The spate of anti-Muslim racist attacks around the country are being fuelled by the anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian policies of mainstream politicians. Political attempts to undermine the Palestine movement and bipartisan support for Israel’s genocide are causing this.

Mariam Tohamy, a member of Teachers and School Staff for Palestine NSW, was the victim of a vicious, racist attack in Kmart Bankstown recently. Community leader Sheikh Wesam Charkawi was almost killed by a car driven by the same perpetrator. These attacks are propelled from the top of society and require a political response.

At the time of the attack, Mariam — a Muslim woman who wears the hijab — was wearing a t-shirt with the slogan From the River to the Sea, as was her daughter. Mariam has been a very active participant in the Palestinian rights movement. As well as threatening to kill her, the woman who attacked her screamed: “Are you proud to wear From the River to the Sea?” before yelling “Get Fucked Allah!”

The segue between the bad-faith reading of a slogan that call for equal rights for all people living in the lands of historic Palestine and naked islamophobia is no coincidence. Earlier in the year, Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese singled out the slogan, claiming that the words were an “extremely violent statement that has no place on our streets.” In doing so, he labelled anyone who used those words as an extremist, reinforcing the well-worn racist stereotype of Muslims being violent terrorists. The rest of the political class and most of the media echoed this language.

In fact, it is Albanese who has been supporting violence by abetting the genocide of Palestinian people. This took the form not only of political support, but also of allowing Australian companies like Quickstep in Bankstown to provide components to the F-35 fighter jets dropping bombs on the civilian population.

Anti-Muslim racism has become one of the dominant forms of racism in the world. It has been intentionally stoked by Western governments since the beginning of the so-called War on Terror and has been used to justify the imperialist invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. It is reflected in the reams of anti-terrorism laws which have given police and security agencies unchecked powers to surveil and detain Muslims. It has left Muslims feeling like they are living under siege wherever they live. Far-right movements around the world have used this state-orchestrated racism to grow and radicalise politics further to the right.

This racist legacy has been turbo-charged recently by the government and Zionist groups to suppress Palestinian voices and to deny Palestinian experiences like the Nakba. Zionist organisations and right-wing media have launched witch-hunts against prominent Palestine advocates such as Randa Abdel Fattah, Sara Saleh, Nick Riemer and Mary Kostakidis. School teachers have also been attacked for expressing their solidarity with Palestinian people either through wearing the keffiyeh or their words.

The demonisation and repression of the Palestine solidarity movement by Albanese and Dutton has created an environment where racists feel emboldened to attack Muslims, and anyone visibly supporting Palestine. But it is possible to push back against this repression, as we showed recently with our successful day of action in schools to support Palestine.

As well as smearing our slogans as violent, Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns have attempted to ban pro-Palestine protests, including on the anniversary of October 7, and have plans to further restrict protests. All of this is designed to paint the Palestine solidarity movement as inherently violent and antisemitic, therefore illegitimate.

The very existence of islamophobia has been downplayed or outright denied. Liberal Senator and former Ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, claimed that there is no anti-Muslim racism in Australia. This intentional minimising of this racism simply drives more hatred against Muslims and Palestinians.

Albanese, Minns, the media and government bureaucracies are weaponising concepts such as “social cohesion” and “cultural safety” to repress the Palestine movement. They claim it is our protests that are “importing the Middle East conflict” here and dividing society. In fact, it is they who export the conflict to Palestine, along with the weapons Israel needs to commit genocide.

The need for social cohesion is used to shut down any criticism of racism towards Muslims and Palestinians. This was also the justification John Howard used to whitewash the anti-racist element of the March 21 anti-racism day into Harmony Day in schools. But it is the NSW Education Department that creates divisions, by singling out Palestinian students and staff and banning them from wearing their national, cultural dress on this so-called Harmony Day. A Palestinian student from Condell Park High School was also barred from wearing the keffiyeh to his formal. There has been so much of this anti-Palestinian racism in schools that a register has been created in order to record it all.

Minns claims that in order to foster social cohesion teachers need to be neutral “on the conflict”. Yet he is also responsible for lighting up the Opera House in the flag of Israel, and has personally attended Israel Independence Day celebrations, which celebrate the Nakba.

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After the racist attack Mariam contacted Bankstown Police, who said they would send a car. Several hours later, no-one had shown up and Mariam had to leave. A full day later, the police had still not contacted Mariam about the incident. It was only after Teachers and School Staff for Palestine NSW put out a media release and advertised our protest at Bankstown Police Station that an officer finally tried getting in touch with her.

Mariam’s attacker was eventually arrested and charged. Additional attacks and threats by the same perpetrator were discovered through online investigations by the community and passed on to police, which lead to further charges. However, we are not calling for greater police powers or more funding of police, as history shows, these will simply be used against the Palestine solidarity movement and other anti-racist movements.

The police have shown no interest in investigating this attack and other like it because they have been given a political signal that violence against Muslims is acceptable. Just in December, a Muslim school bus was burnt in an arson attack in Adelaide, and a van was torched outside of a home displaying a Palestinian flag in Newport. As APAN pointed out, there was little mainstream media coverage of either act, and hardly any condemnation from Labor or the Liberals. It has been several weeks since the racist attack on Mariam went viral and the silence from political leaders is deafening.

The lack of response to anti-Muslim racism exposes the emptiness of Labor’s anti-racist credentials, and the hollowness of government’s claimed commitment to fighting all forms of racism alongside antisemitism.

The peddling of the false argument that criticism of Israel amounts to antisemitism is itself fuelling anti-Palestinian racism. The appointment of pro-Israel lobbyist and business figure Jillian Segal as antisemitism envoy, and the specialist task forces in Universities are all intended to brand criticism of Israel as antisemitic, rather than combat racism.

This approach has been criticised by many groups, including Jewish groups such as the Jewish Council of Australia. They have correctly pointed out that false claims of antisemitism, which conflate Judaism with Zionism, actually make it more difficult to tackle genuine antisemitism.

We call for an end to the demonisation of the Palestine solidarity movement and the anti-Muslim racism that comes with it. We call for an end to the repression of staff and students who speak out about the genocide. We call for immediate sanctions to be placed on Israel and the severing of all diplomatic and commercial ties, including two-way weapons trade.