<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>338575</docID> <postdate>2025-02-19 10:12:48</postdate> <headline>‘Outrageous’: PM breaks silence on Islamophobic attack</headline> <body><p><img class=" wp-image-338576" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20241120155328055100-original-1-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="669" height="446" /></p> <caption>Cricket star Usman Khawaja has accused political leaders of being silent over Islamophobic attacks. (Richard Wainwright/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Holly Hales and William Ton</b> in Melbourne</span></p> <p><strong>The prime minister has broken his silence on the Islamophobic attack on two women at a suburban shopping centre, almost a week after the assaults. </strong></p> <p>Anthony Albanese was quizzed on Wednesday about two Muslim women being physically attacked, with one pushed to the floor, in separate incidents at a mall at Epping, in Melbourne's north, on Thursday.</p> <p>"I find this outrageous, that people were assaulted for who they are and attacks on the basis of people's race or their religious belief are un-Australian, they are outrageous," he told ABC Radio Melbourne.</p> <p>"The perpetrators should be held fully to account and face the full force of the law."</p> <p>Mr Albanese denies Australians view Islamophobia differently to anti-Semitism.</p> <p>"All I can do is talk about the way that I look at it and I regard any attacks on the basis of race or people's faith as being an outrage and I think that overwhelmingly Australians are harmonious." he said.</p> <p>An unidentified woman assaulted a 30-year-old woman inside the shopping complex before she pushed a 26-year-old woman to the floor in a separate incident about 10 minutes later, Victoria Police said.</p> <p>The younger woman, Ealaf Al-Esawie, said the assault left her crying and scared to leave the house.</p> <p>"I barely could breathe. I was shocked, terrified. I started crying like so hard," she told ABC radio.</p> <p>Ms Al-Esawie said she wants the person responsible held to account.</p> <p>"When I saw another Muslim lady wearing a hijab got attacked as well from the same lady, I was like no, that, that is Islamophobia," she said.</p> <p>"We want we want to feel safe in our country."</p> <p>Australian cricket star Usman Khawaja on Tuesday accused Mr Albanese of being silent over Islamophobic attacks and favouring other faiths.</p> <p>The "atrocious" attacks will be "swept under the rug like all attacks against the Islamic community", Khawaja said in an Instagram post.</p> <p>He called for a summit to tackle not just anti-Semitism but Islamophobia too.</p> <p>When asked on Tuesday by AAP for a comment on the attacks following his prompt responses to a spate of anti-Semitic incidents, Mr Albanese's office pointed to a statement released by federal assistant minister for multicultural affairs Julian Hill.</p> <p>Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the violence was unacceptable, egregious and a disgrace and of particular concern was one of the victims being pregnant.</p> <p>Home Affairs spokesman James Paterson also expressed his concern that women were assaulted in a statement on X and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.</p> <p>Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan condemned the "horrific" attacks when asked by reporters, calling the incidents "evil hatred".</p> <p>Australia's Special Envoy to combat Islamophobia Aftab Malik said the "disgusting" attacks on the women brought the hidden cancer of Islamophobia to the surface.</p> </body>