Sydney woman Kelly Farrugia was arrested by NSW Police on Dharug Country in Parramatta on December 22 for allegedly threatening behaviour towards a Palestinian mother and daughter in Bankstown Kmart a few days before.
The 39-year-old Australian woman was charged at Granville police station and refused bail.
The Palestinian mother captured the behaviour on video. The footage, which went viral, shows Farrugia, approaching the woman and her daughter, before gesturing the middle finger and stopping in front of the two women before shouting: “Are you proud of wearing ‘From the River to the Sea?’”
She continued: “Get fucked, Allah. Every fucking day. Fuck off.”
The Palestinian woman later explained on social media that Farrugia’s threatening behaviour had its desired effect: she was frozen stiff, not knowing how she could protect her daughter.
“She looked like she could do some harm,” the mother said, “because prior to the video, she had started throwing boxes at me and my daughter in an aisle.”
This Islamophobic incident comes as Israel continues its genocide in Gaza.
Federal Labor MPs did not condemn the incident as they have in relation to a number of recent alleged antisemitic attacks.
“A woman has been charged with intimidation offences following an incident in Bankstown last week,” NSW Police News reported on December 22.
Farrugia was charged with a number of offences and refused bail. She was scheduled to appear in Parramatta Bail Court the following day.
The court heard that Farrugia had been involved in an attempt to run down Shaykh Wesam Charkawi in front of Granville Boys High School on December 18.
Charkawi is a Muslim teacher who also works as a student support officer.
Police charged Farrugia with publicly threatening violence on the grounds of religious belief, offensive language in a public place (Kmart), offensive conduct in a public place and intimidation.
She has also been charged with common assault and intimidation in relation to the school incident.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the police prosecutor said the prosecution will allege that Farrugia has a predisposition towards “racially motivated stereotyping or targeting”. He said the attempt to run over one person nearly impacted many more. Farrugia has been involved in a number of similar incidents.
Farrugia told the court that there is “a long story” behind the school incident.
“I got a phone call from police telling me that they have been recording me and if I do anything they are threatening me with an AVO.” She suggested the school principal is using the school “as his own Pentagon”.
NSW Acting Magistrate Ray Plibersek granted Farrugia bail on the proviso she stay with her father, keep a curfew between 5pm and 9am, and not go within 500 metres of Granville or Bankstown. She replied: “It’s theirs. They can have it.”
Biased politics, biased policing
The Palestinian mother subjected to Farrugia’s Islamophobic and racist abuse met supporters outside of Bankstown police station, prior to a police interview.
Supporters organised a protest there because while the Palestinian woman had called the police, they did not show up within a two-hour period. She only heard from police 24 hours after the incident.
Many who gathered there had been subjected to similar abuse over the past 15 months: she said it was no isolated incident, but the fact it was “well-documented” forced the police to respond.
The Palestinian said such “micro-level” incidents are being encouraged “from the top-down”. She said ministers, including the PM, only condemn antisemitic incidents but turn a blind eye to Islamophobic crimes.
“What we have learnt in the past 24 hours, this person who is on the loose, has threatened and assaulted various people in our community … and she attempted to murder one of our people,” the woman said.
“These fake authorities do not treat their constituents equally … they will side with the perpetrators of the victim.”
She said when the government sides with Israel, the police side with the perpetrators.
A dangerous conflation
PM Anthony Albanese, foreign minister Penny Wong and NSW Premier Chris Minns have been apologists for Benjamin Netanyahu’s genocidal actions in Gaza and the West Bank over the past 15 months.
It is reported that more than 45,000 Palestinians have died, but the true death toll is hard to ascertain. It is thought to be in the hundreds of thousands.
Albanese and Minns have been quick to demonise community members for supporting justice in Palestine. They are also quick to wrongly conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism.
This helps those supporting Netanyahu’s war on Gaza, as any criticism is deemed antisemitic, which could lead to criminal charges being laid.
It also helps embolden people like Farrugia to wage a personal war against individuals deemed to be antisemitic.
“This woman came around from behind me,” the Palestinian mother, who was the victim of the Kmart attack, told Channel 10. They “locked my body in between her body and the shelves” and “made very slow hand gestures that she’s going to slowly slit my throat”.
[Paul Gregoire writes for Sydney Criminal Lawyers, where this article was first published.]