NSW Police says it is investigating an alleged incident in which a woman wearing a pro-Palestinian T-shirt was assaulted at a Kmart store in western Sydney.
The woman, who has been identified as Mariam, alleges a woman at Kmart in Bankstown threw boxes at her and her 10-year-old daughter before launching into a verbal attack.
Mariam said she filmed the alleged incident — which has been condemned as — and it has been shared widely online.
It shows a woman walking towards her giving the middle finger before she yells: “Are you proud of wearing ‘From the river to the sea?” — that was written on the back of the T-shirt she said she was wearing at the time.
The phrase is considered by some Jewish communities as a call for the destruction of Israel, while Palestinians consider it a call for freedom.
The woman then says, “You are, get f—d Allah (God in Arabic). Every f—ing day. F–k off,” before she walks away. The video does not show the woman throwing boxes at Mariam.
Mariam said she was wearing this T-shirt when the alleged incident occured. It reads “from the river to the sea” on the back. Source: Instagram / @azznewz
In a separate video posted on Instagram on Saturday, Mariam claimed the woman threatened to “end [her] life”.
“My daughter was there as well, which was really appalling. I didn’t know how to protect her and she marched at me, came straight to my face,” she said.
“I was just stuck in that position. I did not know what was happening, how to protect my little one, how to deal with this situation.
“She looked like she could do some physical harm because prior to recording the video, she had started throwing boxes at me and my daughter when we were in one of the aisles.”
Mariam said she called Bankstown police station who said they would send officers to the store. She said she waited for three hours but they did not arrive, and said she did not receive a phone call from them until 24 hours later.
“I was hoping that the police would arrive as soon as possible while I was there to retrieve from the CCTV because I had only recorded this part of the incident,” she said. “But they have not shown any interest.”
SBS News has attempted to reach Mariam through various channels for comment, and has contacted Kmart for comment.
NSW Police respond
A small group of supporters gathered for a snap rally at Bankstown police station on Sunday morning, condemning what they said was an act of Islamophobia against the Muslim, pro-Palestinian activist and criticising what they said was “inaction from the police”.
Omar Sakr — an Arab-Australian poet who is the Greens’ candidate for the western Sydney seat of Blaxland at — was among those to speak.
“We deserve better than the police force that doesn’t bother to show up to the scene of a crime,” Sakr said. “Mariam deserves better than this; our community deserves better than this.”
NSW Police has confirmed an investigation is underway and on Sunday morning said officers had tried to make contact with Mariam but were unable to obtain a formal statement.
Mariam told the rally that she did not provide a statement when police did call 24 hours later because she and her daughter had “decided to look after” themselves.
She said police did not “back off” and approached her friends and family asking: “if they can give a statement or if they can get hold of me”.
NSW Police said on Sunday afternoon it had “a duty of care to follow up reports of alleged violence in the community”, adding Mariam had since provided a statement.
A Triple Zero call was received at about 4pm on Friday afternoon and the operator was told the alleged perpetrator had left the store, a NSW Police spokesperson said.
“The operator established the caller was in no imminent danger, and that security was aware of the incident,” the spokesperson said.
Islamophobia and antisemitism on the rise
Australia is currently experiencing a rise in both Islamophobia and , according to Islamic and Jewish groups.
The Islamophobia Register says it received an average of three reports each week before erupted on 7 October 2023, which has increased to nearly 18 a week in the aftermath — about a six-fold increase.
Meanwhile, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said in a report published earlier this month that there were 2,062 reports of anti-Jewish incidents from 1 October 2023, to 30 September 2024 — up from 495 in the previous 12-month period.
The October 7 attack on southern Israel by militants led by Hamas — Gaza’s militant rulers — was a major escalation in a long-standing conflict between Hamas and Israel.
More than 1,200 people were killed and about 250 others were taken hostage during the attack, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 45,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and reduced much of the territory to rubble.
Religious and political leaders last week condemned Islamophobic graffiti in the western Sydney suburb of Sefton — an incident NSW Police said they were investigating.
The words ‘F–k Islam’ had been spray painted onto both sides of an underpass and the words ‘cancel Islam’ were graffitied on a nearby advertisement.
And Victoria Police said this week it was investigating an alleged Islamophobic incident in which a truck displaying Palestinian flags was set alight outside a home in the western Melbourne suburb of Newport on Monday.
It also investigating an antisemitic sign that a group of 20 men dressed in black allegedly displayed on the steps of state parliament on Friday.