Community leaders condemn alleged attack against Muslim Vote convener sheik Wesam Charkawi

Leading Islamic bodies have condemned an alleged attack on prominent Sydney sheik and Muslim Vote convener Wesam Charkawi, criticising the NSW and federal Labor governments’ ‘silence’.

Sheik Wesam Charkawi, a prominent Sydney imam and convener of the Muslim Vote political campaign. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Australia’s peak Muslim bodies have condemned an alleged Islamophobic attack on prominent Sydney sheik and Muslim Vote convener Wesam Charkawi while criticising the “silence” of the NSW and federal Labor governments.

While a “forceful response” to recent anti-Semitic attacks was “commendable”, one leader said, governments not affording the same to their community when it was targeted was “dismayingly inadequate”, forcing Australian Muslims to “question” their status in society.

Kelly Farrugia, 39, was charged this week over allegedly attempting to hit Sheik Charkawi with her car outside a southwest Sydney school and after allegedly threatening a Muslim woman while shouting “get f..ked, Allah”.

An Australian National Imams Council member, Sheik Charkawi came to public prominence after establishing The Muslim Vote campaign to take on Labor at the federal election.

The ANIC, the Lebanese Muslim Association, NSW Muslim Legal Network and Alliance of Australian Muslims on Friday condemned the “ongoing mishandling of Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian crimes”.

The organisations’ statement read: “In a disturbing sequence of events, it has now emerged that (Farrugia allegedly) tried to ram (Sheik Charkawi) with her car … (and) narrowly missed hitting him.

A screengrab of footage allegedly showing Kelly Farrugia’s threats toward a Muslim woman at a Bankstown Kmart on December 21.

“(Farrugia allegedly) ruthlessly targeted a Muslim community leader who has worked tirelessly to grant the community a voice within our democratic society.”

The organisations demanded a “clear, actionable response” and acknowledgment of “the gravity of threats faced by Australian Muslims”.

ANIC senior adviser Bilal Rauf said Ms Farrugia’s alleged threats and attacks – amid a wider climate of Islamophobia – were “very concerning” and the Muslim community’s fears were being ignored.

“It appears there has been little comment or response by political leaders,” he said.

“The community hopes that, as Australians, their safety and wellbeing will be just as prioritised as that of other community members.”

Aftab Malik, Australia’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia, called the alleged attacks “absolutely unacceptable” and “horrifying”, and follow a Christmas Eve letter from LMA president Hafez Alameddine to NSW Premier Chris Minns expressing “extreme concern” and demanding better protection for his community.

“A woman in visibly Muslim attire, wearing clothing in support of the Palestinian people, was subjected to abhorrent abuse … directed at her as a result of her background,” Mr Alameddine wrote, adding that political leaders had “fallen embarrassingly short” in their response to Islamophobia.

“While (there has been) a commendably forceful response to anti-Semitic attacks … (the Muslim community) is questioning their status in society in light of the dismayingly inadequate response to (recent) Islamophobic incidents.”

The latest incidents come amid strained relationships between Jewish and Muslim leaders, given deeply held emotions surrounding the Gaza conflict and pressure from within each community, but also as governments attempt to walk a societal tightrope.

Barrister Bilal Rauf, a senior adviser to ANIC.

Anthony Albanese, left, and NSWPremier Chris Minns. Picture: X

The ALP faces a federal election battle in its southwest Sydney heartland given the emergence of Sheik Charkawi’s Muslim Vote campaign and “pro-Palestine” independents, while Jewish leaders have criticised Anthony Albanese’s “weak” response to anti-Semitism after two Sydney vandalism attacks and the firebombing of Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue.

A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said the government “utterly condemned” the alleged attack and it had “no place in Australia”.

“We are a country that respects people of different faiths and we are enriched by our diversity,” she said.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke – whose Watson electorate is under threat from Sheik Charkawi’s campaign – said the targeting of people based on their religion would “never be tolerated” and authorities should “make an example of anyone attempting to undermine social cohesion”.

Mr Minns has been praised for his strong stance against anti-Semitism but has frustrated some Muslim leaders who believe his government has ignored their concerns.

A spokesman for Multiculturalism Minister Steve Kamper called Islamophobia “completely abhorrent” and said anyone spreading hatred would “face the full force of the law”.

The state government’s community resilience and response plan has been ramped up and NSW Police’s Operation Shelter was established in 2023 to combat racial hatred, alongside planned changes to better protect places of worship and possible protest law reform with that same goal.

Ms Farrugia has been charged with offences including two counts of intimidation, behaving offensively near a school, common assault, intentionally driving menacingly, and using a carriage service to harass.

Police have slapped her with an apprehended violence order to protect Sheik Charkawi, whom Ms Farrugia – who is undergoing treatment for schizophrenia – allegedly accelerated towards outside a Sydney school with what police alleged was with a “disturbing degree of planning”.

Ms Farrugia has also been charged under NSW’s Section 93Z for allegedly threatening violence on the grounds of religion, one of only a handful since the provision’s 2018 enactment.