Trawling for Islamophobia

Perhaps it was the sheer size and gravity of the Bondi massacre that slowed the usual post-slaughter progression. Usually it’s only a matter of days before sheikhs, imams and their media dhimmis are casting Muslims as the real victims of terror. This time it has taken more than two weeks.
After the Lindt Cafe atrocity, tales of harassment and hijab-ripping were very nearly instantaneous, inspired in large part by a Sydney academic and Greens candidate’s story of having watched a fearful muslima read of the siege on her phone and quietly, fearfully slip off her head covering. As later obliged to admit, she had “editorialised” the supposed incident — read ‘fabricated’ — but by then it was all beside the point as the I’ll Ride With You movement was in full swing. All over pre-Musk Twitter, now known as X, the conspicuously virtuous were announcing themselves available to ride shotgun, so to speak, for terrified Muslims making their way through streets awash with Islamophobic savagery.
A little scepticism would have gone a long way, not to mention even a limp grasp of then-recent history, for while muslims crying white wolf get little attention in the press it is not unknown. Remember Carnita Matthews? She accused a NSW policeman of attempting to tear off her niqab, a bogus claim for which she was sentenced to six months before having her conviction overturned on the grounds that the garment made it impossible for prosecutors to know with absolute certainty that it was really her, and not some other muslima, peeking through garment’s letterbox slot. No need for the comedy of A.P. Herbert’s Misleading Cases in that instance.
Much easier to identify were the muslim youths who chanted ‘Allahu Akbar’ outside the courthouse when not jostling with police or filling reporters’ ears with accusations that the kufar were making their lives in Australia a racist hell. No charges arose from that demonstration of piety, although Mrs Matthews’ husband, Hamdi Alqudsi, did get in a spot of bother a few years later when
sentenced to six years for recruiting half a dozen victims of Australian racism to begin fresh careers as ISIS head-loppers.And who can forget the ‘Cat Meat Sheik’, Taj el-Dene Hilaly, and his claim that vandals smashed the door of his Lakemba office? Silly old sheikh! He neglected to turn off the security cameras and there it was in grainy black and white, irrefutable footage of the man who was then
Australia’s highest muslim cleric — the mufti, no less — kicking in his own door before filing a false report with police. That hoax was aimed at discrediting members of another Muslim faction, and this is a motive worth keeping in mind when one sees reports of, say, a Melbourne mosque being set ablaze. That attack on a Fawkner mosque garnered large headlines in Melbourne, and if casual readers assumed it was the work of racist bigots, well who could blame them? The truth, as later established in court, was that the Shia prayer hall had been targeted by four of your more ardent Sunnis, who also planned to mount a 2016 Christmas terror attack in Melbourne’s CBD. Ah, multiculturalism, ain’t it just grand.
So when reading reports of hijab piracy or muslims being pelted with eggs and abuse the less easily impressed might want to keep at least a small pinch of salt at hand. No doubt there are genuine and regrettable incidents; it would be a surprise if there were not given widespread disgust at the taking of 15 innocent lives. Idiots will be with us always, so very many lacking the insight of the AFP’s Commissioner Krissy, who understands Islamic State has no link whatsoever with, well, Islam.
And also bear in mind that the report of muslims being abused, threatened and attacked are collected and collated by Action Against Islamophobia (AAI), an offshoot of the National Council of Imams whose good works and other activities the Prime Minister recently gifted with $27 million. AAI is a very slick operation, punching out press releases and canvassing widely for instances of muslim misery. From the latest AAI circular, some examples of what is being sought (emphasis added):
Islamophobia … manifests in various ways, from overt acts of violence to subtle forms of discrimination. This prejudice not only seeks to marginalise and silence Muslims but also denies them their rights, equal opportunities, and freedom of movement in society.
An example:
A student with clothing displaying the Palestinian flag at an Australian university campus is singled out by security staff and threatened with suspension for protesting the genocide in Gaza. Police are then called in and the student is escorted off campus.
Just to make sure there are enough incidents to keep a news report happy, especially an ABC one, perceived Islamophobic moments can be reported by hotline or email, the latest press release ending with the graphic reproduced atop this page: No incident is too small to report.