"These recent incidents highlight the fact that current strategies to deal with the threat of terrorism are not working," Dr Abu Mohammed said. "It is therefore imperative that all causative factors such as racism, Islamophobia, curtailing freedoms through securitisation, duplicitous foreign policies and military intervention must be comprehensively addressed." Dr Abu Mohammed's comments were slammed as a "disgrace", with the government calling on him to clarify his remarks and directly condemn the attacks that left 132 people dead and more than 350 injured. But on Tuesday afternoon, prominent Muslim-Australian Jamal Rifi spoke out in defence of Dr Abu Mohammed, saying: "I know the history of this man. He has condemned terrorism all his life in English and in Arabic." Dr Rifi said he was not in a position to comment on the criticisms, but that Dr Abu Mohammed was an asset to Australia and the Muslim community. He added that the Mufti "has not been well lately".

"Any clarifications about the statement or the barrage of criticisms he has received, he and his office are well placed to defend their position," he said. Other Muslim leaders who spoke to Fairfax Media on Tuesday would not comment publicly on Dr Abu Mohammed's statement but said the language used was "poorly chosen". Earlier, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the Grand Mufti needed to clarify his comments and "make it very clear that he condemns these acts of terrorism, these murderous acts, without reservation". "These acts need to be condemned for what they are," he told radio station 2GB. "They've been condemned by Muslim leaders around the world and they should be condemned here in Australia by the leadership." Treasurer Scott Morrison also weighed in, telling Fairfax Media's 3AW that he believed the Muslim community would be disappointed by the comments. "I thought Australian Muslims were let down by the Mufti yesterday."

In the highly-publicised statement, Dr Abu Mohammed also offered his condolences to the families and friends of the dead and injured and called on "all people of goodwill to stand against fear-mongering and injustice". "In addition, any discourse which attempts to apportion blame by association or sensationalises violence to stigmatise a certain segment of society only serves to undermine community harmony and safety," the religious leader said." Dr Abu Mohammed has so far not responded to media requests. Dr Rifi​ said Islamic State's attacks in Paris would test Australia, but that it was time to come together "united in our condemnation, standing together to defeat this global terrorist organisation". "It's like we are drowning in a sea of hate and every time we get our heads above water, something else happens to pull us down," he said, adding that the extremists behind terrorist attacks were "only Islamic by name".

Melbourne Victory's French-born winger Fahid Ben Khalfallah​ has condemned the Islamist fanatics behind the attacks, with the Tunisian international saying he could not understand people who kill for religion. "It's not just because it's my country. Everywhere something like that happens it's not normal. I can't understand people like that," he said. "In France there are a lot of Muslims and different people from different cultures. The other people don't know the difference. They put all Muslims in the same [basket]. The head of Australia's domestic spy agency ASIO has warned copy-cat attacks in Australia are possible following the events in Paris. Despite there being no specific information of any similar events being planned for Australia, there were "no guarantees", Duncan Lewis said.

"There is no way in the world that we are able to say there is no possibility of an attack in Australia." Telco Optus was forced to remove a new advertisement, written in Arabic, from a Sydney shopping centre this week after staff were allegedly threatened. It followed complaints on social media that drew links between Arabic - the official language of more than 20 countries and the native tongue of more than 200 million people around the world - and terrorism. With Michael Lynch and AAP