<\/p>\n
Threats and hate speech against Muslim Australians have surged in the wake of the Bondi beach attack, with one mosque receiving dozens of offensive phone calls and reports of people being targeted in the street.<\/p>\n
As Australia\u2019s Jewish community deals with trauma from the attack that killed 15 people at a Hanukah event, religious leaders say societal and political divisions has led to other groups being targeted by hatred.<\/p>\n
The Islamophobia Register Australia<\/a> received 126 reported hate incidents in the week after the 14 December shooting \u2013 10 times more than it had received each of the two weeks prior.<\/p>\n A similar surge in incidents has been recorded separately by the Australian National Imams Council . Its vice-president, Ahmed Abdo, said Muslim women have been verbally abused and had been subjected to hand gestures imitating guns.<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/sub><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThere is a heightened fear,\u201d Abdo said. \u201cOne woman \u2026 doesn\u2019t want to actually leave her home because she wears a scarf as a Muslim woman, and she fears that she may be targeted. There\u2019s a feeling [there is] likely to be hate violence directed towards Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n Police have alleged the Bondi attack was inspired by Islamic State, and allegedly found two copies of the Qur\u2019an in an Airbnb used by Naveed Akram and his father.<\/p>\n Muslim leaders and organisations have condemned the attack, with representatives attending vigils to mourn those killed.<\/p>\n But the day after the attack, butchered pig heads and other animal parts were left at the entrance to a Muslim cemetery in Sydney\u2019s south-west.<\/p>\n A Queensland mosque<\/a> and an Islamic school in Victoria<\/a> were also vandalised with graffiti in the week after the attack.<\/p>\n Separately, calls circulated on social media for a \u201cMiddle East\u201d bashing at Cronulla beach, for which a man has been charged.<\/p>\n Abdo said some Sydney congregations had cut the amount of time they spent at mosques, leaving immediately after prayers were finished.<\/p>\n Others, like the Lakemba mosque in south-west Sydney, have increased their security presence.<\/p>\n Mohamed Mohideen, the president of the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV), said the organisation\u2019s prayer centre had faced skyrocketing hate mail and he had received at least 30 threatening phone calls.<\/p>\n \u201cIt manifests online, which is safe although it\u2019s hate, or it will manifest in abuse, and it could also go down the pathway of physical harm and attacks,\u201d Mohideen said.<\/p>\n Mohideen said the ICV has received reports of teenagers in hijabs and worshippers outside mosques being verbally abused since 14 December, which he added has resulted in more police patrols.<\/p>\n \u201cWe fear someone could do something at any time \u2026 but the Muslim community is very resilient. We are not going to claim victimhood, we are not going to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n Mohideen said the political debate and rhetoric about \u201cradical Islam\u201d since the Bondi attack had intensified hostility towards the Muslim community.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Jewish community didn\u2019t come out and attack the Muslim community \u2026 it was the politicians,\u201d Mohideen said.<\/p>\n