Retribution fears as Australian Muslims see surge in Islamophobic hate since Bondi terror attack

A security guard stands outside the Lakemba mosque as people arrive for Friday prayers. Some Sydney congregations had cut the amount of time they spent at mosques after prayers, the vice-president of the National Imams Council has said Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters

Threats and hate speech against Muslim Australians have surged in the wake of the Bondi beach attack, with one mosque receiving dozens of offensive phone calls and reports of people being targeted in the street.

As Australia’s Jewish community deals with trauma from the attack that killed 15 people at a Hanukah event, religious leaders say societal and political divisions has led to other groups being targeted by hatred.