Aftab Malik, Australia`s Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia

An Australian official has sounded the alarm about the increased hatred toward Muslims since the Bondi attack last month, which targeted Australia`s Jewish community at a Hanukkah festival.

Aftab Malik, Australia`s Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, warned that acts of hatred toward Muslim Australian citizens, especially women, have surged since the Bondi Beach attack.

On December 14, two gunmen, a father and son, one hailing from India, the other an Australian citizen, with links to an extremist terror group, killed 15 people in the attack on a Jewish event in the Australian city of Sydney.

The Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia said, in a piece published by The Guardian on Friday, that since the Bondi attack, some Australians struggle to differentiate between ordinary Muslims and terrorists linked to the extremist Daesh terror group (also known as ISIS and ISIL).

Malik said Muslim women have reported being spat at, abused, attacked and threatened in the fortnight since the attack.

He said many women whom he spoke to over the past two weeks have actively adjusted their normal movements in public due to a heightened perceived risk of danger to them and their children.

He added that this increased wave of anxiety and unease that Muslims are now feeling is present in everyday community discussions around the nation.

Malik said the extremists want society to rip itself apart, pitting neighbor against neighbor and worshiper against worshiper, and forcing people to build walls.

Australia`s Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia said that people of all walks of society need to communicate effectively to understand each other better.

"For the preservation of societal integrity, we must stand guard against what Frank Furedi calls `a culture of fear," he said, adding that the nation should instead follow the sage advice of Marie Curie: "Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."

Following the Bondi attack, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Australia`s recognition of Palestinian statehood had contributed to the incident.

At the time, Netanyahu said the recognition of a Palestinian state is an "absurdity" and a "reward for terrorism."

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected Netanyahu`s claim.

He said that the decision was part of a coordinated international effort to revive momentum for a so-called two-state solution and secure a ceasefire to halt the Israeli regime`s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

"Overwhelmingly, most of the world recognizes a two-state solution as the way forward in the Middle East," Albanese stated.