When confronting footage of a father-of-three being assaulted outside a mosque was shared on social media, it sparked a flood of comments.
But rather than well wishes or expressions of concern, the dumbfounded man was hit with a barrage of anti-Muslim abuse, including questions as to why the offenders "didn't kill him".
"When I see those comments, that's very dangerous, that's something unbelievable," the man, who has asked not to be identified because of safety concerns, told AAP.
"I don't want to accept it."
The 43-year-old had finished prayers and was driving through the carpark outside his local Hampton Park mosque, in Melbourne's southeast, to pick up his children on June 24 when two men violently ambushed him.
"Are you Muslim? Are you Muslim?" the father said one of the men asked.
CCTV captured the three talking before one man suddenly threw a hook punch at his head.
As the barrage of punches and kicks rained down, one of the attackers brandished what the father described as an "ice pick," leaving two holes in his jacket.
"I was wrestling to take the knife from him and the other person choked my neck and shouted, 'kill him, kill him'," the father claimed.
"I started to feel my body become numb and for a second I felt my lungs stop."
The duo fled when a passer-by heard the commotion and yelled out at them.
Victoria Police said the victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries and the attackers, who fled in a car, remained at large.
"The exact circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated," a spokeswoman said.
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils said the incident represented a broader escalation of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim rhetoric.
“It begins with words, with suspicion, with politicians and commentators casting Muslims as a threat," president Rateb Jneid said.
He said that language filters into everyday lives, shaping attitudes and emboldening people.
"It leads to people being abused in public."
Research from the Tackling Hate Lab examining anti-Muslim hate in Australia between 2023 and 2026 identifies the beginning of the Gaza war on October 7, 2023 and the December 14 Bondi terror attack as pivotal points.
Examining more than one million online posts and hundreds of real-world anti-Muslim incidents, it found online anti-Muslim hate averaged 18.2 posts per day before October 7.
Between October 7 to March 22, 2025, that increased to 121.3 posts per day and spiked to about 1918 posts per day in the month following the Bondi attack, reaching 7786 posts a day after the Sydney terror attack.
The father said he now felt like a lost child and avoided people, fearing they were going to hurt him if he walked outside.
"I've never hurt anyone. I'm a person who likes peace, that's why I came to this country," he said.
Australia’s envoy to combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, has launched a campaign, encouraging people to recognise, report and respond to incidents to help build a clearer picture of the prevalence of Islamophobia across the nation.
