and this is what we have. it was billed as the dyke or not the residents were tied back to the beaches. but it shouldn't turn told by. the sunday that the ride occurred all i remember seeing is so many people pushing and shoving so many and faces. i felt very hurt and i thought you know what we don't like. what is it

about us that you hate so much in two thousand and five. in high school but like the rest of the lebanese a straining community feels under attack. by afghan the more turned on any one of the least of the period by members up stairs in my parents' bedroom watching t.v. and all i remember is the night going from just a normal i pace watching to be to just panic and chaos and i remember feeling terrified i felt very very scared as it were my dad to go anyway. as the horror of the day's events unfold. me mat's father community leader jamal rifi is frantically on the phone. i spoke with many community leaders at the time that we needed cooler heads to prevail brothers and it's.

and we needed to act and act quickly because if we didn't then we would lose control. it was a very very touchy touchy tone there was a lot of angry people the things that were said about religion and the things it was about community when one was to be. disrespected the more disrespect him hard. sam al qaeda grows up in punchbowl he's been going to cronulla since he was a child. and is married to an anglo astray in. my in-laws are living it could all or some or cold of my wife and said. oh you and your sisters and your father isn't as close as i want to and that happens. because no one no one wants to say stuff like that in this country we don't need people to tell me and inspire hatred over frustration in parks or or groups there's no need for i am.

as night falls on this day of shame hundreds of angry lebanese astray in a gathering in punch ballpark i looked outside the window on my own health i saw one car to come three or four come unto us all go home fill the void. just ready to. revenge was the only thing on them what. on the night of the riots kemal saleh is a high school student living with his parents across the road from the park. i was angry i guess they were angry too you're talking about one hundred fifty boys guarantee they'll saw in my house in front of poncho park something i've never seen before. commands little brother harry is just ten years old at the time of the

riots that in chewers hadley understands the crisis that police are about to face the asteroid for like say ten fifteen minutes two was very calm very good no no swearing no music no nothing it was very calm by you could say the boys were angry they came or met up together. you had one place car that was coming up the street from the back of punch road them and once the place of the came that's when everyone jumped back may cause and started to leave one by one. and the rules over in a few minutes they all go on to. always in the car with. a young guy who had a very serious weapon on him and to actually be in the car with somebody who was really to use. a powerful weapon was scary. at the time of the riots muhammad ali is in he's

a conditioning apprenticeship and he's quickly swept up in the call for revenge. there were guys there who are. who we're ready to kill. and once we left we went from from suburb to suburb around the corner area looking for trouble. even the most the most articulate and the most intellectual people in our community with filled with outrage because how much can someone's. before they crack. seen up to eight pm dozens of cars are streaming towards cronulla seeking revenge. outs probably the revenge attacks that were most shocking. to people because almost like the wider public could understand young your drunken australian prices . what they couldn't in visits was this forded cavalcade of

dozens of cars bicycling much on the east nothing like that ever happened in australian history. gangs of them in the middle eastern origin. for rubin. it was awful the first time i saw a figure about a man walking downs a strict and people over the bunnies backgrounds they come in and attack him i cried. i just could not believe my eyes. could have been me in a coronata or someone else working down the street in punchbowl.

by nine pm the police have set up roadblocks all around. and the convoys of cars still pouring in change routes. by the sides tactically to simply avoid column can almost only place to get into whereas the instant bitch has much more open and much more available to a sort of widespread scatter gun attack and people peel off they're angry and they feel. to what the hell my life once they have been attacked in such a scarlet. remorseless why they feel that bets are off i can do what i want. by ten pm to beachside suburbs of brighton the sands in the rubra are under attack was. the shocking violence continues into the early hours of monday morning. full of

lebanese they all just jumped out my husband's truck a large. fish every single car in the street got the shovel off his truck threw it strikes rampaging window it was absolutely love it's no big surprise you know what a lot of the thinking that's really stupid what you know what good does that do how it. how does the car being damaged solves anything. we got some river and we got pulled over by the police. they were. propagandised a bus stop and searched and then. they started searching the car and the cops just said. in a noise way and i get the f. out of here get in the car to lock you know. it's a relief for mohamed and phonemic his future wife i was really shocked that i was one of the guys that went down only because it's really out of character for him

like he's really much more logical than that but at the same time i can really understands i can put myself in that position i can understand being an eighteen year old guy whose whole world is falling apart because people will not stop picking at every bit of you. when i go home i thought a bell how stupid i was and how stupid we were. something serious could have happened to myself or to somebody else. and it could have been. incredibly bad thing for me growing up it could've destroyed me the. sunrise the next morning a nation awakes in shock. therapy easier to write or draw in a drunken rant they have to get out of just that believing that i have the terrorism to play investigators are seeking several miles of middle eastern

appearance from my race but my time it's like a although really don't think. the next day would return that it's like any other day kids went to school i went to work but we knew deep down that the emotions is bored like. then we started to get a lot of hate mail. so early monday morning straight after the come over or it's some time i should start coming to the police that there was going to be some retaliation. and some violence towards look in the mosque. denny mccarty is a lebanese a strain senior constable in the new south wales police and is still reeling from the night's events. i was quite disappointed to being devastated at the retaliation

because i was hoping would be better than that i was hoping that. members of our community wouldn't get sucked in to. putting the shoe on the other foot. it reside with me that we need to keep it close eye on the tensions so i attended the very early. the mosque staff knew me very well i've been working the fees and initially there was absolutely no problems but as the i was went on the crowds began to swell and very quickly there were thousands of people down there. and what was interesting was that the people that were starting to come down there definitely one of an islamic background a myriad of cultures of those greeks italians different types of europeans as darkness falls the atmosphere is increasingly volatile. i was at the corner of punchbowl road and i was talking with the police officers and

you could feel the tension. you could taste the anger. and you could anticipate support. i remember that evening sitting at my parents' place and i you know they live on the whites are like a mosque. and sort of like it's a people zooming past young people running at a car and all that sort of think these are young people you know not only middle east and but also so muslim. non arabic. whatever you whatever you want to say it was probably actually the most multicultural like a mad thing. and i asked somebody said what's going on he said i haven't heard you know the gangs are coming down here they apparently want to come and. i want to let them. then high school teacher jihad dede learned that two of his brothers are in

the crowd outside the mosque and i thought my brothers. my brothers are there and before anything else my family's the my support thing to me. and i'm going to go for my brothers i'm going to bloody get him from the rear bring them out as i would i need to shoot. god damn it. and they would have been thousands and thousands of people at the. if i were a public am on the way we have to buy them on a cell phone able to get it then it obviously it stopped the police. at the corner of my on notice freelance photographer and within an instant you could see. members of the credit spotting. and like a mob i just steal towards i've just sprinted ahead of the crowd and gone straight to him. just asking and telling him get in the car and get out of here so he's got in the car and driven off and i'm feeling pretty good about myself i've got rid of that situation but i've looked over my shoulder enough noticed thousands of very

angry people now who had someone else to base their frustrations at and i've just run towards me. so i've said to myself ok this will be the last day for me on earth . so i quit praying just brace for impact. and as i'm watching these thousands of people run towards me. all of a sudden look like a black why did i just this stopped. members of the mosque had formed a human china all the way around me and they knew from the bulk of this writing force of a crowd. within about a few seconds i started to the most beautiful sound in the world which was placed orange coming in from everywhere and i remember turning to a colleague and i said. that's how thank you for the years of hard work at this mosque and that's a day that i remember that that's the day that the community said. the bright light in the door was that it was people who were muslim i remember

talking to i priest though people who were fights of all communities and just what are you doing i would have been in the mosque but i was alive i had weapons a bigger going to fit into. your mind of the call for him to get even raise your hand in anger but it was like these. holy places off limits. i remember it came time for prayer and it was like this christmas ok everybody plays his prank. they were actually coming down. and it to be surely people dispersed. but as they struggled to contain the rage of the dispersing crowd community leaders fear the worst. well i know from people who. actually does it have. and i was quite a lot. of bold old baseball bats there was

a lot of guns out there. and i was very affected. by eight pm the crowd is still fuming and large groups gather at a nearby service station. i know nine pm it's clear that the horror of the night before is about to be repeated . the middle east was on the move for the second straight. the next morning community leaders make calls to the place and new south wales premier. i knew we needed to act but when it to at the quick otherwise we will not be able to contain the situations. new source wells was contacted

and we told them what we should be done on the fifteenth of december. newsource was parliament was a recall for one solution to actually posit you. down. in lock down hundred typical a stopping vehicles coming over to retreat into doubling child care report to you that the police will step up their efforts to bring in the fives and drops your response of all for those not time attacks to justice. the tough new laws result in the biggest police operation since the sydney olympics with two thousand place setting up road blocks on major roads going into for an hour and all the major beachside suburbs unfortunately somebody took place but. i missed it earlier so it could have been taos.

some people think it means that the muslim lebanese community is going to withdraw into itself turns back on australia and bunkered down in some sort of see each others see it as a cathartic moment which to my agent after years of separation and mutual antagonism. the future after an hour is going to be very difficult. as the new don't the horrifying events of december two thousand and five still reverberate among community leaders in a place that. i think anyone who saw the level of anger and venom that was sort of coming out of the series of events that became known as a chronometer audience was very disturbing at the end of it all i think some good

came of it in a sense of everybody having to step back take a deep breath and say we don't want that to ever happen again. canara is a turning point the government realizes that it can't allow a continuing demonize ation of muslims in the muslim communities more widely in the lebanese in particular say they have to reengage with the wider society. the community in chronology and the shi'a realizes that they have to start building bridges. people are looking far more for ways of bringing people together than of dividing them and from that point on you start to see a lot more energy put into rebuilding the fabric of australian society. we felt that we really need to be proactive into building bridges between a world community and the shi'a communities. we needed to get them to know

us who we are rather than read about us we concentrated on to open our borders mosques to do barbecues to invite people to come along there was a big transform a shot at that time following chronology of events. three months after the riots a new bond between wider and arab astray is formed on canal a beach. working with the surf lifesaving association and canal a shy accounts on the lebanese a strain community launches an initiative called on the same way. we're sure what about we train some muslims in becoming law if that is. unbelievable it sounds like an agreement between criminal bosses it's like trading

in stolen goods that have been taken by the place if anyone ever comes to ask a question these are throw their hands up in the air and say i don't know i was just nominee director we're doing a investigation into. ukraine could you have a bribes you've been corrupt i'll be corrupt i did just what the president say al-jazeera investigations the oligarchs coming soon early. we are football fans who don't think about opening. lead explained when real madrid a club worth five hundred million euros expresses a position on something the world anti-doping agency has to take notice you know. al-jazeera continues its investigation into the widespread use of performance enhancing drugs in the final episode of sports doping the endless chase at this time. all dizzy or explores prominent figures of the twentieth century and how

why will recent influence the course of history begin with the giants of the struggle for civil rights. just evolved over the world. who oppressed people government look at me and continue to think that negroes to be defense that what you mean by that malcolm x. and martin luther king preached to face at this time on al-jazeera. watching algis their arms sell robin these are all top news stories syrian rebels and their families have begun arriving in the dera region south of damascus after making a deal with the government a convoy of buses carrying about four hundred fighters and their families was allowed to leave the rubble on flavor yet chin and travel to dare and it led the

rebels lost chain to the syrian government and its allies after heavy fighting earlier this month iran's interior minister has called on people to avoid illegal gatherings following two days of anti-government protests over rising prices and economic policy hundreds of people joined protests in several cities on friday police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds in kind of in shock and broken demonstrations in rushed fifty two people were reportedly arrested the previous day at a rally in iran's second largest city of them a shot. meanwhile on saturday a large pro-government rallies got under way state television showed crowds in the capital tehran holding banners in support of supreme leader ayatollah ali how many rallies mark the anniversary of the end of the arrest that shook the country in two thousand and nine following a disputed election. now russia's supreme court has rejected opposition leader alexina valley's appeal against the ban on him running for president next year the

valley's been barred because of a fraud conviction he says is politically motivated he's now calling for supporters to boycott the vote president vladimir putin is widely expected to win a fourth term. the indian government has launched a diplomatic protest after the palestinian ambassador to pakistan appeared on the stage alongside the main suspect in the two thousand and eight mumbai attacks they joined thousands of friday's rally and robin do condemning the u.s. recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital. the zambian president has called on the military to help fight a cholera outbreak that's killed at least forty one people in the capital lusaka. says emergency measures are needed to try to stop the epidemic from spreading including closing some markets that more than one and a half thousand people have contract did the disease since september the number of cases decreased in october but new infections have surged in recent weeks now you can follow all of those stories on our website at al jazeera dot com and back with

more news in the al-jazeera news hour in thirty minutes time now we continue with once upon a time in punchbowl here on al-jazeera to stay with us. three months after the riots a new bond between wider and arab astray is formed on canal a beach. working with the surf lifesaving association and canalis shi'a council the lebanese a strain community launches an initiative called on the same way. where she thought about we tried some muslims in becoming law that was so not only did i say we're being a lot stivers about but i also i can give an opportunity if people understand what they're about. i guess having witnessed the kernel

riots and other forms of. racist attacks. i fell into the trap of the victimize asian mentality where those poor me poor muslims poor lebanese. you know i'm sitting the hare thinking you know this person needs to do something and this person needs to do something i thought why didn't i do something. mecca is nineteen years old and about to make history she's the first muslim woman to ever train as a lifesaver and is one of the first to wear the a strain designed caney. day. putting on the rick amy was amazing. it gave me the freedom. within the water. it was an amazing feeling to to be back into the ocean swimming comfortably freely. did the training

logs other seventeen and we had many injuries. someone broke his arm. some of my injuries included a fractured nars in a way of had common had lifted the board and so he had smacked me right in the faith i had severed tendons in my fingers i sprained both ankles at the same time even though i had sustained all of those injuries i just kept going because i wanted to be able to achieve my bronze medallion so it's a great personal achievement show me. one of my proudest moment in my community life when those kids graduated there with a truly each hour were in the look in that mecca.

and that led. kitty patrolling the beach as a volunteer i was proud of what she has done australia should be proud of what she has done because what she did was first and no good. in the end of the initiative does not end bigotry on the beach racial harmony is more an uneasy truce. but make a law and her fellow lifesavers make their point. i wanted to be able to put out there that muslim and muslim women in particular as well are just as easy as anyone else and. i hope that having achieved that that. that message somehow resonate had to with their ring one. three years later make a large joins jamal jihad southwest sydney labor in pay jason clare and the future

minister for immigration scott morrison on a journey to the very heart of what it is to be a stray and today the kokoda track. jason was to bring kids muslim kids and scott was to bring life services from the shire area. because of the my cheap trick because as other people from different sides can be mites everything about my chick everything that walker was about stood for. that sense of sacrifice that sense of belonging. who wanted to take them with her and go through that experience. but once you're in conditions like that you know walking through the mud you know in a rain forest it's quite easy to to look beyond physical appearance a lot of people didn't say me in or as they go that way this calf and i didn't say

that person as just a life they were. you couldn't say that one person was more astray end than the other. one we stood at anzac day as it is short of a memorial and let me tell you one thing all over differences melted into one we we're all one we were all for sarah. and there is one other bridge being built the police have been working at improving their relationship with the community for the past six years. but the canal a riot is the catalyst for even more action. we've ramped up because surely i was an officer program these are not police officers and sworn staff as we call who are imbedded in a writ large number of police stations around the the sydney area we established to

consolidate committee for the commission which is populated by a really diverse range of representatives of ethnic communities we also have now drawn coordinators position and it's simply somebody who dedicate say working life to monitoring issues of high crime and i think we were lucky because. there was a lot of good people that meant well at that time a new police force and a new community. in two thousand and six there is one place initiative with which some in the lebanese a straining community a not impressed whatever it tikes to get back control the straits days are two of the biggest nights or strikeforce days wanted list based on experience and evidence gathered during a crackdown on a mattress turf war in south west sydney the new south wales police expand the

charter of taskforce again and form the middle east an organized crime squad new south wales has made a decision which many other states have refused to much to actually label the people as the criminal problem. so it said we're going to have a middle east an organized crime scored something which specifically targets middle eastern people. that did not help. a middle eastern crime squad. i can understand it if it was in the middle east. i just can't understand the terminology in sydney. we've never been happy with started when i was. still not happy with such in mono as you because it actually works against old bridge building between our society and the place i think the middle east organise crime squad is call that mine because that is actually what it investigates. and

certainly some within the community feel that's a good thing and then i was also feel that it's a bad thing and that it tarnishes everyone from middle eastern background i don't see it that way i am of middle eastern background myself and i doubt feel tanishq in any way in july two thousand and six the nation's respect for and loyalty to lebanese astray is made clear. when israel launches air attacks on parts of lebanon in its war against his villa the howard government evacuates over five thousand a strain citizens. to his credit john howard. and the difficult circumstances evacuated these citizens and know why that was very difficult very costly. but humanely and since differently done. i have no doubt there was

evacuation was conducted by das feel that we are no longer australian of second class citizens we are australian as anyone else. and there's another event which is destined to change the fortunes of many in south wales sydney's lebanese a strained community. it is now five months since she had more through the doors of punchbowl boys high school. oh never forget the day i. was taking on something that was just too big was i do it while to get myself that hit and all of those questions that were running through my head. why am i jumping out of a fraud game and into the fire. when i walked in in two thousand and six i felt that the voice itself for a long period of time as a school i was struggling numbers numbers would win ling there was there were

threats of closure they were there were things that just wouldn't work i was a school and every diet seem to just lurch from problem to problem to problem. in the late one nine hundred ninety s. the school was just ten minutes away from one of sydney's most notorious drug dealing areas. filipina street. once again dozens of police were on the notorious montreal three in a tightening two murders drive by shootings lorelai didn't only have had enough and . one of the biggest difficulties you have in running a school is you can't control what's going on outside of the school the school becomes a milton part of its local community and you've got something right to life history which keeps coming up in the news. when a school has got the title that's the same name as this other that keeps getting that negative media attention it does have a massive effect on the school you go yeah yeah. i did represents

a generation of young professionals who decide they want to give back to the community and build it that emergence not just of deal but a whole generation of young people who tertiary educated with i think creating vision which is both lebanese muslim and destroy it. means that. there is a new agenda that is possible. thing i noticed was that there was a sense of helplessness amongst the students we had a right teaches and i've been trying really hard but there was another there was there was like a feeling that. they'd been a give up mentality. because if you principles they'd come and gone staff didn't stay long which. it's always indicative of a school it's in a bit of turmoil it wasn't a place where anybody aspired to go to he didn't want to take a punch bowl boy. this curious to know where they belong going on talking about not

only in a school but in the water park is so odd it didn't feel like i belonged anywhere but i believe it was actually it is i want to love that it is i want to believe in it and someone who could say i you can do this. by two thousand and eight jehad has been appointed principal and over the next two years student numbers increase by around seventy percent over the same period the school records the nation's highest improvement right in test results for literacy and numeracy. jehad db is changing young lebanese astray in boy's lives like thirteen year old who has just started a new seven. all of us go to school or did a lucky thing at all you know i just didn't want to be the. toilets working working to get to. school often just to get all of the things i sang over a lot about paper who were. like what are drugs. and it doesn't take him long

before he's in trouble with the principal. always used to get away with and school always it's been the people you know. this one time out of four whatever the guy for of all the teachers or students or. parents we're scared and afraid of the kid safety a lot that was true a. suspensions mount when he turns fifteen he's taken aside by jihad did is that they told me my school might not be cut off. for torture. you know save your of cause your stay is going to be wesley or. nadia is now two years into a plumbing apprenticeship and the influence of his old headmaster is still strong. i think that mr di really hoping it similar together because they'll take it to

start up my own structure from the company and i'll take on very big structural sorts of a lot of students from l. areas take morgan the petition in a utility so that i'm going on the straights. and i have is of in the core of it for what they were. but you can't describe how good it feels to be able to make someone's life better and to be able to make them or help them make the right choices in life where once upon a time university was an option. it's it's there where once upon a time you will look down upon because you want to be a triesman. let's get in trouble we save kids and we get kids on the right track and we get kids to become successful and now more is to make a difference no matter what at any cost.

today punchbowl boys high continues to record some of the nation's highest growth rates in literacy and numeracy. for many lebanese a strain families the school is more than a source of pride it's clear and effective proof that their children a less likely to be lost to the streets it isn't long before the community finds itself once again in the negative media spotlight. the court hared that the man had stockpiled weapons chemical bomb making instructions. in two thousand and seven after a three year investigation the value of a close relationship between the middle east and community and the police is demonstrated when

a stray is biggest counterterrorism investigation operation pendennis comes to court in melbourne and sydney are set you do a term of imprisonment of twenty years. and then it's started wins a counterterrorism unit victorian police received information from was ins a community. of australian muslims working to plan. act. it was members of those communities who felt that some people had run off their ass and that it wasn't right and that they needed to do something about it. unless we engage with the community and have this support they will probably never succeed it's up to us to win the confidence to build that credibility with them to build that rep or with them in a time of non-crisis he cannot go to these communities after something very bad has

happened and say look i haven't bothered to get to you but trust me. in two thousand and twelve the community faces its biggest challenge since the kernel of riots a controversial film about the prophet muhammad sparks a furious wave of anti-american protests across the globe. a few days later it arrives on sydney's doorstep when two hundred. people demonstrate outside the u.s. consulate. the protesters moved through to see to me so you cannot simply you know spread the message of hate and say there you know this is a freedom of expression. it's quite significant of very very small proportion of these

lima community paid any attention to the protests and i think one of the reasons that is the case is because we learn from that we can always be so emotional and irrational when. we're dealing with things like that. he's now twenty two years old and has just left university with a social science degree and is now working for the muslim women's association. so much down to high path to most families had left and then that's when it sort of got out of control it created an opportunity for the demonstration which was peaceful to get hijacked sydney has been shut down the stopped hundreds of angry muslim politicians to store this. yes we do laughs a prophet but that's not zoom way you defends or prophets image and reputation it's

said did more damage does it profit and is. actual video itself was. like. you cut out one of the neighbors. here are you showing you how. interesting what happened next is that the community itself saw the footage saw the news coverage and decided for themselves this was not accepted. leaders of all of the different organizations quickly got together and said we don't accept this. this is not what we can don and we with this christ are this so that in itself shows how far we've also come since cornell. lebanese astray in muslim leaders break ranks with their counterparts around the world openly criticizing their own community. over the

past several days high profile when leaders had spoken out against the actions of the few slimy organizations will not allow for such activity to take place because at the end of the day the only community will be tarnished by that exist is destroyed it was. it's not easy for community leaders to criticize some of the around and it hasn't happened too often but certainly on this occasion they were unequivocal off their condemnation of what happened of this support of the police so we all have to work together to ensure that we live in this great country i think was a really fine moment for the muslim community in sydney. i was very proud of the way the world community handled itself i was very proud of the speed we mobilized. community effort to defuse the situation and to send zip misuses in

a different forces but same message and submissive age was violence will not be tolerated not now not ever. the lebanese a strain community has spent the last thirty years under siege no other migrant community has had to endure the saying. but after three decades of pain and struggle the community has emerged stronger than ever. i'm really proud to be part of this community. who is sold. that has survived the gulf war. saddam hussein the gang grapes john howard pauline hanson and we have proved. as australian as anyone else. i think we have developed

a platform where we've really dealt with pretty much every thing that has been thrown at us cultural issues identity issues settlement issues we've dealt with racial issues with issues in faith in extreme we've i don't know what those there is to come but i'm sure there will be something. but i just think we've developed a platform and a resilience that is so strong. and like any group of history in living in a big city the people of south west sydney face challenges gang activity and gun crime still exist but it toxic minority is no match for a decent majority fighting for a positive future. there's a great sense of hope and out of everything comes growth and the arabic community the lebanese community the whatever community they first and foremost. when i go overseas. put as much of a draw as i came into morsi x.

and i have a do it. and then my parents sit back and they know they made the right decision with us and we never came here for anything other than to have a bit a lot. more continue contributing. you know moscow principal i'm a commissioner in the community relations commission one of my brothers is a world boxing champion two other brothers run their own businesses my sister is a beauty therapist. we are all. giving and we're all part of the society. and i think my parents too they just sit back sometimes it's a little bit reminds me of the castle at the very end where mr kerrigan sits at the back you know where he's patio and he just sits back and he's just happy and that's my parents there's no back and i got here we've done bloody good.

from cool brisk noise and fuel rods. to the warm tranquil waters of southeast asia. hello there there is plenty of showers across south america at the moment if you take a look at the satellite picture we can see they generally originate in the northern parts of brazil and sewer around all the way down towards ri i realize really been seeing some heavy downpours recently there's more still to come during the day

today so plenty of showers here and plenty more in the way of wet weather for paraguayan as well now as we head through into sunday we'll see that system gradually push a little bit further towards the north as it winds itself off offshore but still for rio another very wet picture if thundery downpours here to the south will also see a few thunderstorms begin to spark up a bit for the south as well so some through parts of argentina and looks like for what is ari's will be catching a couple during the day as well now for the central america his hair is being quite quiet recently but just over the last few days we've seen a few more showers develop most of them have been over parts of panama and up towards the north and i think we'll see a fair few more showers during the day on saturday and on sunday again this is the region will see most of the wet weather but we could just see one or two showers stretch their way further north into the yucatan peninsula well says he want to showers in the southern part of cuba there as well a couple of those it could be rather heavy for north america of course it's all about the cold and plenty of snow in the west there with sponsored by qatar race.

with al jazeera is our eyes and ears on the ground in southern africa identifying the crucially important stories for forty years that incredibly to us. an underground fire has been burning for over a century beneath india's largest cofield. now open cast mining has brought the flames to the surface with devastating consequences for the local population. is communities are destroyed and thousand suffer from toxic fumes what lies behind this human and environmental disaster people in power the burning city at this time on al-jazeera. january. african heads of state and government will gather. for the state's assembly of the african union where the goals set out in twenty seventeen minutes rewind returns with brand new episodes updating some of the best

al-jazeera documentaries from over the years the biggest names in politics in business will meet in the swiss alps for the world economic forum what will be top of the agenda. engages in rigorous debate cutting through the headlines on the front and in a week our special coverage will be gauging reaction from around the world to america's most controversial president of modern times january on al-jazeera. this is al-jazeera. the whole robin and this is the al-jazeera news our life while headquarters here in doha coming up in the next.