The threat of homegrown terrorism is making headlines in Australia: 80 percent of Australians now believe a terrorist attack will occur on Australian soil. With more and more Australians traveling overseas to wage jihad, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is taking steps to defend the nation against those who want to return home with radical ideologies.

The government is giving au$13 million (us$12 million) to Muslim “community management programs” designed to prevent Australians from being coerced into joining jihad overseas.

The government hopes the funding will be enough to counter the glamorized deluge of jihadist videos and images that are drawing away its young Australian Muslims. The government also hopes to counter radical Islamic recruiters. The prime minister said that at least 100 pro-terror “facilitators” are currently in Australia. These recruiters help stir up more support for the cause of groups such as the Islamic State.

However, $13 million for education and employment among young Muslims is not enough. The reason lies beyond the recruiters and the glamorized terrorist lifestyle that is being sold to young Muslims. The Muslim leadership in Australia is far from helpful when it comes to bringing about meaningful change.

Abbott has been working to gain support for a set of laws that will make it illegal to travel to certain war-torn areas of the world where groups such as al Qaeda and the Islamic State are fighting. But the move has drawn heat from Australia’s ethnic minorities—primarily Muslims, who see this as an attack on their right to visit relatives or participate in humanitarian work in those regions.

Even when Abbott endeavored to meet with leaders of Australia’s Muslim community, some boycotted the talks. The plan to get Muslim leadership on board with the new anti-terror laws backfired. The Islamic Court of Victoria—which represents 150,000 Muslims in Australia—accused Abbot of being “divisive and inflammatory.”

Those who did attend the meeting weren’t much help either. The Grand Mufti of Australia lectured the prime minister on legal freedoms, and then boycotted an end-of-Ramadan dinner hosted by the federal police because of his opposition to the new anti-terrorism laws. It comes down to playing the victim card.

Australian political commentator Andrew Bolt said, “I am left with the clear impression that many of our Islamic leaders have more interest in preaching victimhood than in fighting terrorism. They are feeding what they should be fighting.”

Some Muslim leaders said they were concerned about the “reversal of the presumption of innocence.” But when over 150 Australian Muslims are fighting in Syria and Iraq for groups like al Qaeda and the Islamic State, the facts are hard to argue. The core of Australia’s homegrown terrorist problem lies with born-and-bred Muslims going overseas to fight, and bringing jihad home to Australia when they return.

Many Muslims would cry outrage at such a statement, but the evidence is clear. Currently, 60 Australians are confirmed to be fighting alongside the Islamic State—the group working to establish itself as a Muslim caliphate. The images of Australians holding severed heads are Muslim Australians.

The issue revolves around immigration and the threat of a major terrorist attack being carried out by Australian citizens on Australian soil. But just getting the country on board with laws to stop Australians from becoming terrorists—let alone implementing such laws—seems to be an insurmountable task.

After speaking with leaders of the Muslim community, Tony Abbott has called on Australians to join “Team Australia.” Speaking on Macquarie Radio, the prime minister said, “Everyone has got to put this country, its interests, its values and its people first, and you do not migrate to this country unless you want to join our team.”

However, a look at the Muslim community shows that many don’t want to join the team. Some play the victim card, calling for separate laws and concessions. As Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson said, “The prime minister said that he wants to unite Team Australia. I agree, which is why we should have laws that apply for everybody consistently. There is nothing more dangerous to a multicultural Australia today than the idea that some people have legal privileges on the basis of their race which do not exist for other people.”

Why do some Muslim leaders boycott attempts to create anti-terror laws? Why do some go even further, such as Wissam Haddad, the head of the al-Risalah Islamic Center in Sydney, who told the Daily Telegraph that he followed the flag of Allah rather than the flag of Australia?

This is the problem Australia faces. It cannot prevent homegrown terrorists because the problem is not just with the individuals who choose to fight overseas, nor with the glamorized terrorist image that is portrayed by groups like the Islamic State, and not with the 100 recruiters enticing Muslims to fight. The problem also lies with Muslim leaders who cry foul when they should try to cooperate. When all these issues are combined, no government anti-terror laws are enough to stop Australian Muslims from going overseas to fight.

The threat posed by radical immigrants or their children (born and raised in Australia but refuse to assimilate into society) is a credible threat. It is a threat foretold centuries in advance. These strangers within Australia’s gates are mentioned in Deuteronomy 28:43.

Late Trumpet columnist Ron Fraser wrote about Australia’s immigration crisis back in 2006. In his article titled “Australia’s Homegrown Terrorists,” he stated:

Match that prophecy [Deuteronomy 28] with Deuteronomy 32:25, and it is clear to those with a perspective on the biblical identity of Australia, and on prophecy for these times, that the future does not bode well for Australia in respect of this terrorist threat.

Australia and other Western nations will continue to work to prevent terrorism coming home from Syria, Iraq and other radicalized areas of the world. They are fighting the “stranger in the gates” as your Bible said they would in our day.

For more information on Australia, its immigration crisis, and how it is intertwined with Bible prophecy, read our free e-book Australia—Where to Now?