A new national report from the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), exposes a shocking rise in anti-Palestinian racism across Australia, with hundreds of incidents recorded in its first three months.
Since October 2023, as Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and the settler pogroms in the West Bank escalate, anti-Palestinian racism in Australia has increasingly become embedded across public life from workplaces, healthcare and universities to media, sport, and political institutions, as well as recreational and community settings.
Preliminary findings from the Anti-Palestinian Racism Register, launched by APAN in November 2025, document 264 incidents exposing an escalating pattern of abuse playing out at every level, including from government and institutional policies that have resulted in laws that restrict protest and speech to targeting those wearing a keffiyeh. These incidents do not occur in a vacuum. The report shows new hate speech and protest laws are not protecting communities; rather, they are empowering anti-Palestinian racism and punishing those who speak out against it. All the while, anti-Palestinian racism continues to be ignored at the highest levels.
The data reflects a broad cross-section of people in Australia, spanning racial, religious, and community identities, underscoring that while anti-Palestinian racism primarily targets Palestinians, it is not contained to one group. It is compounding harm for communities already facing marginalisation.
A staggering finding from the report is that 65% of respondents said this was not their first experience of anti-Palestinian racism, highlighting a pattern of repeated, entrenched harm rather than isolated incidents. These incidents are occurring across everyday life, most commonly in public settings (28%), followed by workplaces (18%) and online spaces (15%), demonstrating how widespread and embedded anti-Palestinian racism has become in Australia.
Alarmingly, the data also shows escalation in severity:
- 8% of respondents reported physical violence
- 5% reported death threats
- 18% experienced loss of employment or career opportunities
One respondent described being stalked near their home for months, while others said they had stopped expressing any visible support for Palestine out of fear of violence and retaliation.
More than half of respondents reported experiencing stress (59%), intimidation (51%), and fear (46%), with many withdrawing from their communities or self-censoring to stay safe.
Nasser Mashni, APAN President
“Anti-Palestinian racism is being normalised in this country. People are being targeted, threatened, and silenced for standing with Palestine.
People are being punished for speaking out against genocide, while protest laws tighten and institutions look the other way. Governments are willing to investigate racism, but not all racism, and that double standard is being felt on the ground.
When our Prime Minister welcomes the President of a state plausibly accused of genocide, when state premiers target Palestinians and when Israeli lobbyists blame any act of antisemitism on the anti-genocide movement, all amplified by the mainstream media, it is little wonder we are seeing these alarming statistics.
You cannot claim to stand against racism while ignoring it when it targets Palestinians. That silence is enabling it.”
APAN is calling for immediate action from governments, institutions, and civil society to confront and end anti-Palestinian racism, including stronger protections in workplaces and universities, formal recognition within anti-racism frameworks, and clear accountability from political and institutional leaders. Any national response to racism, including the Royal Commission into antisemitism, must address all forms of racism, including anti-Palestinian racism, rather than continuing to ignore it.
APAN warns that new hate speech and protest laws are not protecting communities, they are deepening fear, giving cover to anti-Palestinian racism, and increasing the pressure and risk faced by Palestinians and those who speak out in solidarity. APAN also notes that anti-Palestinian racism cannot be tackled in isolation, and all work undertaken must be part of broader anti-racist and anti-colonial approaches grounded in frameworks that situate this racism within the context of the ongoing settler colonial violence experienced by First Nations communities here on this continent and in Palestine.
ENDS