Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott speaks during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Feb. 9. AFP
SYDNEY, Australia鈥擜ustralian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was slammed by Jewish groups Thursday after saying that Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria were worse than Nazis as they 鈥渂oast about their evil.鈥�
The Australian leader, who is considering extending Australia鈥檚 air campaign against IS in Iraq into Syria following a request by the United States, made the comments after describing the jihadist group鈥檚 actions as 鈥渦nspeakable evil鈥� and 鈥渕edieval barbarity.鈥�
鈥淚 mean, the Nazis did terrible evil but they had sufficient sense of shame to try to hide it. These people boast about their evil,鈥� Abbott told Sydney commercial radio station 2GB.
鈥淭his is the extraordinary thing鈥攖hey act in the way that medieval barbarians acted鈥攐nly they broadcast it to the world with an effrontery which is hard to credit and it just adds a further dimension to this evil.鈥�
His comments were criticized by the head of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Robert Goot as 鈥渋njudicious and unfortunate.鈥�
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Goot said in a statement that IS鈥檚 crimes were horrific but 鈥渃annot be compared to the systematic round-up of millions of people and their dispatch to purpose built death camps for mass murder.鈥�
鈥淎cts of terrorism are necessarily done in the full glare of publicity for their propaganda effect,鈥� he added.
鈥淚n contrast, those responsible for ordering and implementing systematic state-sponsored genocide are high government officials who often operate in secret聽not out of any sense of shame, but to avoid being held criminally responsible for their actions.鈥�
Abbott defended his remarks at a Melbourne press conference later and said he was 鈥渘ot in the business of trying to rank evil.鈥�
鈥淏ut I do make this point, that unlike previous evil-doers, whether we鈥檙e talking about Stalin, Hitler or whoever that tried to cover up their evil, this wretched death cult boasts about it,鈥� he said.
鈥淓very day we see new atrocities broadcast to the world, atrocities of an unspeakable inhumanity.
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 absolutely vital that the decent people of the world unite against this death cult and do everything we reasonably can, as quickly as we can to disrupt, degrade and ultimately destroy (the group).鈥�
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Australia joined the US-led campaign against IS in Iraq last year, contributing military jets and special forces troops.
The government estimates that some 120 of its nationals are still fighting with IS in Iraq and Syria, while at least 30 have been killed. Another 160 sympathisers are believed to be supporting jihadists from home.
In response, Canberra has raised its terror threat alert level to high, introduced new national security laws and conducted several counter-terrorism raids.