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Rabat – Australia has acknowledged a noted increase in Islamophobia since the start of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned today’s recurrent attacks on Australians based on their religious beliefs, saying that these acts are also an attack on the country’s principles.
“Australia should be able to feel safe at home in any community,” he said.
Albanese’s remarks came following a report that raised alarms about the widespread prevalence of Islamophobia and the normalization of similar incidents.
The report documented the rise of Islamophobia in Australia, long before the genocidal war launched by the Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza.
“Still, it has yet to see their observations or warnings acknowledged and taken seriously,” the report added, emphasizing that Islamophobia is not a Muslim issue.
It is also a “social cohesion issue, and therefore a challenge for all Australians,” the report said, calling for a multifaceted, multisector and whole-of-society approach.
The recommendations include education and awareness-raising, as well as increased social interaction and community engagement to combat Islamophobia.
“Confront Islamophobia with equivalent urgency to other discriminatory practices, and provide it with the same rights, protections, and legal recourse,” it added.
Aftab Malik, a special envoy to combat Islamophobia, said the reality is that “Islamophobia in Australia has been persistent,” deploring that this situation has been ignored at times and other times denied.
“We have seen public abuse,” Malik said, citing also other crimes like graffiti.
“We have seen Muslim women and children targeted, not for what they have done, but for who they are and what they wear.”
