Muslim man punched in face for refusing to talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The attack is third to occur at Park Holme mosque this year

Refusing to have a discussion regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict led to a Muslim man being punched in the face by a visitor at the Park Holme mosque in the Australian city of Adelaide.

Ahmad Zreika, president of the Islamic Society of South Adelaide, said the incident occurred at approximately 9.30pm on Friday when a member of the public began asking worshippers questions about Islam.

"He asked him, 'What's your opinion about what happened in Jerusalem, are you against it, or with?'" Mr Zreika added. When the worshipper refused to discuss the issue of Jerusalem, the visitor punched him in the face. "After a few minutes the attacker left the mosque and the brothers inside the mosque called the police. He couldn't understand why the man attacked him just for not expressing an opinion."

"We open our mosque doors every day to the general public in the hope that we can open meaningful dialogue, so that we can work on becoming a more inclusive Australia," said Mr Zreika.

Police have stated that they are currently looking for the attacker. They added that the victim had received facial injuries which were treated by paramedics who arrived at the scene.

This attack is the third to occur at the Park Holme mosque this year. Earlier this year garbage was thrown at a window and a pig's head was thrown at the mosque a month ago.

"We didn't inform the public because at the time we thought maybe it's just kids," Mr Zreika said. "But when there's violence happening, we decided to inform the community [about] what's going on because it's really unacceptable."

This story first appeared on ABC