Hilali claims he saved this baby from a Jew's pie

The controversial cleric was also forced to deny that he was a bigot who hated Australia. "I think Australia is the greatest Satanic infidel country full of lying convicts in the world. I didn't wish to offend anyone, except idolaters and Jews," he said, in a statement that was immediately taken out of context.

Hilali found first found himself in hot water with his comments that Freemasons ran the world and that women were to blame for rape, which were condemned in all quarters except the Gibson household. 

Sent overseas to lie low, Hilali then appeared on an Egyptian breakfast television show, where he claimed that Westerners were the "world's greatest liars", forcing the bemused host to finish the planned electro-magnetic mattress advertorial by himself.

"The diatribe could have been a mistake," admitted one advisor. "Then again, you have to admit the host asked for it, the way he dressed."

Hilali's fledging political career also seems to have stalled, with Hilali denying he has made a deal with NSW Opposition Leader Peter Debnam. "I wouldn't go near Debnam," he said "Some of his colleagues in the NSW Libs are real nutjobs".

However, the NSW Opposition remain wary, "Hilali said voters were infidels and the biggest liars in the world," said one insider. "But Peter still can't seem to beat him in the polls". 

It's understood the Sheikh will now retire from the public eye and limit his commentary to less heated issues such as abortion, euthanasia and Northern Ireland.