Muslims in New Zealand receive hate letters

9/28/2004 10:40:00 AM GMT

Muslims living in New Zealand's capital have reported receiving abusive letters recently, in what Muslim leaders denounced Tuesday as a campaign aimed at inciting hatred between the Muslim and the Jewish communities.

One letter listed the conflicts between Israel and Islamic nations since 1948, including the message “get out of Israel Islamic pigs.”

Some of the letters have also contained pieces of pork, which is considered highly offensive because it is forbidden to eat pork under the Islamic law.

Adam Awad, a spokesman for Wellington's Somali community, said that they had started receiving the hate letters by the end of August.

He did not think that the Jews were behind the hate campaign.

"We know the Jewish community in Wellington. We are friends,'' Awad said.

He added that the Muslim community fear that these hate letters might be a prelude to violence.

It was not immediately clear how many letters had been sent.

On the other hand, David Zwartz, president of the New Zealand Jewish Council, also said that he did not think that Jewish groups or individuals were behind the letters.

He said that putting pork pieces in some letters would be equally offensive to Muslims and Jews, because both communities share the same proscription against consuming the meat.

Police spokesman Jeff Attwood said that they have received one official complaint by a Muslim woman.