When 53-year-old Rita Manessis was putting out her bins late on Thursday night, she smelt a strong stench of paint.
Warning: This story contains language that may offend.
It quickly led her to graffitied Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian slurs like “Get out Muslim c***” spray painted all over her driveway.
“Death to Palestine and [several] swastikas were [painted] quite large at the bottom of my driveway,” she said.
The mother-of-four, who is not Muslim, told the ABC she was “kind of numb to it at the moment” but was shocked at the time and immediately called the police.
She said she did not know why her home was targeted, but suspected it might be related to the “free Palestine” posters and stickers on her car and front of her home.
The attack comes amid an “alarming” spike of Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian hate incidents reported across the country in recent months, according to the Islamophobia Register, the country’s leading organisation dedicated to monitoring Islamophobia.
The register said their data showed a very sharp increase in Islamophobic attacks since October 7, including on university campuses.
“In the same time period post-October 7, we have observed an alarming 39-fold increase in reported incidents on university campuses across the country,” they said in a press release.
Reported incidents include verbal abuse, intimidation, threats, harassment, and physical assault.
The register said in the last few months a woman had her hijab ripped off her head in Brisbane, and a young Queensland man was physically and verbally assaulted while defending his family.
Several Pro-Palestinian protesters who spoke to the ABC on condition of anonymity said they had also been verbally abused, had water bottles thrown at them, and felt unsafe wearing the keffiyeh — a black-and-white Palestinian printed scarf that has become a popular symbol in the pro-Palestine movement.
Calls for more context on Israel-Gaza war
Executive director of the Islamophobia Register Australia Nora Amath said reports and public discussions on the Israel-Gaza war needed to have more context and be more considered.
“It would be helpful if the media and political discourses provide a broader context to what is happening in Gaza, with reference to international law and human rights,” Dr Amath said.
There may be more incidents like what happened to Ms Manessis if the public discourse around the Israel-Gaza war continues to be “polarising, inflammatory and dehumansing”, she says.
Ms Manessis said this incident would not deter her from attending pro-Palestinian vigils and protests in the future.
“I don’t feel unsafe. I feel more angry, because we know why they do this; to intimidate people,” she said.
“I can say with certainty, I will not be intimidated. I will not be cowed.”
Victoria police told the ABC an investigation into vandalism at Ms Manessis’s home remains ongoing, and encouraged anybody with any information to contact Crime Stoppers.
“There is absolutely no place in our society for hate-based symbols and behaviour,” a Victoria Police spokesperson said in a statement.
Ms Manessis has a strong message for the perpetrators.
“I would say to this person, whoever did it: ‘Thank you for shining that light on the the real division and the real anti-Semitism and the real Islamophobia that exists in our local neighbourhood’.
Late last year, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) also reported a huge rise in anti-Semitism in Australia.
“Now, hopefully, the leaders might pay attention a bit more.”