MELBOURNE, Australia, December 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A leader of Australia's Islamic community lashed out Sunday, December 15, at a series of television advertisements about terrorism which he feared would provoke racist attacks on Muslims.

Haset Sali, the senior legal adviser for the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, said the Islamic community had not been consulted over the commercials, produced by the Australian government, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The advertisements, part of the government's anti-terrorist crackdown following the Bali bombings on October 12, are aimed at raising awareness about the terrorist threat to Australia and giving tips about spotting danger signs. They are to be screened from December 18.

Speaking outside a forum grouping Muslim leaders and Victoria state police here, Sali said he was concerned the commercials would engender fear, prompting further racist attacks.

He said the massacres carried out in the Australian state of Tasmania and the Oklahoma City bombing showed fanatics were not all Muslims.

"This can happen to any people of any faith," he said.

"I would have liked to see a combined (anti-terrorist) campaign where people of all faiths come together and say we don't need fanatics from another sector of society to hijack our way of life."

The forum, co-chaired by Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon and Australian Multicultural Foundation chairman Sir James Gobbo, was held to discuss safety and security for the Muslim community.

About 30 Muslim leaders from around the country told the conference they wanted a greater role in the fight to overcome community "intolerance and suspicion."

They said that since the September 11 attacks in the United States and the Bali blasts that killed more than 190 people, mostly Australians, racist attacks on Muslims had been on the rise.

They also issued a statement condemning all forms of violence.

Nixon told reporters after the forum that there had been a hike in racist incidents such as vandalism of Muslim mosques and attacks on Muslim scholars.

"There are a lot of incidents happening in the street every day that don't get reported," she said.

Police were working on ways of cracking down on perpetrators of racist attacks, including improving links between crime stoppers and the Muslim community, she said.

"This is a unique meeting we have gained a lot of strength from," Nixon said.

"Muslim leaders from across the nation have come together to abhor violence and be part of working with police."

The Australian newspaper the Sunday Herald Sun reported that the Islamic Council of Victoria said that Muslim women and children have been spat on, abused and assaulted, labeling the attacks as "the new anti-Semitism".

The paper said that some Muslim families are packing up and leaving the country and that others are considering quitting Australia.

Islamic Council president Yasser Soliman said this week hostility towards Muslims was motivated by hate, fear and misunderstanding.

He told the Herald that "Muslims are afraid, like everybody else, but they are also afraid about how people are going to treat them".

"A (Muslim) woman will walk 10 meters, get a couple of smiles, then she will get someone swearing at her, then will have someone spitting at her," he said.

In one of the worst attacks, three Molotov cocktails were thrown through the windows of the Doncaster Islamic Center and mosque on October 17, the paper reported.

Since the Bali bombings on October 12, reports to the Islamic Council of Victoria have included attacks on Muslim women wearing hijab ( traditional Muslim head wear ) and cars damaged and hate calls made to the homes of Muslims in Sunshine, said the paper.

It added that a Muslim woman was "pushed aside in a post office and told: "You are the scum of society, go back to where you belong."