Israeli war in Gaza triggers ‘terrifying’ surge of Islamophobia in Australia

ISTANBUL

The Israeli war on Gaza is inciting a "terrifying" surge of Islamophobic hate amid growing support for Palestine.

"The war in Gaza has triggered a terrifying surge of antisemitism, anti-Arab racism, anti-Palestinian racism, and Islamophobic hate. Mentioning those different forms of racism doesn’t mean equating them. Mentioning one doesn’t invalidate another," said Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman, according to a report by SBS News on Thursday.

Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Sivaraman called for government action with "genuine commitment and political will" to fight racial discrimination in Australia, which is home to more than 800,000 Muslims, making Islam the country’s second most predominant religion.

His remarks followed a Federal Court ruling last month that confirmed political criticism of Israel—no matter how inflammatory—does not inherently target Jews as a group.

Sivaraman also blamed "some government approaches" that have at times pitted communities against each other.

"When it comes to solutions that will tackle racism, if you just work with one community to the exclusion of another, you don't come up with solutions that will help everyone. Other communities feel like they're not seen, they're not heard, and that their trauma isn't real. Creates distrust in the government. It creates distrust between communities," he said.

Despite the rising Islamophobic hate, pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor government to recognize an independent state of Palestine formally.

According to a recent survey by DemosAU, 45% of Australians now support recognizing a Palestinian state, up from 35% in an earlier survey held in May last year.

Israel has been facing mounting outrage over its destructive war on Gaza, where more than 61,000 people have been killed since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and brought it to the verge of famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.