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Muslims as Victims
Anti-Muslim feeling has developed significantly since 1990, largely be-
cause Muslims are seen as problematic and a threat to Australian society.
This attitude has been fed by a number of events. Already during the
1991 Gulf War there were significant attacks on Australian Muslims, with
women wearing the hijab being the major targets.
11
The arrival of ille-
gal boat people, especially asylum seekers from Iraq and Afghanistan,
12
was highlighted by the incident of the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa in
August 2001 when the Australian government refused to allow the 440
refugees who had been on board the capsized boat to land on Australian
shores. The events of September 11, 2001, “changed the life of most Mus-
lims in the West including Australia.”
13
The Bali bombings in 2002, when
88 Australians died with many more injured, were blamed on Islamic
extremists. Public opinion was further inflamed by incidents of gang rape
involving Muslim youths, which were highlighted by the media.
In the weeks after September 11, members of the Arabic community
suffered abuse, with significant increase of anti-Arab vilification and
hijab-wearing women and children again being a key target of abuse.
14
Muslim women, who were easily identifiable, were insulted and spat at,
and their veils were pulled off.
15
Arabic newspaper staffs received bomb
and death threats, and mosques were desecrated by arsonists. The worst
attacks occurred in Queensland, where one Brisbane mosque and another
Muslim institution were damaged by fire.
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The viciousness of the anti-
Muslim feeling was expressed on talk back radio and in hate mail such as
“You are all Muslim fanatic terrorist criminals” and “You are all marked
for death.”
17
In 2003, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commis-
sion established the Isma (meaning “listen” in Arabic), to investigate the
victimization of Arab Muslims in Australia after September 11. Its find-
ings stressed the disturbingly high level of abuse and attacks on people
who were clearly identifiable by dress, language, name, or appearance
and asserted that the negative media portrayal of Arabs and Muslims
contributed to this situation.
18
An Australian Muslim scholar has argued
Jews and Muslims “Downunder”: Emerging Dialogue and Challenges · 103
that Muslims have replaced Jews as the new “others” as “Muslims in the
West, like Jews before us, grapple with the same issues that Jews of the
past did: integration or isolation, tradition or reform, intermarriage or
intra-marriage.”
19
Members of the Muslim community and academic scholars argue that
media comment has heightened Islamophobia in Australia. The media
focus on the Muslim background of gang rapists resulted in Muslim
women being further targets of ethnic hatred.
20
A 2004 study by Dr. Paul
White highlighted the problem of anti-Muslim media comments creating
a sense of alienation among young Muslims. White interviewed more
than eighty young Lebanese Australians. He noted that “Lebos. Wags.
Ninjas. Towel heads. Wogs. Terrorists. Osama bin Laden. Stupid Arab.
Abos. Bimo Lebs. Greasy Legs. Camel-spit. Lebanese Shit. Lebanese are
lesbians. Yous are scums, yous are all rats. Go back to your own country”
were all insults that young Lebanese Australians have to endure in their
daily life in Sydney. Understandably, most of the respondents empha-
sized their feeling of not being accepted into Australian society due to this
racial stereotyping, which they claimed was fostered by politicians, the
media, and police statements. The majority of those interviewed called
for “mutual tolerance and acceptance as they were all Australians.”
21
Similarly, journalist Peter Manning conducted a study of the media for
one year before and after September 11, 2001, and found stereotyping of
Arabs and Muslims.
22
A strong critic of Israel who opposes the concept
of a “Jewish state,” Manning virtually equated sympathy for Israel with
anti-Muslim extremism.
23
The difficulties of Arab Muslim acculturation and integration were
highlighted by the riots at the Sydney southern beachside suburb of
Cronulla in December 2005, which were followed by violent reprisal at-
tacks by young Arab Muslims. Racist groups, such as White Pride, and
Christian religious extremists used the assault by Muslim youths on two
lifeguards to attack all Muslims.
24
This strong negative reaction to Mus-
lims in Australia has created a sense of ambivalence and even alienation
toward Australia. Andrew Markus has noted: “Alienation is not, how-
ever, to be explained simply in terms of failures within Australian society
and government. Radicals within the Muslim community reject secular
and pluralistic institutions. They present a major problem for Australian
society—one that is magnified in Muslim-Jewish relations.”
25
Muslims
have been both the victims and the victimizers in Australia, particularly
104 · Suzanne D. Rutland
in the western and southern suburbs of Sydney where the largest per-
centage reside. This has presented a problem and a challenge to the Jew-
ish community in Sydney.
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